Digital Connectivity (EII)

Connecting Communities. Building Digital Power.

The Equitable Internet Initiative (EII) expands access to reliable, high-speed internet while building the knowledge, skills, and community infrastructure needed for residents to participate fully in an increasingly digital world.

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Serving Detroit’s North End, Highland Park, and Hamtramck, EII combines community-based connectivity, digital literacy, technical training, and resident leadership to address the barriers created by the digital divide.

Since 2017, NEWCC and its partners have worked to build and expand community-based internet infrastructure. Through wireless connections, fiber infrastructure, and the Digital Stewards program, EII is creating more than access to the internet—we are strengthening the community’s capacity to understand, maintain, and shape the digital systems on which everyday life increasingly depends.

Digital Infrastructure IS Community Infrastructure

Uprooting Digital Redlining and Planting Digital Justice

Reliable internet affects nearly every part of life—from education and employment to healthcare, public services, communication, and connection to family and community.

Investment in fiber creates long-term neighborhood infrastructure capable of supporting faster, more reliable service and adapting as technology changes. Unlike temporary solutions, the underlying infrastructure can remain a community asset that continues serving residents, organizations, and businesses over time.

For neighborhoods that have historically experienced unequal access to high-quality digital infrastructure, this is also a question of equity and opportunity.

Building Knowledge Alongside Infrastructure

Technology alone does not create digital equity.

Through NEWCC’s Digital Stewards program, residents develop technical and community leadership skills in wireless networking, network design, troubleshooting, cybersecurity, data collection, and community engagement.

This creates a different model of digital development—one in which residents are not simply customers or users of technology, but participants in building and sustaining their community’s digital future.

Our Vision

We envision Detroit’s North End, Highland Park, and Hamtramck as connected communities where residents, businesses, and neighborhood institutions have reliable digital access—and where communities have greater knowledge, voice, and influence over the infrastructure that connects them.