Overview

June 24

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) allocates billions of dollars for state and local governments as they strive to close the digital divide.

Though each state is promised at least $100 million, additional money will be distributed based on a complicated series of calculations and other information that applicants submit. Including all possible helpful data can give agencies a boost as they seek to unlock IIJA funding.

During a live webinar hosted by Governing and Civis, expert speakers will cover the types of data local and state governments will need to collect and how they can analyze that data to tell a story that fully captures their need for funding. Join us on June 24 at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern for additional advice for securing IIJA funding.

Speakers

Joshua Edmonds

Director of Digital Inclusion, City of Detroit

Joshua Edmonds is the City of Detroit’s inaugural Director of Digital Inclusion and is America’s first municipal Director of Digital Inclusion. He is responsible for the creation of Connect 313 – Detroit’s sustainable digital inclusion strategy designed to bridge the digital divide. While appointed at the City, Joshua has testified in front of Congress on the matter of digital equity, hosted Detroit’s first Digital Inclusion Summit, Established the City’s first Digital Equity Fund, and helped publish the City’s first digital infrastructure plan focusing on fiberoptic open access. Joshua also chairs the telehealth workgroup within the Federal Communications Commission’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee. Prior to his current role, Joshua served as a Digital Inclusion Policy Fellow at the University of Michigan, a Digital Innovation Fellow at The Cleveland Foundation, and a Public Service Fellow at the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority working on President Obama’s ConnectHome initiative. Among others, Joshua has been recognized by Forbes, the Federal Communications Commission, Next Century Cities, Government Technology, and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance for his contributions to the field.

Crystal Son

Managing Director, Civis Analytics

As Managing Director at Civis Analytics, Crystal focuses on ensuring successful delivery as well as formulating new data science products for our clients in the public sector. Recently, she served as primary lead on Civis’ work with the State of IL, helping support the state’s response to COVID-19. Simultaneously, she led the development and launch of several Civis products tailored to help maximize the reach and efficiency of government programs. Crystal began her career as an epidemiologist, first at the NYC Department of Public Health & Mental Hygiene and then as a hospital Infection Prevention epidemiologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Before coming to Civis, she served as an analytics consultant at Deloitte & Touche and Slalom Consulting. She graduated from Williams College with a B.A. and Columbia University with a Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology.

Inaki Sagarzazu

Applied Data Science Lead, Civis Analytics

Dr. Sagarzazu is an experienced data science lead based in Houston, with several years of experience working in research. Dr. Sagarzazu has been playing a pivotal role in Civis’s partnership with state and local governments working on different issues from Census and COVID outreach to work on digital inclusion. Prior to joining Civis, Dr. Sagarzazu worked as an assistant professor in which he was in charge of collecting, processing, and analyzing data for research purposes.

Bob Bennett — Moderator

Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government

Bob Bennett is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Digital Government and the founder of B2 Civic Solutions, an international smart cities consultancy firm based in Parkville, Mo. From 2016 to 2019 he served in Mayor Sly James’ administration as the Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Kansas City, Mo. During his tenure, he oversaw the city’s smart city initiatives including a 54-block total digitalization pilot, strategy development for the city and P3-based expansion plans. Kansas City’s initiatives earned the city an Edison Award (Gold) for “Collective Disruption” and civic innovation in 2017, and Bob was named one of GovTech’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers in 2018. Before his role with the city, Bob completed a 25-year career in the U.S. Army which included service as a Strategist, a Battalion Commander and multiple combat tours.

Webinar

Fully Utilize Data to Give IIJA Funding Applications a Boost