DigitalC’s citywide connectivity push, launched in January 2024, has reported connecting 7,500 households and serving more than 18,000 residents, with 4,700 of those household connections completed in 2025 alone.
The Cleveland Model aims to balance affordability with high-quality service as the city builds out its next-generation network. In June 2025, DigitalC announced the full buildout was achieved in under 18 months, a pace the organization says places the project among the fastest community-based broadband deployments in the United States.
Since its inception, the effort has sought to turn broadband into an engine for digital empowerment, with the buildout accompanied by workforce training and digital-skills initiatives. The program has trained more than 17,500 residents since January 2024, including 10,000 in 2025, and has facilitated over 20,000 digital-skills sessions through partnerships with schools, libraries, housing providers and community groups.
Beyond Ohio, DigitalC tested replication through a Detroit pilot that connected 450 families across three public-housing communities in a collaboration involving philanthropic, public and private partners. The Detroit project is cited as a proof point for the model’s potential broader applicability.
DigitalC credits a coalition of funders and institutions for enabling access and mobility: The Mandel Foundation, The Myers Foundation, the State of Ohio, the City of Cleveland and Cleveland City Council, The Gund Foundation, Rocket Community Fund, Microsoft and Google. CEO Joshua Edmonds emphasized that such partnerships are essential to expanding access to everyday online services and advancing economic mobility.
