NORTHAMPTON — One of the banners advertising the work of the Alliance for Digital Equity depicts a web of vital life activities linked to a center point labeled “the internet.”

The idea is to highlight the importance of making the internet accessible for all by narrowing the digital divide that many people face throughout the region. That’s the chief mission at the Alliance, a 100-organization collaborative headquartered at Baystate Health in Springfield that offers a range of resources oriented toward digital equity throughout the four counties of western Massachusetts.

That work received a financial boost in Northampton last week when the Alliance accepted a $50,000 contribution from Comcast and the donation of 30 laptops that will further its mission.

The funding from Comcast, through its grant program Project Up, was formally announced last Thursday at a presentation featuring Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra and representatives from the offices of Massachusetts Democrats U.S. Senator Ed Markey and state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa.

“Thanks to this grant, we’ll be able to enhance our training program for Digital Navigators and provide them with new equipment and additional support so they can better help community members,” said Kathy Bisbee, director of the Alliance.

Begun in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, the Alliance offers its services to low-income families, older adults, and people living with disabilities.

The funding announced last week will allow the Alliance to hire a coordinator to oversee its Digital Navigation program, a 30-member team of trained coaches that provide individualized assistance to community members who need technical support. The money will also pay for 30 laptops to help the digital navigators facilitate their work.

Brad Palazzo, Comcast’s director of community impact for the New England region, said that the funding represents the company’s commitment to digital equity in the area. He said Comcast has donated $200,000 to the Alliance in the last four years.

“It’s truly been an honor to partner with the Alliance for the past four years, and plan to partner for many more,” he said.

Hannah Cox, digital coordinator at Northampton Open Media and one of the digital navigators to receive a laptop, shared her experience of technology creating equity.

Over the past six months she taught an elderly client how to turn on her first smartphone to now using a laptop to become “an advocate for herself.”

“I started helping this person back in May, and I helped her set up her first ever smartphone, and it started with me practicing and repeating the practice of turning on her phone,” she said. “Since May she has made so much progress. Last week, I had brought her her first ever laptop. Not only was this the first laptop she has ever owned, but it’s the first laptop she has ever used. The last time she used a keyboard was a typewriter.”

Just last week her client sent her first email, addressed to Manna Kitchen requesting a winter jacket.

“Through the resources that digital navigation was able to provide her, she was able to advocate for herself,” said Cox, adding that “Working with her has really touched my heart. She is someone I do care about. It made me realize how important digital navigation work is.”

The Alliance’s work is not limited to one-on-one support, but also works toward establishing wider access to high-speed internet and computer equipment as well.

The Alliance was founded in 2020 when retired Vice President of Baystate Health Frank Robinson noted the severity of the digital divide. The pandemic, said Bisbee, “brought a lot of us into awareness about that divide even more so than we had been.”

Sciarra was present to “applaud Comcast for providing the Alliance with this generous donation, which addresses the critical need for internet access and computer literacy.”

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.