Department: County Library
Department Head/Elected Official: Edward Melton, Executive Director
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Financial Authorization
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request for approval to purchase food and related supplies for multiple upcoming workshops using grant funds in the amount of $729.06 received from the Public Library Association for the FY 2022 Digital Literacy Workshop Training Incentive Program.
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Background and Discussion: Harris County Public Library is one of the nation's largest public library systems,
serving 4.71 million people, and is home to Houston, one of the most diverse cities in the United States.
Unfortunately, 8.4% of its population, or 396,000 people in Harris County do not have a home computer or
smart device access, and 13.6% of its population, or 641,012 people, do not have broadband internet access.
This lack of access to devices and internet affects some of Harris County's most diverse communities, which
limits these communities' abilities to achieve digital literacy. Harris County Public Library is committed to
providing Chromebooks and hotspots to those in need in order to bridge the digital divide that is
disproportionately affecting our communities of color, but due to the volume of need and the spread-out
nature of our county, our library system is limited in its ability to provide adequate digital literacy training to all patrons who are interested in learning these skills. Those residing in low socioeconomic area often do not
have access to transportation to travel to a library branch for digital literacy classes, especially those who live
in the most rural and urban areas of our county where there is not a n...
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