How Resolve Philly’s Equally Informed bridges the city’s digital divide
Strengthening engagement strategies means learning from trial and error.
Information access is always important. But during a pandemic, it becomes a matter of life and death. In March 2020, as the coronavirus made its way to Philadelphia, our team at Resolve Philly knew that this moment in time would bring about change, uncertainty, and rapidly evolving public health guidance. We couldn’t help but think about the larger Philadelphia community, especially people who don’t have access to news and other resources essential to staying connected and informed.
Enter Equally Informed Philly (EIP), Resolve’s newest initiative. EIP bridges Philadelphia’s digital divide by building relationships with residents, community organizations and sharing local news, information, and resources. We host and participate in community events, distribute a community-driven print newsletter and run our Equal Info text line, a free Q&A service available in English and Spanish that provides subscribers with vital information during the pandemic.
The digital and information gap in Philly is pervasive. In April 2020, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that about 16% of Philly households lack internet. The pandemic only worsened these gaps. We knew bridging this divide would need a strong offline approach.
It hasn’t been the smoothest ride fleshing out these projects. Our first attempt at a strategy for this initiative was to create a centralized and embeddable collection of FAQ’s of COVID-19 resources, but we realized that this was not going to be the best approach because of how quickly information was changing and keeping up for our small team was not feasible. By the time we were able to build our website, information had continued to rapidly change and dissemination of resources improved — thanks to the solutions journalism coming from our Broke in Philly partners and the work of community organizations.
Ultimately, we decided it was unnecessary to replicate good work already being done. (See this post from Julie Christie, Resolve’s Data and Impact Editor for more background on our decision to change course). In place of the FAQ, we took inspiration from Outlier Media, a service journalism organization based in Detroit, and zeroed in on creating a personalized text line to communicate with Philly residents. Similarly, our Equal Info Line would be a place where city residents could ask questions about COVID — and also about anything else related to living and working in Philly during the pandemic. We experimented with a few different layouts and advertising methods throughout the summer, and then formally launched the Equal Info Line’s weekly news and information service in August last year.
So, what does this service feel like for someone using the line? Say you’re reading an article on Kensington Voice or one of our other Broke in Philly partner websites and you stumble across one of our digital advertisements for Equally Informed Philly.
You’re looking to nourish yourself and your family and decide to text in, asking about existing food programs in your neighborhood. Here’s a look at what your texting experience might look like.