On June 14, 2022, Verizon hosted an event “Home & Connectivity” in partnership with the Housing Action Coalition to explore how the residential digital divide can be bridged. Panelists Jackie Flinn, Executive Director at A. Philip Randolph Institute; Dave Hickey, Vice President of West Business Markets for Verizon; and Rey Lachaux, Digital Equity Manager for the City and County of San Francisco, had an illuminating conversation on how we can bring digital equity to every neighborhood. Their conversation explored how public, private, and nonprofit innovations and partnerships are helping to deliver essential technology resources to underserved communities. Their full conversation is below.
Bay Area Blog
Empowering LGBTQ+ Youth: The Power of Community Engagement
In celebration of Pride Month 2022, Verizon’s State Government Affairs and PRISM, Verizon’s LGBTQ Employee Resource Group convened a national conversation with community partners working to empower and support LGBTQ+ youth across the country. Guest speakers from the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ Youth (BAGLY), Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders (SMYAL), The Center on Colfax, and the LYRIC Center for LGBTQQ Youth shared their insights and how their organizations are taking action to protect and advocate for young people. Check out the full event video below!
Bridging the Tech Divide
Mission Bit Student Advisory Board hosted their 2nd Annual youth-led conference to inspire participants to explore the potential and possibility of a tech career. The conference was led by San Francisco youth for Bay Area youth and attended by over 40 high school students from throughout the Bay Area. Conference speakers included Verizon professionals from across the country. Watch more:
Community Partnership Chat: California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce
Watch Rudy Reyes, West Region Vice President & Associate General Counsel for Verizon host the latest Community Partnership Chat with Julian Cañete, President and CEO of California’s Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.
Community Partner Chat: Booker T. Washington Empowerment Network
One of the most rewarding aspects of our community engagement work is the opportunity to partner with many non-profit organizations and support innovative programs that help advance the diverse communities we serve. In May 2020, we launched our Verizon Community Partnerships Initiative to celebrate community organizations supported by Verizon and highlight their important work.
Today, we feature Sarah Washington O’Neal Rush, Founder, Booker T. Washington Empowerment Network.
Below we share a conversation on the tremendous legacy of Booker T. Washington, including his fight to receive an education, and how his memory can shape and inspire future generations.
Connection Across the Country
For Natalie Gupton, a strong network connection is vital to achieving her organization’s mission. AgSafe, which is a nationwide non-profit organization, provides practical health and safety education for the agricultural community – including webinars on critical issues impacting worker safety, human resources, pesticide safety, and food safety.
While AgSafe is headquartered in Modesto, California, Natalie’s role as Director of Business Services and Industry Relations is based in Louisville, Kentucky. Since she works remotely, she relies on a strong network connection to regularly communicate with co-workers in California as well as members of the agricultural community throughout the country.
According to Natalie, “5G will allow us to reach more people, and AgSafe will be able to utilize that technology to provide high quality education opportunities in that digital format.”
Through stronger, faster connections, 5G will help organizations like AgSafe, deliver on their efforts for the agriculture community.
Tackling Urban Challenges Together
Based in San Francisco, UrbanLeap is a platform that works with local and regional governments around the country to provide the data and tools needed to create innovative solutions for urban challenges.
For many metropolitan areas, improvements can be made to transportation, waste and water management, public safety, and energy efficiency.
5G presents a great opportunity for cities, vendors, and platform collaborators like UrbanLeap to work in partnership and find innovate solutions to tackle local needs. UrbanLeap’s Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Erez Druk thinks 5G is a “win, win, win situation.”
Check out the latest video from Faces of 5G and then click here to learn more about UrbanLeap.
Good to Tap, Open, and Go
Good2Go believes that technology can serve people’s everyday needs.
The first use case for this San Francisco-based company helps connect people to ADA compliant restrooms that are all-gender and equipped with baby changing stations.
Through Good2Go’s app, users can locate a restroom and then unlock and open the door. In addition to solving a need to find accessible restrooms, Good2Go is working with a local non-profit to help provide access to showers for the city’s homeless population.
Good2Go’s founder and CEO, Fran Heller, wants to scale her business and believes, “there’s no question that 5G will enable Good2Go to expand, scale, address a real, and everyday need, and solve it.”
Check out the latest video from Faces of 5G and then click here to learn more about Good2Go.
STEM in Sacramento
As a former engineer, Nicholas Haystings recognizes the importance of a STEM based education for young generations.
His organization, Square Root Academy, aims to provide underserved students in the Sacramento area these opportunities. At no cost, scholars participate in a collaborative and creative environment that emphasizes innovation and academic excellence.
Scholars can participate in workshops to learn industry skills including 3D modeling and printing, coding, and electronic circuit design and creation. Afterward, they can utilize open lab hours to build their own creations.
For Nicholas, 5G means better connectivity and greater opportunity for his scholars to experience the technologies of tomorrow. Currently, a group of students are developing a garden system that is aiming to grow food using 70-90% less water. With 5G connectivity, scholars will be able to monitor in real time how the plants are growing and their PH levels.
Check out the latest video from Faces of 5G and then click here to learn more about The Square Root Academy.
Faces of 5G: Alex Lee on 5G and IIoT
We’re taking a week off from 5G in 5 and trying something new. In addition to videos, we’ll be rolling out a series of blog posts to spotlight innovators and entrepreneurs and their visions for the future regarding how 5G will impact various industries.
For the inaugural post of the series, meet Alex Lee. He works at a venture capital fund in San Francisco and recently talked to us about how 5G will enhance the industrial sector.
Check out a new piece he did covering market trends that will drive early 5G adoption across the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sector. In this blog, Alex discusses why the industrial sector is ready to use 5G, certain use cases for 5G in IIoT, and what consumers can expect. Here’s an excerpt from Alex:
Factories are already creating value using IoT technology on the existing 4G LTE network. When factories can tap into 5G and the benefits that come from faster speeds, lower latency, and greater capacity, it will unlock a suite of new use cases. These are four use cases that I am most excited about:
Self-driving – Autonomous vehicles is a commonly referenced 5G application because it requires high network bandwidth and latency. Self-driving applications aren’t only for public roads but also in industrial settings too. Autonomous forklifts in a factory and autonomous tractors in a mine are near-term applications.
Robotics – Most robots used in factories today are caged off because they are programmed to move in one fixed path. While co-bots exist in some factories, the slow reaction time limits use cases. 5G will enable co-bots to process data faster, adjust its path based on this new data, and complete the action so it doesn’t slow down the line.
Augmented reality – Better bandwidth through 5G means better quality resolution and less likelihood that an AR headset gets disconnected. Some factories are hesitant to adopt AR technology because of the large bandwidth required. 5G will solve this problem and enable factory workers to access data visualization or design specifications while on the line and in real time.
Smart grid – This includes power generation, transmission, distribution, and usage. The ability to manage a power distribution across a factory is complex as each link has different communication requirements. It requires real-time data streaming and insight to upcoming demand to ensure the line gets the power it needs. 5G will allow seamless communication between machines connecting smart grids.
Click here for more.
Also, if you haven’t seen it already, take a look at the latest – and just released – video from Faces of 5G, which highlights Big Shoulders Fund, a Chicago-based charitable organization that supports inner-city schools with innovative programming.
