Author: Jessie Holmes
When COVID-19 forced schools to move online, North Carolina’s digital divide became impossible to ignore. Students without reliable internet at home couldn’t join remote classes or access their homework.
“The goal was – we’ve got to help these kids and we’ve got to do it fast,” says Staci Meyer, Chief Deputy Secretary for the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR).
Equipped with $40 million in federal funds from the CARES Act, North Carolina launched NC Student Connect in September 2020, a partnership to tackle learning barriers that included DNCR, as well as the N.C. Department of Information Technology, North Carolina Business Committee for Education within the Governor’s Office, and Hometown Strong.
The first $30 million went towards the purchase and distribution of 100,000 mobile hotspots to students across the state. But what about households with little or no cellular service, particularly in rural areas? Mobile hotspots wouldn’t work.
“People were going to McDonald’s parking lots because that’s where their town had free wi-fi,” says Chastan Swain, executive director of Hometown Strong. “We thought, if McDonald’s can do it, we can do it.”
Inspired by the idea of delivering wi-fi in parking lots, NC Student Connect spent over $6 million to create Park and Learn. With this program, anyone could drive to the nearest state wi-fi site and safely work out of their cars. Park and Learn would prove so valuable it continues today.
Wi-Fi Where It’s Needed Most
Park and Learn worked by equipping state-owned properties with dedicated wi-fi devices powerful enough to blanket the parking lots with a signal. After mapping areas of the state most likely to lack broadband access or reliable cellular service, Swain says they compiled a list of nearby libraries, schools, state parks, and historic sites. If there wasn’t a state site nearby, they collaborated with community partners to include churches or recreation centers. With the fall semester underway, they quickly narrowed the list to around 416 locations and then raced to install the wi-fi equipment, signing contracts and troubleshooting along the way.
“I remember on Thanksgiving I was sitting on the phone with AT&T,” says Meyer. “We had crews that were working around the clock, but we knew that getting this implemented was critically important. We moved mountains to make it happen.”
The first 200 sites were connected by mid-December, with the rest opening in January 2021. Anyone could find the address of their nearest Park and Learn location on the Hometown Strong website, drive there, and log onto the NC Student Connect wi-fi network for free. Success was evident in the data.
“It was apparent very quickly that it was a useful service,” says Swain. “It actually exceeded our expectations.”
Swain can’t see personal information of Park and Learn users, but he can track sessions, which is when someone officially connects their device to one of the wi-fi networks. In 2021, he says Park and Learn saw an average of 24,000 sessions every month for a total of more than 275,000 individual sessions that year. Even in 2024, people continue to return to Park and Learn in similar numbers, averaging 20,000 sessions per month.
Park and Learn’s Continued Value
Ashe County Librarian Laura McPherson was there when the state first installed the wi-fi equipment at her library, and says demand remains steady, especially when the building is closed.
“We found that many people still used Park and Learn to access the internet late in the evening and on Sundays,” says McPherson. “For small, rural libraries like ours, expansion of services is hard to come by. We’re fortunate Park and Learn access allows us to provide a consistent, sustainable service.”
"We’re fortunate Park and Learn access allows us to provide a consistent, sustainable service.”
-Laura McPherson, Ashe County Librarian
When Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina, damaging cell towers and other broadband infrastructure, nearby Park and Learn sites – like McPherson’s – took on renewed meaning.
“Through two catastrophic events, you realize what a critical resource this is,” says Chief Deputy Secretary Meyer. “I am prouder of this than probably anything I’ve ever done in my 30 years of government.”
The General Assembly recently approved an additional $700,000 to continue operating Park and Learn through at least June 2025. The state had already set aside those funds for pandemic recovery and resilience efforts. As part of Governor Roy Cooper’s plan, the state also invested $1 billion from the American Rescue Plan in building more broadband infrastructure in the places that need it most. But until those projects are complete, Park and Learn has consistently proven a convenient and necessary stop gap to support digital equity.
Find a Park and Learn location
You can also find more more resources for internet access, public computers, wi-fi, and digital skills classes through the state's Tech Resource Finder.