Led by CIO Jordan Sun, the City of San José is making strides to close its digital divide not only through enabling access to the internet and device distribution but through digital literacy training to ensure their community members are equipped to enter the digital world.
Olivia from our team chats with the City of San José . They were the first city in the U.S. to pledge to close the digital divide by establishing the Digital Inclusion Partnership, an ambitious cross-sector fund with the goal of ensuring every single resident has a working device and is connected to reliable internet. Read More.
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Featured government: City of San José, CA
Episode guest: Jordan Sun, CIO
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Lindsay: (00:05)
Welcome to the Govlaunch podcast. Govlaunch is the Wiki for local government innovation and on this podcast, we're sharing the stories of local government innovators and their efforts to build smarter governments. I'm Lindsay Pica-Alfano, co-founder of Govlaunch and your host. Today, Olivia from our team chats with the city of San Jose. They were the first city in the U.S. To pledge to close the digital divide by establishing the digital inclusion partnership - an ambitious cross sector fund with the goals of ensuring every single resident has a working device and is connected to reliable internet. I'll turn down to Olivia to dive into this important initiative with San Jose's chief innovation officer Jordan Sun.
Olivia: (00:50)
Hi, I'm Olivia from Govlaunch and I'm here with Jordan Sun from San Jose, California. Jordan, tell us a little bit about your role.
Jordan: (00:59)
Hi everybody. Yeah, my role is with the city as the chief innovation officer here for the city of San Jose mayor's office of Sam Liccardo. We are here to really build the city of the future. Um, we have, uh, three big key priorities in terms of how I view the city, uh, from being data driven to being digital responsive, and ultimately, building out our network infrastructure, uh, while maintaining the efforts of inclusion and diversity, as well as equity.
Olivia: (01:29)
That's really exciting. And I know we're going to touch a little bit more on the digital inclusion part, but just generally, how do you think things are going currently in San Jose's innovation realm?
Jordan: (01:41)
Yeah, you know, it's, uh, it's, it's an exciting time to be, uh, wearing the innovation hat. Um, I joined the role, uh, about seven months ago now so joining a city mid-crisis was a very unique, uh, I think moment to, to come into local government. And before that actually I, I just came back from Afghanistan, uh, and, and literally still had my, uh, my army gear in tow, uh, while showing up here in San Jose, after leaving quarantine.
Olivia: (02:11)
Wow. That must've been pretty challenging to just kind of jump into the swing of things when the pandemic was just rearing its ugly head for the first time.
Jordan: (02:21)
Yeah. You know, it's tough to join a team, uh, in particular, you know, when everything is remote. It was interesting just learning the landscape and you can't really approach, you know, how things were done before, you know, because nothing is the same anymore, uh, from how we work and collaborate, uh, to really our priorities, uh, at the city.
Olivia: (02:42)
Absolutely. I think local government was shaken a little bit and kind of forced to innovate and have no choice, but to move forward with innovation. So a really interesting time to join as the chief innovation officer. Ao your team has generated a lot of buzz. And I mentioned this a little bit before with your ambitious digital inclusion strategy, and this is a perfect segue from what you mentioned, right. We need to work collaboratively, but you also need to make sure that everyone has access to that of course. So those capabilities. So if you could tell us a little bit more about this initiative, I think that'd be a really helpful place for us to start.
Jordan: (03:15)
Yeah. I just want to touch upon one thing which you mentioned was, was very interesting was, you know, when I look at solving for the digital vide, the key thing is in fact, look, if you want to build a smart city, uh, you can't possibly say you are, uh, an inclusive technology oriented city if you continuously leave out your 10% of your population that suffers from the digital divide. So I want to highlight that that's incredibly important to bring everybody together, um, and to make sure that everybody's on the same page, uh, when moving forward in a technology revolution, uh, here with city, uh, city life. Our digital, uh, divide efforts really consist of three big main efforts. Uh, the first is on all the things we're doing here in the community wifi projects, and it's a collective city effort here.
Jordan: (03:58)
We are in the process of connecting over a hundred thousand residents right now, by the end of 2022, we would have connected over 300,000 residents, uh, to community, uh, available wifi networks. Um, the second part is the fact that we've had a very novel public private partnership, uh, through the digital inclusion fund. Uh, and that's a $24 million fund, uh, focused on not only the ability to access the device, uh, as well as know, as well as the educated on internet plans, but more importantly, being able to have the digital literacy and capability, uh, to in fact, uh, operate safely and effectively in the digital world. Uh, especially when you're thinking about folks who have been traditionally marginalized and being connected to the internet for the very first time in their lives.
And the third is our AT&T uh, hotspot distribution partnership, uh, which has been a phenomenal success bringing 15,800 hotspots into the community. Uh, and I really want to tip my hat off also to, uh, the library, uh, and their ability to manage such a very complex operation. Um, as well as our partnerships with the Santa Clara County of education, uh, in doing that, enabling our residents, um, especially our students, uh, to not be left behind in a digital world. Uh, when all of education, all of life has really gone into what we call our digital sidewalks.
Olivia: (05:19)
So you mentioned that there's going to be 300,000 people that will be connected by the end of 2022, which is really impressive. And I understand that there's about 50 to 60,000 people that are already connected right now. So my question to you is one of the major obstacles with tackling digital exclusion is that it can be challenging to communicate and reach out to those folks that are digitally excluded in the first place, because you'll often have to find creative ways and non-typical communication channels to reach out to them. How did your team creatively engage with the community in the first place?
Jordan: (05:53)
Yeah, and so, uh, those are really in, in, in, in two fronts, right? So, uh, when it comes to our digital inclusion fund, you know, we have fantastic partners on board, you know, California merchant technologies fund is one of our anchor partners. And then we have 23 community-based organizations, uh, that are really out there in the field as, as sort of the trusted social brokers, if you will, um, to evangelize the importance of internet and to build the trust between, uh, residents, uh, especially if you think of some folks that are a little bit more hesitant to trust government. Uh, and obviously at the other end of that table is government. Um, you know, when I came on board, it was interesting because, uh, you know, coming from Afghanistan surprisingly that country in itself has gone, uh, has solved for a piece of that digital divide, at least working with some of the Afghan counterparts.
And so when I showed up here in San Jose, I was actually surprised that, you know, we had to go back to the basics in a virtual world where, you know, how do you reach the unconnected if everybody's working virtually, right? And so all your traditional ways for the last five years of doing things, getting the word out just doesn't work anymore. And so one is leaning heavily on the CBOs to actually be able to figure out novel ways to get in touch with people without seeing them personally. Um, the second part is, you know, we looked at traditional mass media, hats off to UNIVISION, uh, for putting out our PSA's. Uh, we went on television including like Telemundos and NBC, and then we went other sort of non-traditional print.
Jordan: (07:27)
Um, so even things like the water bills, uh, and getting support from city staff to print our digital inclusion offerings and for folks who need help and that receive a physical water bill, Hey, look, maybe call this number and call this hotline. And I want to say the last thing is setting up a traditional call center, you know, with where CTF really supported us in this effort, um, and, uh, and, and partnership with our CBOs. So that was just one form. I think the other is, is, uh, working with the Santa Clara County of education. They have a very rich, obviously student population with heavy touch points and the parents involved. And so accessing, you know, channels, distribution channels, if you will, was also incredibly important and building those partnerships, uh, as well as with the library.
Olivia: (08:09)
That's great. So it sounds like a lot of the success rested upon lots of creative and important partnerships.
Jordan: (08:17)
Absolutely. You know, the traditional way of, of digital growth hacking, just wasn't going to work, when you're talking about this specific marginalized group of people that have been traditionally left behind, uh, through digital exclusion.
Olivia: (08:29)
Absolutely. It's almost like going back to basics.
Jordan: (08:32)
Back to the basics. That's the best way to put it. I love that term.
Olivia: (08:39)
I love it too. So you had some great community partnerships and it's, I really like that creative approach around the water bill, right? That's something that the city's already sending out. So might as well tack on another number there, that's a really creative approach to do some non traditional communication practices in the era of digital everything. Um, but I want to chat a little bit more about the private sector partnership piece in here. So you mentioned that there was a $24 million fund, so quite huge. And sometimes it can be challenging for local governments to engage with the private sector in bold and innovative ways. And there's lots of reasons as to why there's challenges, um, with that, but I'm just curious to how you initially set up this partnership and were there challenges along the way, like how did that come about and, and how is it going now?
Jordan: (09:24)
I would say the good theme of every public private partnership is creating win-win opportunities. Right. And so, uh, and that's true actually with every, any partnership, uh, even in the private sector, I'm sure in the social impact world too, um, you know, the win-win for the digital inclusion fund is the fact that you look me in a, we were able to accelerate the deployment of 5G, uh, especially the small cell networks that were being rolled out and are still being rolled out, uh, across the city. And by accelerating those permits, we created economic gains, which then a portion of that flowed back into the digital inclusion fund, roughly about a million dollars a year in economic gains flows back from, uh, private industry economic gains, uh, into, uh, our most marginalized communities. And at the same time, you know, we have a voice at the table, uh, to say, look, Hey, you know, this neighborhood is traditionally left behind and, and variety of, uh, infrastructure considerations, uh, by the telcos and ISPs is like, Hey, maybe, uh, maybe if you could direct, uh, some of your small cell network development there, uh, to invest in that neighborhood so that they have better connectivity, uh, that would be a wonderful start. And so having a voice at the table is also incredibly important through this partnership.
Olivia: (10:44)
You've worked really hard to develop all of these strong partnerships. Uh, you're bringing lots of people online. And another piece of this that I find really interesting is you're actually providing training as well. So when we think about digital literacy, it's absolutely top of mind for so many city builders. when we think about the fact that we're headed into much stricter lockdowns in a lot of different cities around the world, kids are also being pulled from schools again. Um, so I think this would be of great interest. Can you tell our listeners a bit more about your approach to actually training members of the community on digital literacy and if there's any lessons learned there?
Jordan: (11:22)
Yeah. You know, it's, it's interesting. We've had a significant learning curve, uh, to overcome because traditionally our CBOs, uh, ran a lot of the digital literacy programs in person. And so when you think about, um, communities of color, communities who have English as second language, communities, uh, that are, you know, more elderly, uh, and, and older adults, they, they traditionally don't learn the way that we think we, you know, now normalize learning. How do you in fact, teach people, a technology is not new to everybody else, but new to them. Uh, and there's a lot of misconceptions around the technology too.
Jordan: (12:07)
And so, you know, it's, it's, it's multifaceted, the first thing we've done is, you know, really trying to retool. Okay. You know, when it was at one period safe for people to interact, you know, how do you set up training either in smaller pods or completely remotely, um, to be able to, uh, onboard people, you know, and the second part is maintaining those standards. And, you know, we've, we've aimed at a UNESCO level three standard for digital literacy and part of that is look, you know, that is a great standard to have, uh, that was pre COVID. And so we're actually in the process of exploring what opportunities are there to revise that standard in terms of what is the current digital literacy needs for folks to be able to operate safely and effectively online. Um, and the third is, is, uh, you know, what our, uh, our library has done very well as streamlining some of the digital content to create, you know, actual coursework and digital content around there to standardize, uh, some of the efforts that are being taught.
Jordan: (13:03)
So that everybody's on the same page in terms of what is being disseminated and have that in multiple languages. And I would say the fourth thing is along the lines of, you know, I wrote an op-ed in the Hill a few months ago about sort of securing our digital sidewalks. And so when you think about so many, uh, marginalized community members across America being brought online for the very first time, when you think about the impact of, you know, as I, as I wear my, you know, military and foreign affairs hat, you know, I used to be a diplomat and I'm still an army officer in the reserves, when I think about the national security implications of information warfare and, um, you know, whether it's misinformation or disinformation, uh, being pumped out there into our communities, it's even more and more important for us to consider, you know, what are the effects of the internet doing on our most marginalized populations, people of color, immigrants, elderly, children, handicap, you name it.
And really, you know, when we think about where do criminals attack quite often and adding cyber to that criminal hat, doesn't nearly shift how they target vulnerable people. And so, you know, there's $40 billion annually lost, uh, for vulnerable older adults. Um, you know, that federal law enforcement has determined like that is a significant loss annually. And so how do we figure out better ways to secure the digital sidewalks that folks are now transacting on, you know, in civic engagement in media and political action, in learning in health care and, and communication with family and friends, as well as painting services. So there's a lot for us to digest, you know, but I think, uh, we've met, made some headway. We need to revise, uh, what the standards are and actually revise them at the national level so that states can then match with those national level definitions of what a digital literacy should be, uh, for the minimum standard to, for programs, to be funded for our CBOs to be funded for great work. And that opportunity obviously flows back into the residence. And the third is we need to emphasize a little bit more on securing our digital sidewalks, uh, both on the cyber aspect of cyber criminals and, and tools related to that in education, but also on the information space.
Olivia: (15:09)
That's a really great overview. And just as a follow-up, how does the city of San Jose, for example, engage with, um, state level and national governments to kind of advocate for some of these standards or to work collaboratively? Because I know that that's sometimes a challenge and speaking from the Canadian perspective, that's not always easy to do in terms of getting all levels of government to be uniform when it comes to certain standards or certain initiatives. So we'd love to hear your take on, on how San Jose has tackled that.
Jordan: (15:39)
Yeah, we are in regular communication with the state, um, through multiple channels. We do talk to federal, uh, level, you know, us policy makers, um, including members of Congress. Part of it is just, uh, one creating empathy, right? To what is happening on the Battlefront, if you will, here in local communities, uh, that they might not be purview to because there are more macro thinkers. Um, the second is in terms of setting those standards. You know, like I said, you know, we have a great part of California Emerging Technology Fund. They are, you know, statewide and in terms of their advocacy, um, for solving for the digital divide. And so leaning on partners like that, that have really strong advocacy platforms and channels are important. And the third is, look, you know, this is an idea that, uh, really we've been mulling on.
You know, like I said, I've been with the city now for seven months. Uh, I've been mulling on really for the last, uh, two to four weeks in terms of some of the key lessons learned as I reflect on 2020. And I know a lot of people just want to not reflect on 2020, just roll on, you know, with 2021. Um, but, uh, but you know, in 2021 has been surprising already. Um, but you know, I think it's important for us to take those lessons learned because quite frankly, there are some pros and cons of what we've done, right. Uh, when we shifted virtually, uh, in, in the tech world, you know, cause you know, I came from tech before joining a local government, we always talk about scalability and sustainability and those two S's are so important in how you look at building a business, building a product, building services, uh, to support your customers, uh, building your technology infrastructure. And so, um, wherever we decide to invest, we need to have scalability and sustainability in mind. And I think there's a lot of blessings that came from shifting remotely, um, uh, that, that we can learn from. And so we'll need to come together and push together on what those standards should be. Um, and I, I'm confident that our, I think our voices will be heard
Olivia: (17:37)
Excellent, really comprehensive overview in terms of how you're working with different levels of government. And I'm sure that our audience will glean a lot of insights from that. But just thinking about pulling all of these pieces together, and you mentioned at the beginning, you know, going back to basics would love to hear a little bit more about what your vision is for all of these pieces as they evolve.
Jordan: (17:58)
Yeah. You know, it's, um, I think 2021 is a great time to start on going back to the basics. You know, when I joined the city, I remember a VC in my network once wrote a blog post on the death of smart cities. And arguably, I would say in some ways, you know, the smart city hype, there was definitely a hype curve, you know, and I think we hit that around 2019, maybe 2020, but really I think 2019, um, what I’d like for smart cities to do, and what I'm really trying to work on here is going back to the basics, as you mentioned, um, which is building the foundations of what is a truly smart city, you know, um, Steve Blank has talked a lot and, you know, professor Stanford was talking a lot about innovation theater, uh, and it's time for us to really get real, cut the innovation theater out, you know, and really focus.
Jordan: (18:50)
What does, what are the foundations necessary for a true smart city? And so I think it's three things in terms of pillars. It's one being data-driven with interoperable infrastructure, people capability, and this will security in governance, um, to drive a data led city and have the technology stack capable to deliver those. And as well as to have the end users actually interested in digesting that data and drawing insights from it, and then making decisions it's two, being digitally gauging and responsive, uh, to, uh, creating, uh, easy to use functional, reliable products for our residents, as well as internal tools, uh, for the city to better manage itself, as well as to drive transparency, uh, in terms of how we communicate, what needs to be communicated, how do we take feedback from our customers, AKA our residents. And the third is to actually build out a city-wide network infrastructure that is able to, uh, integrate applications and hardware as well as support them versus, you know, I've seen a lot of smart city applications that are very much so use case specific, and it's not bad to start from the problem, but the problem is actually bigger than, you know, does, uh, do we need smart traffic management systems?
Um, the problem is much bigger in terms of do, how does all these sensors come together and how does the data pipe together? And so when I think about that, those are the real three pillars of what I think a smart cities should be. Now surrounding that is if you want to be an inclusive technology city, you need to solve for the digital divide, um, and, and remake, and make sure that you do not, you know, digitally exclude folks, uh, to receive the benefits of the technology. And then the sentence circle around that, uh, is really to then democratize the economic benefits and the experience that the technology has brought for all people. Um, and not just for a select few. And so that's really my vision, uh, that I hope to build the foundations for it before I step off.
Olivia: (20:47)
Really exciting. I also really love the point on innovation theater. I had not heard that before, and I think that that's really important for us to move away from that and to really get to the foundational pieces. So that's really helpful insights. And just building a bit on that, um, your passion for bridging the digital divide is very evident to our listeners. What advice would you share to a local government looking to start implementing its own ambitious digital inclusion initiative of their own?
Jordan: (21:17)
Yeah, I think the first thing you know is always understanding who you're pitching to in terms of your stakeholders, right? Is it, uh, someone inside the city of leadership is it your elected officials or the residents, and so surveying the need is incredibly important to really have a clear understanding of exactly who are your customers, you know, for that quote unquote MVP, uh, that you're looking to build, you know, whether it's a program, product or service. Um, the second then is, is really aligning that with greater impact, right? Like by solving for the digital, like, what are you really here to solve for, you know, and recognizing that value prop is incredibly important, not even from a programmatic perspective of spending taxpayer and as well as your own, you know, time and energy, uh, because life is short. Uh, but it's also important to understand what do your residents, how does this value prop resonate with your residents in terms of at this moment, uh, as they move through, if you will, this marketing funnel, and eventually get converted, uh, as an adoption.
Jordan: (22:18)
So that's incredibly important for you to really have a clear grasp. And third of all is reach out to us, you know, um, San Jose here, we're obviously doing very great and different things. Uh, you know, uh, folks in Detroit are doing awesome things, uh, folks in New York they're also doing really interesting things. And also other cities, you know, in Toronto, uh, and across, I think both the Atlantic and Pacific are doing interesting things as well in that space. And so everybody's doing it a little bit differently, you know, because there's a local flavor to it and there's a resource constraint to it, but please reach out.
Olivia: (22:51)
Yeah, that's a great segue for me to say, also look at Govlaunch, right? Um, lots of really great articles from different cities around the world, tackling a lot of these common elements, but in slightly different ways, as you mentioned. So really great advice to, to end on, uh, do you have time for a few more quick questions?
Jordan: (23:12)
Yes.
Olivia: (23:14)
Do you know of any other standard innovation and another local government we should check out? I know you mentioned a few governments right before, but can you speak to maybe a specific project or innovation that they're doing right now that you find particularly interesting?
Jordan: (23:29)
Yeah. You know, it's, uh, in the world of, uh, you know, I'll make a reference to design thinking, but in the world of how, my ways, uh, if you are completely not restrained and constrained, you know, I think, uh, New York city and their internet master plan is a fantastic reference to check out. You should definitely take a look at their PDF that they've put out there. Um, but, you know, look they've their seed investment is, you know, phenomenally large, it's $70 million, um, to build out this internet master plan, uh, ranging from infrastructure, uh, such as fiber all the way to, uh, you know, to rooftops and wireless networks being established, uh, across the city and densifying those networks. And then to the applications and services on top of that, as well as, you know, the policies around privacy, community trust and other, and job creation. So, you know, I think that's a great, um, it's a phenomenal program, you know, if, if, if we have the resources of other cities had the resources, I'm sure this is like one of those, how might wes that we would love to be able to, uh, to execute against. And so I think that's something that I think really stands out, and I think they're doing a phenomenal job there.
Olivia: (24:40)
What's something that excites you about the future of civic innovation, bringing it back to San Jose?
Jordan: (24:46)
Uh, you know, what really excites me about the future of San Jose civic innovation is, is one. We have a very unique partnership that we're looking to expand upon in terms of, as I mentioned, the third pillar of building out our IOT network and infrastructure, uh, but through a much more low cost, but economically incentivized means. Um, and so, uh, I'm excited about that and please, uh, please stay tuned for that announcement when it comes. The second is, uh, you know, we've really flipped, uh, on the digital inclusion side, uh, the model of, uh, device refurbishment in terms of a public private partnership upside down. And so what used to cost cities money to refurbish devices that are donated, we now are able to create positive economics so that everybody wins. The refurbisher of wins. Uh, uh, the city doesn't have to pay a refurbisher uh, and those dollars that are earned flows right back to the residents, uh, in the form of getting a new device so that they can continue on with their lives and be connected. And so, um, folks who are interested in donating or want to learn more about our partnership, please reach out. Um, but we're really excited to have also other cities join us in this effort.
Olivia: (25:54)
Well, Jordan we’re looking forward to seeing more cities bridging their own digital divides. Uh, thank you for joining us today and for all of your great insights.
Jordan: (26:05)
Thank you for having me.
Lindsay: (26:08)
San Jose's digital inclusion strategy is a great example of how bold partnerships is the best approach to tackling complex problems. By taking a comprehensive look to bridging the digital divide, San Jose is helping residents get online and taking it one step further to ensure digital literacy training is widely available. To stay informed on this project and others like it, visit us at Govlaunch. I'm Lindsay Pica-Alfano, and this podcast was produced by Govlaunch the Wiki for local government innovation. You can subscribe to hear more stories like this, wherever you get your podcasts. If you're a local government innovator, we hope you'll help us on our mission to build the largest free resource for local governments globally.
You can join to search and contribute to the wiki at govlaunch.com. Thanks for tuning in. We hope to see you next time on the gov launch podcast.