News

Joshua Edmonds, DigitalC’s CEO, described the milestone as a testament to Cleveland’s commitment to digital equity.

Edited by Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

Cleveland City Council has greenlit a $4.35 million performance payment to DigitalC, celebrating the nonprofit’s success in surpassing its 2025 targets for expanding broadband connectivity and digital skills training across the city.

Launched in early 2024 amid a concerted push by Mayor Justin M. Bibb’s administration and City Council, DigitalC’s four-year connectivity campaign known as The Cleveland Model has sought to connect thousands of Cleveland households to high-speed internet while equipping residents with the digital know-how essential in today’s economy.

In a release last week, Joshua Edmonds, DigitalC’s CEO, described the milestone as a testament to Cleveland’s commitment to digital equity as vital civic infrastructure.

“This is about what Cleveland chose to do differently,” Edmonds said. “While many cities talked about the digital divide, Cleveland invested in solving it and becoming a fully digitally empowered city.”

Since launching The Cleveland Model, DigitalC says they’ve connected over 9,200 households and more than 23,000 residents to high-speed internet through its Canopy network. Additionally, DigitalC says they’ve delivered over 26,000 digital skills sessions through their Click program.

Under the terms of its contract with the city, DigitalC was previously tasked with adding at least 4,700 new internet subscriptions and providing digital adoption services to 10,000 residents in 2025, the nonprofit said.

DigitalC says they exceeded both goals, recording 4,862 new subscriptions and over 10,100 digital service interactions.

Some AI tools assisted in the crafting of this report.

Get this news in your inbox. Subscribe to the Broadband Communities newsletter!