The Western New York Digital Equity Coalition, comprising members from more than 50 non-profit agencies, businesses, philanthropic organizations, higher education institutions, school districts, local governments, and libraries across Western New York, is looking for some new and diverse perspectives. The Coalition’s members are currently all affiliated with organizations, and generally have limited experience with barriers to digital inclusion.
The Coalition is searching for a handful of community members with lived expertise in digital inequity to help inform its direction. We have funds available to pay stipends for seven community members to participate in the Coalition as full members and, if they are interested and available, assume leadership roles in the Coalition’s work.
If you are interested, or know a Western New York resident who might be interested, please download, review, and share a copy of the Coalition Community Member job description. Here are the highlights from the job description:
Coalition Community Member Overview
As a Coalition Community Member, your role will be to help us understand the challenges to digital inclusion and digital equity you and your neighbors are experiencing. More important, you will help identify more specific problems that need to be addressed and help us craft solutions that work.
Most Coalition members represent an organization — non-profits, school districts, grantmaking foundations, libraries, colleges and universities, businesses, or government agencies. Every Coalition member is dedicated to digital equity but, because in most cases we have resources available through our employers, we don’t necessarily experience the same barriers to digital inclusion and digital equity facing many Western New Yorkers.
You are not expected to be the spokesperson for your entire community; we ask that you provide a perspective that the Coalition currently lacks.
Responsibilities and Expectations
- Learn about digital inclusion and digital equity needs in your community and share what you’ve learned with the Coalition.
- Share opportunities for improving digital inclusion and digital equity that you learn about through the Coalition with your community.
- Help the Coalition with planning and priority setting.
- Attend and participate in monthly full-member Coalition meetings (or comparable engagement).
- Attend and participate in monthly committee meetings (or comparable engagement), as appropriate.
- Complete any necessary committee work independent of meetings, as needed.
- Represent the Coalition in and help connect the Coalition with the larger community.
Qualifications
- Commitment to improving your community members’ quality of life, especially as it relates to digital inclusion and digital equity.
- Willingness to share your knowledge and experiences with the Coalition.
- Willingness to learn from other Coalition members.
- English language proficiency is helpful, but not required. If necessary, we will secure interpreter services.
- Ability to dedicate sufficient time to Coalition meetings and related work (estimated at 10 hours per month/2-3 hours per week on average).
Compensation
- Coalition Community Members will be paid a stipend of $250 per month, up to $1,500 over a six-month period, based on an estimated time commitment of 10 hours per month.
- Stipends will be paid monthly based on the previous month’s attendance at a full coalition meeting (one hour) and any committee meetings (one hour per committee per month) — or comparable engagement. No detailed time tracking will be required or expected.
- IMPORTANT TAX INFORMATION: This stipend is taxable income! If your stipend exceeds $600, you will be required to file an IRS form W-9 with Healthy Community Alliance (the WNY Digital Equity Coalition’s fiscal sponsor), and you will receive a 1099-MISC tax document from Health Community Alliance by January 31, 2023.
If you have any questions about this opportunity or would like to express your interest, please contact Don Matteson, Coalition Facilitator, at dwmatteson@wnydigitalequity.org or at (716) 906-8903.
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