AT&T donates 75 laptops, $80,000 to Amarillo Area Foundation

AT&T donated 75 refurbished laptops to area senior citizens in collaboration with the Amarillo Area Foundation (AAF), as a part of the AT&T Connected Learning initiative to bridge the digital divide throughout the area and nation. The giveaway was held Thursday morning at the AAF downtown office location.

In addition to the laptop giveaway, AT&T also donated $80,000 to the foundation to further its digital literacy program. As announced by AAF Senior Vice President Keralee Clay, those funds will be utilized to establish their digital navigator program and digital lab, allowing for area citizens to receive and learn digital literacy.

"AAF in partnership with AC and the City of Amarillo Libraries are creating a digital navigator program, so that means we are going to train people how to utilize this technology. By doing that, we can hopefully meet people where they are at, technology wise. For example, senior citizens are going to want to know different information or want different things with a laptop than college students, so we will help them one-on-one to access their wants and needs," said Clay.

This is the fourth laptop giveaway the organizations have held locally in collaboration. In the past, the previous refurbished laptop giveaways catered to area students including college students, households with no other means of internet access, the refugee population and more.

Clay said that with this round of donations, they wanted to focus more on the older population and meet their needs as the city continues to install AT&T's broadband fiber-optic internet.

"The digital divide is a two-part prong. It is both access and adoption, and at AT&T, we are really trying to do both by providing the lines and laying fiber in the ground and investing in the infrastructure right here in Amarillo, while also heling to provide the training through our donation and the devices with these laptops so that they can connect as well," Matt Foster, director of external affairs with AT&T Texas, said.

As stated during the presentation, these laptops will allow each individual in the household access to their needs, including allowing students to view/complete school work, allow parents to register their children in school, allow college students to research for their projects and later apply for a job, as well as grant access to everyday information or things that were previously delivered in the mail, that some no longer have access to, such as a place to look up a business's phone number or receive coupons.

In the Amarillo Independent School District, it’s estimated that more than 8,000 K-12 students don’t have access to the internet, computers, or the technology skills needed to benefit from the online world, an issue known as the digital divide. The computers, funded by an AT&T donation to Human-I-T, provide those in need access to the technology they require to fully utilize the resources and opportunities available in today's digital world.

"This is part of a statewide effort to bring broadband to rural Texas. The Texas Legislature passed a bill that granted $1.5 billion to the expansion of broadband infrastructure across the state. Internet access has become not only an amenity, but a necessity for educational purposes, for health purposes, for a lot of telemedicine needs, and this gives more of those opportunities to people in rural communities," said Texas State Senator Kevin Sparks.

According to Foster, AT&T plans to continue these laptop and fund donations until the divide has been met throughout Amarillo. Those in need of a laptop are asked to reach out to area community organizations in collaboration with AAF to enter their waitlist.

For more information about AT&T's nationwide commitment to bridging the digital divide, visit them online at https://about.att.com/story/2021/digital_divide.html .

For more information about AAF, visit them at https://amarilloareafoundation.org/ .

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: AT&T donates $80,000, 75 laptops for seniors to Amarillo foundation