Local organization aiming to close digital divide throughout the Valley

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — The digital divide is the gap between those who have access to modern technology and those who don’t. This is seen in the Valley in different ways.

Oak Hill Collaborative’s mission is to close that divide.

In urban communities like Youngstown, affordability creates a problem for Internet and digital access.

Oak Hill hosts free classes and programs that teach individuals on how to operate computers or laptops.

While smartphones are great, they’re not the best at running things like Powerpoint or Excel, but some households in the Valley don’t have the hardware to learn those skills, and comfortability with computers has gone down.

Beyond basic operations, it also teaches Microsoft and some Adobe products. It teaches and provides hardware and software that is necessary for personal and professional growth.

Pat Kerrigan from Oak Hill Collaborative says in the Youngstown area that knowledge of basic operations is scant, and without an opportunity to learn this can create more of a divide.

“People out there don’t know what they don’t know because they never used it; they don’t know what they’re missing,” Kerrigan said. “Education for kids and adults, telehealth, shopping online, government benefits any of those things. You have to have access to this world and that’s where the digital divide is.”

Courses at Oak Hill make people comfortable using the internet, and with more jobs shifting to digital skills, Kerrigan says programs like this are important.

“We have classes really all over the place,” Kerrigan said. “We have them in about 4 to 5 different locations in Mahoning County and 3 to 4 locations in Trumbull County. They want us to go to Ashtabula.”

In the month of June, there were 29 graduates in the Hardware for Homes program, the most ever.

Oak Hill has just announced they will be teaching courses in Springfield and courses will be taught at the fire station.

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