Washington Digital Equity Partners Coalition – Washington State Library

The Challenge

Digital equity means everyone has the internet capacity they need, at a price they can pay, with the tools and training to use it safely for work, education, self, and community care. Achieving that requires coordinated resources from federal, state, municipal, and tribal governments, alongside community and business partners. In Washington, that coordination wasn’t happening. Digital equity work was scattered across state and local government, nonprofits, and businesses, with no unifying structure connecting these efforts to shared advocacy or policy goals.

Our Role

We facilitated the WA Digital Equity Partners coalition for 18 months, transforming it from an ad hoc network into a cohesive coalition spanning state and local government, community and nonprofit leaders, and businesses. We supported the coalition in drafting and disseminating a sign-on letter to Governor Inslee that garnered over 180 signatures backing state agency proposals to embed digital equity into government. We also helped elevate the coalition’s branding efforts, raising the profile of two key bills: HB 2327, which would establish a funding stream for digital equity programs, and HB 2313, which advanced digital equity and opportunity efforts statewide.