‘Internet is everything’: western NC nonprofit helps connect its rural community | Opinion
When the pandemic hit and the world suddenly turned virtual, Yvette Brooks noticed her neighbors struggling.
In her home of Brevard, a small city in the mountains, access to the internet was a luxury that not everyone had.
With the public library and other businesses closed, some people had to walk around in search of Wi-Fi to do their schoolwork. They had to drive up the hill where they could get a cell signal in order to upload documents. They had trouble accessing telehealth services.
“It was really hard on families to not have internet access,” Brooks said. “Education, health, working from home … I mean, internet is everything.”
It prompted Brooks to leave her job and start her own nonprofit, Through the Trees, to help bridge the digital divide in her rural community.
The digital divide affects some 1.1 million households across the state who cannot access or afford high-speed internet or haven’t learned the skills to navigate it. It affects rural and low-income families the most, particularly in western North Carolina, where internet can be more expensive — and more limited.
More than a quarter of households in Transylvania County do not have high-speed broadband, and 11.5% of households lack internet access entirely, according to data from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology. Still others do not have devices that can connect to the internet, or they struggle with digital literacy. Compare that to Wake County, for example, where 4.38% of families do not have access to the internet.
Since 2020, Through the Trees has been Brooks’ full-time job. With the assistance of grants and private donations, the organization has helped hundreds of families.
It started out with internet subsidies — helping to ease the monthly cost burden for families struggling to afford it. At first, Brooks was doing much of the work herself. She took community college classes in order to learn the basics of starting a nonprofit and applying for grants, which she had never done before.
“I only helped as many people as I could with the funding that we had and the time that I had, and then I just built from there,” Brooks explained.
Her efforts have grown into a multi-pronged operation. In addition to offering subsidies and helping people apply for federal assistance, Through the Trees now helps with paying for upgrading lines from DSL to cable, which can cost thousands of dollars in many cases. People also donate old smartphones, tablets and laptops, which Brooks and her team then refurbish and donate to households in need. In some cases, they help with digital literacy — teaching people how to use the internet and how to navigate it safely.
Now that she has more funding, Brooks has been able to hire someone to help coordinate services and open a storefront in town where people can come to pick up devices or ask questions. At this point, Brooks says, Through the Trees gives out a laptop almost every day.
More recently, Through the Trees has begun working with incarcerated people who are reentering society, which she finds especially fulfilling. They’ve also helped local Ukrainian refugees get devices and internet access.
People like Brooks are not doing this work alone. Bridging the digital divide has been a top priority of state, local and federal governments, including North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Millions of dollars in state and federal funding helped expand broadband infrastructure in communities where it is lacking, and cities and counties have used funding to provide devices like laptops and tablets free of charge to people who cannot afford them.
But Brooks expects the demand to continue to grow. Even if broadband is accessible everywhere, not everyone will be able to afford it, and organizations like Through the Trees will be there to fill in the gaps.
“This has been a surprise of just how many folks were in this situation,” Brooks said. “And it feels really good to be able to help, too.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "‘Internet is everything’: western NC nonprofit helps connect its rural community | Opinion."
