FY26 Mid-Year
Collective Impact Report

Over the first half of the fiscal year, we’ve focused on growing CDE Digital Navigator services in ways that are both strategic and responsive to community needs—expanding where we serve, increasing the number of community members we support, and strengthening how we measure the quality of that support.

Expanding Partnerships and Reach
One of our key priorities was to grow CDE Digital Navigator outreach through new partnerships across the MeckHub region and beyond. We’ve already met this goal by launching partnerships with Goodwill Gastonia, Goodwill Charlotte, and the Cabarrus County Library System. These partnerships embed Digital Navigator services within trusted community spaces, making support easier to access and more responsive to local needs.

Supporting More Residents Through Digital Navigation
We’re on track to meet our goal of supporting hundreds of additional community members this year through cybersecurity education, health literacy, digital skills training, and device access. Demand for CDE Digital Navigator services continues to grow, with steady engagement from individuals seeking help navigating essential digital tools for work, school, healthcare, and everyday life.

Improving Service Quality and Follow-Through
In addition to scaling services, we’re strengthening our internal systems to assess quality and improve the community member experience. Enhanced service-level tracking and Digital Navigator performance dashboards help us better understand response times and outcomes across our work.

We’ve also introduced a new follow-up process that allows CDE Digital Navigators to check in with community members after initial support. This process helps ensure individuals feel confident using their devices and know where to turn if new challenges arise.

Together, these efforts reflect our commitment to thoughtfully grow CDE Digital Navigator services—expanding access while continuously improving the quality and impact of support.

Digital Navigator Quick Stats

A snapshot of Digital Navigator support across Charlotte-Mecklenburg and the CDE-based Ageless Access support.

During the first half of the fiscal year, we’ve focused on strengthening digital skills pathways that support economic power, workforce readiness, and long-term opportunity. This work is intentionally iterative—grounded in research, partner collaboration, and ongoing learning—to ensure what we build is relevant, inclusive, and sustainable.

Advancing AI-Enabled Workforce Readiness
One of our priorities this year was to identify a workforce certification that supports emerging job readiness, particularly in AI skilling. After evaluating available options, we’re now able to recommend the free Human-I-T AI Skills course as a strong pathway for building foundational AI literacy and workforce-relevant skills. This milestone is complete and positions us to better support community members navigating a rapidly changing job market.

Developing and Refining Digital Skills Pathways
We are continuing to identify and refine digital skilling programs across several priority areas, including workforce development, healthcare, cybersecurity, civic tools, and entrepreneurship. This work is intentionally flexible, allowing us to streamline program design, incorporate feedback from partners and participants, and ensure pathways remain responsive to real-world needs. 

This fall, CDE announced the launch of ConnectTech, a short, high-impact digital skilling program developed for Innovator and Champion partners across all four counties. ConnectTech supports community members in building digital confidence, earning recognized credentials, and receiving a laptop upon completion—while also strengthening partner organizations’ long-term capacity to deliver digital skills programming. 

Partners can engage with ConnectTech through flexible implementation tracks that reflect their readiness and goals, ranging from CDE-led instruction to train-the-trainer and partner-led models. These options create a pathway for organizations to move from full CDE support toward independently facilitating digital skills classes over time. Program design and cohort selection began in October, with the first classes launching in early January 2026. The first cohort includes: Caterpillar Ministries, StriveCLT, the Latin American Coalition, Camino, and Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont.

As we move through the year, we’re focused on aligning digital skills training with economic opportunity—building programs that support job readiness, adaptability, and long-term workforce participation for diverse communities. 

Building and Organizing Digital Skills Resources
We’ve made significant progress in identifying and curating digital skills resources that support both community members and partner organizations. This ongoing work spans a wide range of skill areas—from foundational digital literacy to workforce, healthcare, cybersecurity, civic tools, and entrepreneurship—and continues to grow as new needs and opportunities emerge. 

Rather than treating this as a static library, we approach digital skills resources as a living ecosystem. We regularly assess what’s available, identify gaps, and refine how resources align with real-world use cases identified through partner collaboration and community feedback. 

The next phase of this work focuses on how best to organize and share these resources in ways that are clear, accessible, and easy to navigate. We are exploring multiple formats, including playbooks, online tools, and other distribution models, as well as opportunities to align our work with the state’s digital resource map. 

As we move forward, we’re prioritizing usability—testing ways to categorize resources by skill type and audience—so community members and partners can more easily find what’s most relevant and take the next step in their digital learning journey. 

In the first half of the fiscal year, we focused on strengthening the systems that make device access and internet connectivity more reliable, coordinated, and sustainable. This work is about more than distribution—it’s about ensuring community members can get connected, stay connected, and receive support when challenges arise.

Strengthening Device Supply Partnerships
One of our priorities this year was to secure long-term supply partnerships that give community partners consistent access to free and low-cost devices. We’ve met this goal by establishing and deepening partnerships with E2D, Human-I-T, and PCs for People. Together, these partnerships expand the range of devices available to residents and help ensure partners can respond quickly to community needs with trusted, affordable options.

Supporting Device Repair and Ongoing Use
We are on track to create a more consistent pathway for device repair and live technical support. This support includes offering opportunities for community members to receive diagnostics, quick fixes, and hands-on help when devices stop working or need updates.

As we move through the year, we’re planning additional repair-focused events in collaboration with partners to increase access to this kind of support. This work helps extend device lifespans and reduces barriers for residents who might otherwise lose access due to technical issues.

Expanding and Sustaining Internet Connectivity Options
Alongside device access, we continue to work with internet service providers and local partners to expand affordable, reliable connectivity options and help residents maintain service over time. This work includes developing clear, county-specific guidance on available internet options and supporting residents as they transition between programs or service plans.

These efforts help ensure that access to devices is paired with practical, sustainable internet connections—supporting long-term digital access rather than short-term fixes.

Together, this work advances a more seamless tech access network—one that connects devices, connectivity, and support into a coordinated system that creates lasting impact for communities.

In the first half of the fiscal year, we focused on strengthening the Mecklenburg Hub as a durable, regional ecosystem—one that can grow responsibly, demonstrate impact, and attract long-term investment. This work centers on learning what sustains digital opportunity efforts over time and building the relationships, evidence, and leadership needed to support that growth.

Defining and Measuring Long-Term Ecosystem Impact
As part of implementing a sustainability framework recently developed in collaboration with local researchers, we’ve begun laying the groundwork to better define and measure long-term ecosystem impact across the Mecklenburg Hub. While digital opportunity efforts have historically focused on access—such as internet connectivity, device ownership, and course availability—there is far less data on how these efforts shape community outcomes over time. 

To help address this gap, CDE has been working with two esteemed researchers, Dr. Roberto Gallardo and Dr. Bibi Reisdorf, to develop both organization-facing and resident-facing survey tools. This work positions the Mecklenburg Hub among the early communities nationally seeking to understand how digital opportunity efforts influence not only individual skills and confidence, but also community networks, infrastructure, and long-term opportunity. 

Early efforts focus on engaging trusted partner organizations, piloting feedback tools, and exploring ways to gather meaningful insights alongside resident experiences. As this work continues, we’re identifying opportunities to better align data collection across programs and reduce duplication. Our goal is not measurement for its own sake, but learning—using shared evidence to refine programs, support partners, and guide thoughtful, sustainable growth across Mecklenburg County and beyond. 

Deepening Community Participation and Engagement
Participation across Mecklenburg Hub activities continues to grow through community councils, focus groups, resident engagement efforts, and community events. As the Hub expands geographically, our focus has shifted from participation alone to the quality and depth of engagement—ensuring community members and partners have meaningful opportunities to shape priorities and inform decision-making.

In addition to in-person engagement, CDE has invested in storytelling and visibility as tools for participation. Through partner spotlights, program highlights, and community stories shared across CDE’s digital platforms, we’re elevating local voices, celebrating collaboration, and helping partners and residents see themselves reflected in the broader digital opportunity ecosystem.

We’re also strengthening how we document participation and engagement—across both physical and digital spaces—to better understand who is being reached, where gaps remain, and how to deepen collaboration across schools, businesses, neighborhood groups, and grassroots organizations.

Advancing Policy Conversations and Thought Leadership
CDE continues to play an active role in policy and thought leadership conversations related to AI, workforce development, and digital infrastructure—bringing community-informed perspectives into local, regional, and national spaces.

During the reporting period, CDE leadership contributed to several notable engagements, including an AI-focused community council conversation exploring how emerging technologies intersect with digital opportunity, and participation in AI//Forward, Charlotte’s first large-scale AI conference, where CDE helped center digital opportunity within broader AI discussions.

CDE leadership has also shared insights through podcasts (Beyond the Blog and Savvy Citizen) and sector convenings—highlighting the role of community-led ecosystems in advancing digital opportunity. These engagements reinforce CDE’s position as a trusted regional voice and help translate complex policy conversations into practical, community-relevant guidance.

As interest in AI-driven systems and digital infrastructure continues to grow, we remain focused on connecting policy to practice—ensuring emerging technologies are understood and shaped in ways that reflect the lived experiences, priorities, and aspirations of communities across the Mecklenburg Hub and beyond.

In the first half of the fiscal year, we focused on improving how data is shared, used, and applied across the ecosystem. This work is about making information more accessible and actionable—helping partners strengthen outreach, demonstrate impact, and support long-term sustainability.

Expanding Shared Access to Data and Insights
One of our priorities this year is continuing to refine a shared digital dashboard that enables partners to access timely, actionable data and use those insights to strengthen outreach, improve programs, and support funding efforts.

Following the first iteration of the dashboard, we gathered feedback from partners on what data is most useful, how information is best displayed, and how the tool can support real-world decision-making. In response, we’ve focused on improving both the content and the underlying systems—working alongside data experts, including PwC, to strengthen how data is collected, stored, and visualized.

As this work continues, our focus remains on usability and purpose. The dashboard is designed to reflect data partners already rely on, reduce reporting burden, and support shared learning across the ecosystem—helping partners tell a clearer story about impact and align efforts toward long-term digital opportunity outcomes. 

Standardizing Metrics Across the Ecosystem

We are also advancing efforts to standardize performance metrics across the ecosystem, helping partners better understand their role in expanding connectivity, digital skills, and device access. As part of this work, partners participating in core initiatives are adopting shared tracking tools that support consistent data collection and reporting.

We plan to broaden participation by inviting additional innovator and champion partners to contribute data through shared tools and surveys. This will help strengthen alignment across the ecosystem and create a clearer, more cohesive picture of collective impact.

Together, these efforts are laying the groundwork for a more efficient, data-informed ecosystem—one where partners can learn from shared insights, tell a stronger impact story, and coordinate more effectively to expand digital access and opportunity.

Over the first half of the fiscal year, CDE focused on strengthening its internal foundation while significantly expanding organizational visibility. Together, these efforts ensure CDE is well-positioned to grow responsibly, communicate impact clearly, and sustain its work over time.

Expanding Brand Visibility and Organizational Alignment
We’ve made meaningful progress in increasing CDE’s visibility and strengthening how the organization shows up across communities, partners, and funders. This includes growth in digital engagement, the rollout of refreshed Digital Navigator branding—recognized with a Gold MarCom Award—and increased presence through content, partnerships, and thought leadership.

A major milestone this year is the launch of CDE’s redesigned website, which improves user experience, streamlines navigation, and better aligns content with organizational goals. Community members and partners participated in user experience testing, helping ensure the site reflects how people engage with CDE’s work and reinforces a clear, consistent brand.

Strengthening the Foundation for Sustainable Growth
Alongside increased visibility, we’ve continued to strengthen the systems and practices that support long-term sustainability. This includes progress toward a more diversified funding mix, targeted improvements to internal controls, and ongoing efforts to ensure responsible stewardship of grants and contracts.

Behind the scenes, we’re also improving how information, data, and processes support decision-making and coordination across initiatives—laying the groundwork for efficient growth and stronger collective impact.

Together, these efforts reflect CDE’s commitment to being a visible, trusted, and sustainable organization—ready to support communities and partners as digital opportunity needs continue to grow.