SC Digital Access Summit 2025

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SC Digital Access Summit 2025

Offline to Online: A Connected South Carolina

At the heart of the SC Digital Access Summit 2025 is a commitment to bring connectivity to every South Carolinian. This summit isn’t just an event; it’s a call to action to close the digital divide and ensure every individual, family, and community has the opportunity to thrive in a digital world. Through meaningful discussions and strategic collaborations, we’ll work toward a future where everyone has access to the internet, digital skills training, and the devices they need.

The event serves as a dynamic platform to shape the future of broadband in the U.S – focusing on the critical collaboration needed to close the digital divide and deliver high-speed internet for everyone in America.

The SC Digital Access Summit 2025 is open to all who are passionate about ensuring everyone in South Carolina has access to digital resources. Whether you’re a library or housing authority representative, a digital navigator, an internet service provider, or a government leader, this summit is designed for you. 

Join us March 20, 2025 at the Lowcountry Conference Center to collaborate with professionals and organizations dedicated to closing the digital divide.

Digital access isn’t just about technology; it’s about transforming lives. The SC Digital Access Summit 2025 is focused on making an impact where it matters most: supporting veterans, empowering minority communities, fostering workforce development, and bridging the gap for low-income households. By addressing these challenges head-on, we’re building a stronger, more connected South Carolina

Topics We'll Cover

Join us for the SC Digital Access Summit 2025 and be part of the change South Carolina needs. This one-day event will bring together internet service providers, government leaders, and non-profits to address the pressing need for digital inclusion. Discover funding opportunities, gain new digital navigation skills, and contribute to the conversation about workforce development in the digital age.  

The SC Digital Access Summit 2025 promises a full day of learning and collaboration. Attendees will gain insights from a statewide and national needs assessment, explore funding opportunities, and learn about digital navigation skills training. Panels will feature discussions on workforce development and provide updates from internet service providers on their initiatives around the state. This summit is a unique opportunity to be part of the movement to ensure everyone in South Carolina has the tools and resources to succeed in the digital age.

Summit Speakers

Chad Chadwick, NTIA
Tom Allen, SC Digital Opportunity Department
Cami Aull, SC Digital Opportunity Department
Aaron Jones, Tri-County Cradle to Career
Natalie Caula Hauff, Charleston County Public Library
Jim Stritzinger, SC BBO Director

NDIA Joins Lineup at Lowcountry Digital Equity Coalition Summit 

NDIA combines grassroots community engagement with technical knowledge, research, and coalition building to advocate on behalf of people working in their communities for digital access. NDIA is pleased to offer programming at the March 2025 LDEC Summit:

1. Digital Navigator Professional Development Workshop: This will be a highly interactive session that includes best practices for identifying and supporting community members’ technology-related goals, instructional techniques, and adaptations for specific communities.

2. National Perspective of the Digital Navigator Model

3. New Administration – What Happens Next 

Meet The NDIA Speakers

Nate Stone
Senior Policy Manager at NDIA

Nate joined NDIA in October 2024. He brings over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit a government sectors, most recently at Denver Public Library, where he launched and supervised the digital navigator program and coordinated technology education for the library system. He has developed and taught computer classes, built maker spaces, run afterschool media creation programs, written grants, led participatory research projects, and served in the Peace Corps, where he was repeatedly chased by turkeys while learning Spanish. Running through all these experiences is a passion for finding community-led paths to social justice and equity—except for the turkey part, which was just a misunderstanding. He lives in Denver, Colorado, with his family and a menagerie of pets, where he tends to the messiest garden for miles around.

Kristi Zappie-Ferrandino
NDIA

A passionate mission-driven leader, Kristi has focused her career in the nonprofit sector, building and leveraging resources to advance positive social change in the areas of literacy, youth mentoring, civic engagement, and, most recently, digital inclusion.

She has extensive expertise in leading the development of programs and resources designed to improve program efficiency and strengthen local impact.

Most recently, she has consulted with nonprofits about strategic planning, technology project management, and digital inclusion. She served as program director at the Urban Libraries Council. She led the launch of a system to help libraries and local governments work together to achieve community goals and narrow the digital divide.

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LOWCOUNTRY DIGITAL EQUITY COALITION

The LDEC seeks to coordinate and initiate collective digital inclusion activities that are guided by shared goals and proximate quantitative and qualitative community data.