NYS Digital Equity Network

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Our theme this year is Revisiting NY’s Digital Divide: Solutions for Reaching the Disconnected. Through this convening, we aim to strengthen collaboration, share promising practices, and build a more coordinated statewide movement to close the digital divide.

We look forward to an exchange of ideas that will help educate, connect, and mobilize leaders across the state as we continue working together to expand digital opportunities for all New Yorkers.

Tickets: $50 | Information about Sponsorship Levels
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Agenda

Join us for a day of plenaries, panels, and workshops designed to educate, illuminate, and spur continued progress and innovation in digital equity throughout New York State

2026 Conference Speakers

Time	Session	Description	Room
8:30AM – 9:00AM	Breakfast & Networking		Room 100F
9:00AM – 9:15AM	Welcoming/Electeds/UAlbany GREETING		Main Room 151/149
9:15AM – 10:00AM	Fireside Chat: Learning From Massachusetts: How Sustained Investments Center Digital Equity Priorities		Main Room 151/149
10:00AM – 10:50AM	Your Playbook for Digital Opportunity: A Hands-On Planning Workshop	In this 75-minute hands-on workshop, World Education staff guide attendees through three planning exercises from the Connected Futures Playbook: mapping client friction points, identifying community assets, and drafting an Impact Roadmap. Participants leave with completed worksheets, a full planning toolkit, and a curated list of free digital navigator and AI literacy resources.	Main Room 151/149
	Beginner Digital Skills: A New Curriculum You Can Use Today Workshop	The Fifth Avenue Committee shares a new multilingual digital literacy curriculum for beginner learners, developed and piloted through a ConnectALL Technical Assistance Grant. Educators who used the materials discuss pilot outcomes and explain how attendees can access and adapt the open lessons for their own classrooms.	Room 303
11:00AM – 11:50AM	Digital Inclusion, AI Literacy and an equitable Quantum Future in NYS a Panel Plenary	As New York State invests in emerging technologies through initiatives like Empire AI and its growing quantum ecosystem, this panel explores how those investments can align with digital inclusion efforts to build foundational digital skills and AI literacy statewide. The conversation centers on creating equitable pathways so underserved communities are not left behind as AI and quantum technologies reshape New York’s economy.	Main Room 151/149
12:00PM – 12:50PM	Lunch		Room 100F
1:00PM – 1:50PM	A Minimum Digital Standard Of Living Panel	This session introduces the concept of a minimum digital standard of living, an idea gaining traction in the UK and among US academics, and compares it with current digital access policies in the US, New York State, and local communities. The speaker highlights gaps such as the mismatch between minimal smartphone and data access and what today’s AI-driven economy actually requires.	Main Room 151/149
	Behind the Scenes of NYC’s Broadband Adoption Plan Panel	The moderator opens with how New York City’s broadband adoption plan took shape through City Council legislation, then panelists walk through the community research process and its findings. The session shares the survey and focus group tools used and the implementation strategies that emerged from direct resident engagement.	Room 303
2:00PM – 2:50PM	From Digital Divide to AI Literacy Chasm: Reaching NY’s Disconnected Fair Chance Workforce Workshops	This interactive workshop reframes New York’s digital divide as an AI literacy gap for justice-involved New Yorkers, using a live poll, moderated discussion, and a real-time demo of AI tools translating incarceration experience into workplace language. Attendees leave with an AI Literacy Chasm one-pager, a skill audit hiring guide, a prompt worksheet, and a list of New York reentry and digital inclusion partners.	Main Room 151/149
	AI Safety Awareness Project	Adapted from an NDIA session, this talk helps attendees build the skills to understand minimum AI safety and learning standards. It offers a starting framework for organizations looking to introduce responsible AI awareness into their digital inclusion programming.	Room 303
	How to Hit a Moving Target: Preparing All Workers for the AI Economy	A moderated panel of representatives from business, education, and workforce development examines the connections between educational attainment, digital skills, and labor market outcomes in New York’s AI-driven economy. After brief introductions and a short data overview, the session turns most of its time over to audience-driven questions.	Room B10
2:50PM – 3:00PM	Refresher Break		Room 100F
3:00PM – 4:00PM	Aligning New York State Associations to Advance Digital Inclusion and Workforce Equity	This panel brings together leaders from statewide associations in adult education, workforce training, and pupil personnel administration to explore how digital inclusion currently shows up across education and workforce systems. Building on momentum from the NYACCE conference, panelists discuss opportunities for cross-sector collaboration, shared resources, and coordinated advocacy for sustained digital equity investment.	Main Room 151/149
4:00PM – 4:30PM	Closing		Main Room 151/149

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