National digital spotlight to shine on Downtown next week

The national spotlight for digital leadership will be shining on Downtown Kansas City next week, as three summit meetings focus on leveraging gigabit technology and digital inclusion into community-building strategies.

“Kansas City is at the forefront of technological and innovative advancement. We achieve this by consistently bringing smart people and efficient solutions together to support big ideas” said Mayor Sly James in his support of the Gigabit City Summit (Monday, May 16 to Wednesday, May 18) and in reflection of all three of next week’s summits.

The locally grown Gigabit City Summit is designed to leverage Kansas City’s ultra high-speed fiber capabilities and its distinction as a “smart city” to unite national civic, business and technology leaders into developing and honing their community playbooks for the future.

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance is coming to Downtown to stage Net Inclusion 2016: The National Digital Inclusion Summit on Wednesday, May 18 and Thursday, May 19, followed by a Kansas City summit on Friday, May 20. All of these events are set for the Kansas City Public Library.

The local Digital Inclusion KC 2016 is set for  8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Friday at the Central Library. This is the registration page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/digital-inclusion-kc-2016-registration-22591154752

The goal of the local conference is to allow civic leaders and digital literacy practitioners to decide what’s next for Kansas City, now that we have our national reputation as a leader in digital inclusion, and how we leverage this newfound reputation to expand connectivity in the years ahead.

The sessions at the local summit include:

• Opening remarks from John Horrigan, Senior Researcher at Pew Research Center
• Federal developments focusing on Lifeline Reform and “Connect” initiatives
• What it means for Kansas City to be an “alpha” community to test framework
• Engaging Municipal Governments in Digital Inclusion
• Building digital skill programs in Kansas City, particularly those focused on youth and early adulthood to prepare younger generations

The conference is free and located at the Central Library, 14 W. 10^th St., just steps away from the KC Streetcar. For more information or to register for the local summit, click here.