Dogwood Health Trust launched the Digital Opportunities Initiative in January 2025, partnering with ten collaboratives representing over 50 organizations across Western North Carolina. The initiative aims to make broadband internet and devices available, affordable and useful for everyone in the region.
Each collaborative implemented important projects that meet the needs of their communities, while also taking part in learning and leadership development opportunities to bolster the region’s ability to respond to future challenges. A recent reflection on year one shares some of the initiative’s impact.
We’ve discovered common threads connecting the work of each collaborative, like how small investments can create large ripples through a community when organizers and leaders meet residents where they are.
Below, we spotlight three members of our Digital Opportunities cohort who found innovative ways to expand digital access in their communities and include residents in the effort, laying the groundwork for a healthier, more connected region.
Connect Buncombe Online: Investing in Community Reentry
Through its reentry initiative, the Connect Buncombe Online collaborative has supported 47 people returning from incarceration so far in 2026 by providing them with the resources and training they need to navigate the digital world. Each person has received a device and smartphone to help them reconnect with information, services, and their community. They are also getting one-on-one support from the Reentry Council’s Digital Navigators, who help them connect with healthcare, employment, housing, and other services that support long-term quality of life.
Click Mountain: Closing the Connectivity Gap
Sometimes, broadband infrastructure simply can’t stretch far enough to reach all those in need of internet access. The Click Mountain Collaborative installed four Starlink units at an isolated farm in Western North Carolina and began offering digital literacy trainings to farmworkers using donated laptops and tablets. The collaborative has invested in a comprehensive approach—providing people with not only the bandwidth and the devices they need to get on the internet but the training to use it safely and effectively, too.
Through the Trees: Supporting All Our Community Members
Reaching communities who lack access to internet connectivity and digital skills is central to the mission of the Digital Opportunities Initiative. Through the Trees and other partners recently received the Brevard Age-Friendly Task Force’s Ernest B. Messer Award in part for their work helping seniors understand and use online tools to access healthcare. With its Main Street location in Brevard open all day, Through the Trees serves a vast diversity of community members, with a robust team of young volunteers contributing their time to refurbish electronics and serve in the “Tech Spa.” The nonprofit also supports Spanish-speaking residents by distributing technology devices and offering digital literacy classes tailored to their needs.
While each of these organizations is engaging with the digital divide in different ways, they share a common thread as digital navigators, facilitating the use of internet and technology for those who need support — a role that all of us can play in our communities. As the collaboratives’ work progresses, it will continue to draw on the strong local networks developed through the initiative, made possible by the collective leadership and community engagement that defines Western North Carolina.
