WCU playing role in regional effort to improve broadband access | News
A faculty member in Western Carolina University’s College of Business is facilitating a yearlong effort to provide increased access to broadband and the training needed to take full advantage of the technological resources to underserved populations of rural Western North Carolina.
The Elevate Digital Collaborative, one of 10 regional collaboratives across Western North Carolina funded by Dogwood Health Trust through its Digital Opportunities Initiative, is focused on closing the digital divide in Jackson, Macon and Swain counties and on the Qualla Boundary.
“The primary aim of the collaboratives is to equip residents with the necessary skills, devices and resources to fully leverage broadband for positive economic, health and educational outcomes. This multi-collaborative approach recognizes that different communities within our region possess unique strengths and needs,” said Sarah Thompson, vice president for strategic initiatives and economic opportunity at Dogwood Health Trust.
“Simultaneously, the initiative fosters connections and facilitates collective learning and impact among the collaboratives, highlighting the necessity for a coordinated, regional approach to expanding broadband adoption and enhancing digital opportunities in Western North Carolina,” Thompson said.
Southwestern Community College has assumed the leadership role in the local effort, serving as the Elevate Digital project’s official digital opportunity hub.
Snider takes leadership role
The initiative is being led by facilitator Tonya Snider, WCU instructor of management and entrepreneurship, and her regional consulting and training firm tenBiz Inc. Snider’s role is to convene meetings, write the final plan, keep the group moving forward and participate in the implementation of the project. She also is working with Dogwood to help other groups that need extra support in any of these areas.
The work of Elevate Digital and the other collaboratives is based on existing digital inclusion plans developed with robust community input in 2023. Snider was instrumental in the development of those plans for the seven western counties of North Carolina served by the Southwestern Commission. It is part of a broader Digital Opportunities initiative funded by Dogwood Health Trust to make broadband internet available, affordable and useful for everyone in the 18 counties and Qualla Boundary of Western North Carolina.
“The overarching goal is to create and implement a customized digital opportunity plan that will improve broadband access, affordability, digital skills and technology resources—especially for rural and underserved populations,” said Snider. “These plans build upon each county’s existing digital inclusion plan and move into actionable strategies and funding implementation.”
The Elevate Digital Collaborative has hosted four public engagement sessions across the service region to gain understanding of the real-world challenges faced by residents and community organizations.
“Participants include local governments, tribal leaders, school systems, health providers, nonprofits, community leaders, educators, small businesses and others,” Snider said. “We’ve also tried to really pay attention to historically marginalized groups, including seniors, nonnative English speakers, low-income households and rural communities.”
The initiative is still in its early stages, Thompson said.
“Collaborative groups have participated in a rigorous learning curriculum, gained functional collaborative skills and issue-area knowledge relevant to digital opportunities, engaged their broader communities in the process, and worked with broadband experts from across the country to consider the strategies that might work best in their communities,” she said.
“Now, they are in the process of bringing all they have learned to the table to implement various digital opportunities projects and strategies across the region in 2026 and beyond,” Thompson said.
Locally, the project is working on a digital gap analysis designed to identify where online access, devices or skills training are lacking and where resources already exist but may be underutilized or siloed.
Using data collected in this phase of the project, Snider will lead the Elevate Digital team through a process to develop strategies that address those gaps. Strategies may include digital navigator or technology support programs, access and training for telehealth services, workforce digital literacy training, intergenerational mentorship models and possible public-private broadband partnerships.
Elevate Digital includes a detailed implementation roadmap for more than $125,000 in immediate funding from Dogwood Trust to support early action items, which will position the region to pursue additional federal and state grants, Snider said.
“The strength of this effort lies in local leadership and cross-sector collaboration,” she said. “By bringing together education, health, workforce and community leaders under the Elevate Digital umbrella, the project ensures a regional strategy that reflects local priorities, strengths and lived experiences.”
Leaders of the Elevate Digital effort meet monthly with representatives of the other regional collaboratives working separately through the larger effort supported by Dogwood Health Trust to share information, align resources and provide accountability.
Becca Scott, director of community and economic development for the Southwestern Commission, said the project is bringing together representatives of several organizations who bring unique strengths to help make internet accessibility a reality for more people in the region.
“One of our initial goals for this process has been to develop new partnerships in the region, and we are routinely meeting this goal as we continue to dig into this work. We also hope to end this process with a project that is ready to implement,” Scott said. “We know that we will not be able to fix this challenge for everyone, but if we can begin to chip away at the problems while creating a network and structure to continue this work, it will have lasting outcomes for the communities we serve.”
Although the project is still in the early stages, participants are already seeing indirect benefits through the expansion of partners involved in the initiative, which has led to finding out that the needs of one organization could be met by work being done by another, she said.
Scott characterized WCU and its tradition of engagement with the region it serves as a tremendous asset to the communities of Western North Carolina.
“Partnering with faculty on critical issues in the region has presented many additional opportunities for not only our organization but with many of our partners, as well,” she said. “We have had the opportunity to work with faculty members who have been ready and willing to advise, conduct research or develop new elements for a project, and we are grateful that they are willing to lend their expertise on projects and issues that have a great impact on Western North Carolina.”
Thompson agreed that it is important for Dogwood Health Trust, regional nonprofits and other organizations to collaborate with faculty at WCU and take advantage of their expertise.
“Within this initiative, collaboration with higher education institutions and academics across various fields is an important component for building broad, effective community coalitions focused on broadband adoption. Even those experts who do not work directly in the technology or digital opportunity spaces hold intimate knowledge of how their fields can best leverage connectivity and technology to improve health outcomes and economic opportunities for residents in our region,” she said.
“Outside of this initiative specifically, faculty at institutions such as WCU offer invaluable research and education capacity, as well as subject matter expertise, that the nonprofit sector outside of academia could greatly benefit from. Through their connection to students, faculty also serve as a key link to the future leaders and innovators in our region and can create opportunities for the nonprofit sector, as well as students, to benefit from collaboration,” Thompson said. “For these reasons and many others, collaboration with WCU and higher education in general is key to the success of our region.”
For more information about the Elevate Digital Collaborative, contact Tonya Snider in the WCU College of Business at 227-3616 or tsnider@wcu.edu.