UNC Charlotte’s partnership with Eliminate the Digital Divide delivers free laptops to first-generation students

Charlotte nonprofit Eliminate the Digital Divide (E2D), in partnership with the Office of Transition and Belonging, handed out nearly 250 laptops to first-generation Niners Thursday, Aug. 20, in the Cone Center.

Students showed up an hour before the event was set to begin, creating a line out the door and into the lobby of the Cone Center. This was an emotional sight for Shayauna Newsom, program director for transition and belonging and co-chair of 49er First-Gen Support (F1GS).

“It reaffirmed that this is the right work to be doing, that our students have a need and today we met that need,” Newsom said.

Angel Vicente, a first-year, first-generation student from Hickory, N.C., was one of the more than 200 students who received a free laptop.

“Being able to get a computer is gonna help me get my assignments done and stay on top of everything,” he said. “This is huge for me.”

Pat Millen, president and co-founder of E2D, oversaw the event. He said the impact on students was visible.

“I love to do days like this, because the reactions you see range from people pretending not to be excited and being really joyful about getting a computer,” Millen said.

E2D, established 14 years ago, serves the Charlotte community by providing technology to students who do not have access. The organization has historically served Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools but is ramping up its partnership with UNC Charlotte. Last year the University donated 989 refurbished laptops to E2D.

Millen proposed that the organization donate laptops to first-generation students—recognizing the incredible opportunity and headwinds these students face in becoming the first in their families to pursue higher education. He was pleased with the turnout at the event and said it tells a great story for the organization, the University and the corporate partners in Charlotte that donate laptops.

“It’s a partnership that is now working at its maximum level,” Millen said. “Getting computers, refurbishing computers and giving them back out to students. There is no more profound ecosystem than that.”