Rebecca Jinnette named Digital Educator

Rebecca Jinnette has been named the Bertie County N.C. Extension Digital Educator. She fills the vacancy caused by Valencia White’s departure.

The position was created when Randolph County N.C. Extension Director Ken Sherin was awarded a $1.33 million grant from the office of Digital Equity and Literacy, a Division of the N.C. Department of Information Technology.

“The award was earmarked to hire digital skills agents in participating counties and train agents to host digital education opportunities in their communities.” said Jinnette. “With offices in all 100 counties of the state plus the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, the N.C. Cooperative Extension is well positioned to help people navigate the challenges of access and education.”

Sherin says the program is perfectly correlated with Extension’s mission.

“It’s right in our wheelhouse to be doing this. Extension has always been there to help society adjust to new changes. It’s part of our DNA,” Sherin noted. “Just as Extension helped farms modernize at the turn of the century, here we are again facing a new technological shift.

“Our mission is to empower every North Carolinian with digital skills for success in work, health and life,” he added.

The Extension’s goal is to take knowledge from the university to the field, demonstrating that technology can help people.

“Digital navigators will provide local assistance to help more people learn to use the internet for health, education and jobs,” said N.C. Roy Cooper said when awarding the grant.

Jinnette has a mobile computer lab and can take it to the most remote rural areas in the county and be served by the mobile computer.

For many seniors, the thought of learning Internet Technology on their own is an unobtainable task.

Jinette will be responsible for producing high-quality classes and experiences for Bertie County residents helping them increase their digital skills capacity. This is a major addition to the county. Beginner’s classes will include an introduction to computers, email, the internet, social media and smartphone basics.

Jinette’s schedule is already full.

“I have already opened a dialogue with the Bertie Council on Aging and a couple of other venues and organizations who might want to partner with me to host my basic computer skills classes. It’s really exciting,” said Jinnette.

The new educator will also be at the Indian Woods Baptist Church on Sunday April 28 for the Extension’s outreach program and at Bertie Early College on May 8.

“I am also offering a presentation on how to protect yourself from email phishing scams at the Council on Aging’s upcoming Scam Jam event on Friday, May 24,” advised Jinnette.

The target audience is the aging population, low income households and people living in rural areas. Jinnette anticipates partnering with other community organizations, business networks, schools and anyone with a need or desire to learn digital skills.

For more information or to bring the mobile computer lab to your site please contact the Bertie County Cooperative Extension at (252) 794-5317.