City Of Louisville: Louisville Metro Teams With TERRA And Digitunity To Close Digital Divide Through Refurbished Devices

Louisville KY

11 February, 2022

5:22 PM

Description

Press release from the City of Louisville: February 10, 2022 Call the LOU HEALTH helpline 502-912-8598.  Look for this logo in the lower right corner on every page and click it. Mayor Greg Fischer today announced a new Digital Inclusion partnership with  TERRA and Digitunity to collect, refurbish, and return laptops and tablet computers to people in need. Through Nashville-based TERRA's Done with IT program, Louisville-area residents can donate laptops or tablets in good condition to be refurbished. Only undamaged equipment in good working order is eligible, and people are encouraged to include chargers and other peripheral items. TERRA guarantees destruction of data on the devices. Devices can be donated at the Louisville Waste Reduction Center, 636 Meriwether Ave., open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Devices can also be mailed for donation, limited to 10 pounds or less. More information about the city's CyberCycle program can be found at https://louisvilleky.gov/Electronics. "In Louisville, compassion is an action word — it's means doing what we can to help every resident reach their full human potential. The action can be as simple as giving up an unused device so it can be safely refurbished and given to someone in our community who needs it for school or work, a need made all the more clear during the COVID-19 pandemic," Mayor Fischer said. "I appreciate TERRA and Digitunity's partnership, as well as the sustained focus on digital inclusion by our city's Office of Civic Innovation & Technology." Businesses or other large organizations can coordinate bulk donations of devices through the Office of Civic Innovation & Technology by calling (502) 574-6309.  "The Office of Civic Innovation & Technology makes digital inclusion a top priority. Louisville's partnership with the Done with IT program allows our residents a convenient way to donate their high quality laptops and desktops to be refurbished and distributed back to the community and help to close the digital divide," says Grace Simrall, the city's Chief of Civic Innovation and Technology. To protect the personal data of the individuals that send in their equipment, each device is shipped directly to an e-Stewards and/or Certified e-waste recycling provider that is required to either electronically wipe or physically destroy all data on hard drives and other storage media before the devices are refurbished. In Louisville, local Certified R2 e-waste solutions provider the Technology Conservation Group (TCG) is supporting this initiative. "Even before the pandemic, 34 million Americans lived without access to computers, laptops, tablets, or other internet connected devices," said Steven Napoli, President & CEO of TERRA. "Americans upgrade and retire enough high-quality devices to close the digital divide." Digitunity has pledged to share their expertise to support the City's digital-equity ecosystem to ensure everyone who needs a computer has one. "Everyone who needs a computer should have one, and technology reuse is such an important part of the solution," says Scot Henley, Executive Director of Digitunity. "We are proud to support this effort to ensure individuals and families have access to high quality no-cost or low-cost devices that otherwise may not be within reach." "We are looking forward to replicating this joint program with Digitunity in more cities across the country," Napoli added.   Enter required fields How do you want to be reminded? (Street Sweeping requires at least an email) Reminders are sent on the Sunday before and the Friday of your Junk Set Out date. * is required. By subscribing to this reminder service you agree to the Terms of Use. To unsubscribe go to Gov Delivery. Enter your address and MyLouisville will find nearby city services in the following categories: Find your garbage, recycling, yard waste and large-item set-out dates. Sign up for large-item set out and street sweeping reminders by email and text! No form has been selected. Popular Pages Popular Tools This press release was produced by the City of Louisville. The views expressed here are the author's own.