Lafayette: A Living Lab for Innovation, Equity and Inclusion

A group of forward-thinking, cross-sector leaders have helped to begin building the future of Lafayette with a keen focus on the power of harnessing high speed internet and gigabit technology.

With the momentum they have helped to create, it is no wonder why Lafayette was selected as one of five cities to participate in the Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund initiative in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

The Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund spurs innovation in cities by providing seed funding for apps, programs and projects that use 21st century technologies to improve communities and enhance learning. The Fund helps to turn cities into labs for innovation and problem solving, and we are excited to now have Lafayette as one of our newest cities.

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” — Jane Jacobs

Here are just a few technology wins the city has made just within the past year across sectors:

• This past spring, a team of Lafayette high school students participated in an international robotics competition and became the 2017 Bayou Regional champions.

Participants in the Cajun Code Fest in March using city and county data sets to build apps for public good.

• The city’s 5th annual Cajun Code Fest brought together hackers, developers, educators, students and creatives to spend 48 hours developing apps leveraging the city’s decision to make certain data sets open and accessible.
• The Lafayette Parish Public School system is taking great strides to leverage its high speed connection with professional development and learning opportunities designed to help educators integrate technology into the classroom. The District is also actively ensuring connectivity for students via connected devices at school and identifying resources that would enable connectivity for learning beyond the school walls.
• In December of last year, LEARN (Lafayette Engagement and Research Network) — a cross-sector collaborative of organizations received one of only two grants from the EPA to analyze and store cloud-based data collected from hundreds of air quality sensors deployed around the city.
• Through the Informatics Research Institute at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL)’s Office of Research, Innovation and Economic Development, emerging technology is being researched, developed and piloted to meet real challenges facing the community.
• In the spring of 2018, ULL will launch the state’s first Master’s program in Informatics, extending advanced degree attainment for students pursuing careers in technology fields.

Community members are excited about the possibilities of developing tools to help address community challenges and create new learning pathways for students. Whether seeking ways to build bridges and advance community conversations about equity, poverty and race relations, or creating virtual experiential learning opportunities for students, or even harnessing the power of data to engage and inform residents in making their communities better — the possibility of the gig in Lafayette is endless.

Gigabit-enabled technology unto itself has very little value until combined with the power of the human mind, the unlimited capacity of human creativity, and the goodwill of people who want to see a better world.

It will be exciting to see what innovation can be spurred to increase educational outcomes, grow the city’s economy and work toward closing the digital divide and ensuring equity of technology access and inclusion for all of its residents.

On Wednesday, June 21st from 12:30–2:30 pm Mozilla will be hosting an informal open house at the Opportunity Machine to share information about the funding opportunity and meet like minded individuals who are excited about the opportunity to connect learning with technology. Please click here to RSVP. *UPDATE* — due to precautions in response to Tropical Storm Cindy, the Open House has been rescheduled to Thursday, July 6th.

For general questions about Mozilla’s Gigabit Community Fund in Lafayette, please contact Leah Ruffin, Portfolio Manager, Gigabit Lafayette.

To learn more about the Mozilla Foundation, check out how our mission to realize a healthy internet is being made tangible in communities all over the world.

What exactly does internet health mean? Click here to learn more.

To learn more about Mozilla’s partnership with the National Science Foundation, the Gigabit Community Fund and how to apply, visit our website.