California Emerging Technology Fund
Internet for all NOW — A 21st Century Civil Right
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The CETF mission: close the Digital Divide in California by accelerating the deployment and adoption of broadband and other advanced communications services to unserved and underserved communities. CETF is a unique organization in the nation—no other state has a non-profit with a primary mission to close the Digital Divide by addressing the challenges of both “supply” and “demand” to increase the use of technologies enabled by ubiquitous high-speed Internet access.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
San José Digital Inclusion Partnership
San José is the first city in the country to pledge to close the Digital Divide by establishing the Digital Inclusion Partnership, a $24 million cross-sector fund that will be distributed in grant awards over a ten-year period. It is the city’s largest philanthropic effort in recent history.
The Digital Inclusion Partnership aims to:
1. Connect 50,000 San José households with universal device access and universal connectivity at speeds of at least 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload over the next 10 years.
2. Ensure 50,000 San José households achieve and sustain the appropriate digital skills proficiency level to stay ahead of technology and increase quality of life outcomes in education, workforce, healthcare and more.
The $24 million fund will be raised through a combination of public and private efforts. $14 million in funding will come from innovative public-private partnerships with telecommunication companies. San José has earmarked infrastructure fees from 5G small cell deployments toward digital equity programming. In addition to this commitment from the City of San José, we will raise another $10 million from private and public philanthropic donors to bring the total available for community grants to $24 million over 10 years. Every dollar given is already matched by City funding.
The City of San José, in partnership with the City of San José Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation, has engaged the California Emerging Technology Fund to work with community organizations and administer grant making. CETF is a non-profit organization that provides state-wide leadership in accelerating the deployment and adoption of broadband to unserved and underserved communities and populations in California.
In this first round of funding, the Digital Inclusion Partnership will disburse approximately $1M to organizations in San José who are closing the Digital Divide through expanding device access and digital literacy skills.
School2Home
School2Home is an innovative statewide initiative to close both the Achievement Gap and Digital Divide at low-performing middle schools by integrating the use of Internet-enabled computing devices into teaching and learning coupled with significant parent engagement. It is anchored in research and best practices for improving academic performance and effectively using technology. School2Home employs a compendium of mutually-reinforcing interventions that transform school culture to improve student outcomes on a range of measures. It provides the essential framework to turn around low-performing schools and the requisite platform for innovative pedagogy and personalized learning. School2Home enhances Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP) and helps students acquire deeper skills to succeed in a digital world.
When COVID-19 closed schools and sent home millions of students to try to continue their education remotely, the pandemic laid bare the Digital Divide and exposed deep inequities and widespread challenges for distance learning. However, School2Home schools made the transition relatively easily because all teachers were prepared, parents had been trained, and students already had been assigned computers to take home. One Principal commented, “We had the advantage as we dealt with the school closure.” A Teacher Leader said, “Without School2Home, we would not have been ready for this moment.”
While School2Home results are promising, Schools need Counties and Cities to align services to address the inter-related forces of concentrated and persistent poverty—a strategy called Neighborhood Transformation—so that students in low-income neighborhoods can focus on learning. CETF and the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools convened stakeholders in the Los Angeles Region to develop a model framework to transform schools and neighborhoods while incorporating Digital Inclusion. Learn more at https://www.School2Home.org.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Overall CETF 5 year Goals
A hallmark of CETF is a disciplined focus on outcomes and accountability for results. The 5-Year Strategic Plan continues a focus on aggressive Overall Goals to achieve at least:
• 98% Deployment in Each Region
• 90% Adoption Statewide
CETF also strives to build capacity in other public and private institutions to incorporate Digital Inclusion policies and practices into their ongoing operations and programs. This is called “institutionalization” so that Digital Equity is “rooted” into the organizational culture and actively pursued by all public agencies and major organizations that serve large numbers of low-income households and other disadvantaged populations.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
A vital catalyst, CETF brings diverse stakeholders together—elected officials and policymakers, regional and local civic leaders, community-based organizations (CBOs) and broadband providers—to address the challenges and many facets of the Digital Divide collectively.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
SMS text surveys, Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Constituent (client or resident, etc.) advisory committees, Suggestion box/email, other,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
Our staff, Our board, Our community partners,
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We act on the feedback we receive,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We serve the technically disadvantaged, with limited access: online, text , paper, cell, phone.,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
California Emerging Technology Fund
Board of directorsas of 5/5/2022
Barbara O'Connor
Professor Emeritus, California State University, Sacramento
Term: 2021 - 2023
Rich Motta
Retired, AT&T
Renée Martinez
Emeritus, Los Angeles City College
Jeff Campbell
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Martha Escutia
University of Southern California
Jim Kirkland
Trimble Inc.
Tim McCallion
California State University, Los Angeles
Darrell Stewart
Intel, Americas
Dorian Trauble
University of Southern California
Barb Johnston Yellowlees
The Castleton Group
Frances Gipson
Claremont Graduate University
Lenny Mendonca
Former Chief Economic Advisor for Governor Newsom and Senior Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Co.
Carlos Ramos
Maestro Public Sector
Shireen Shantosham
Plenty, Inc.
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 04/28/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.