To help expand internet access in the region, the Walla Walla Community Council is hosting a digital resource fair from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, at Walla Walla Community College.
“We want this to be a really fun event that’s positive and has people leaving feeling inspired,” said Laura Prado, the Council’s community research coordinator.
The fair aims to bring together service providers, digital experts, community organizations and Walla Walla Valley residents to improve internet affordability and accessibility.
The event, co-hosted by the college and Goodwill Industries of the Columbia, is free and open to all. Spanish and American Sign Language interpreters will be available to help people navigate the fair.
Attendees can enter a door prize giveaway for a chance to win laptops and mouse-and-keyboard combos. A total of 30 prizes will be given away.
The first hour of the fair, from 4 to 5 p.m., will be a quieter time designed for those who prefer a calmer environment. After that, the full event kicks off with food, music and games.
The Community Council is a nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization committed to “open dialogue, solid research, consensus building and effective advocacy.”
In 2021, the Council identified broadband, or high-speed internet access, as a critical community need and began Internet for All — an initiative to create universal access to affordable and reliable broadband in the region.
According to a Council report, 20% of students in Walla Walla lacked broadband access, compared with 40% in College Place and 100% in Prescott.
As part of the project, their study committee recommended raising awareness about the resources available in Walla Walla — a goal the digital fair aims to achieve.
“It ties into bringing resources and people together so that they can find that help to get them online,” Prado said. “But it’s in a really fun and engaging way.”
The event will focus on three questions: “How do I get online? How do I afford to stay online? And how do I navigate once I am online?”
Prado said internet service providers will be at the event to help more people get connected.
The fair will feature resource tables from Baker Boyer Bank, Blue Mountain Action Council, Goodwill, Greater Health Now and Pacific Power, among other organizations.
To help people navigate the internet safely, resource tables will also offer information about online banking, cybersecurity and creating secure passwords.
One of the biggest challenges in organizing the event, Prado said, has been securing sponsors and funding.
“It’s been a rough year economically for a lot of our community,” she said. “So a lot of the sponsors we normally go to and are happy to help us out are saying we just can’t this year.”
The council is still seeking sponsors and adding resource tables.
Prado said she was inspired to organize the event after attending Digital Discovery Day, a similar fair organized by Goodwill earlier this year in Pasco.
As part of its Digital Literacy Program, Goodwill offers classes that teach essential computer skills needed for workplaces.
A major portion of the Pasco event focused on raising awareness about Goodwill’s classes and helping community members access other online resources.
“There are actually a lot of different services within the community, but people either don’t know that they exist, or they don’t know how to access them,” said Sherri Richardson, Goodwill’s digital literacy program coordinator. “And so by having events like this, we’re able to give them that information.”
The fair also raffled off 20 computers.
“The people we gave them to were incredibly appreciative because it was going to help them with work they were doing,” Richardson said.
About 250 people attended, and several, Richardson said, were able to join classes to learn computer skills.
Goodwill also offers its computer classes in College Place.
Richardson said events like this are especially important following federal cuts to internet services.
She was referring to the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provided eligible households with discounts of up to $75 per month for internet services. Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission ended the program because of a lack of congressional funding.
Richardson hopes the Walla Walla event will attract an even broader audience than the one in Pasco and help close the digital divide.