Digital Navigator Program — Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs

In October 2022, the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA), in partnership with the Washington State Department of Commerce's Digital Equity Program — funded by a grant of roughly $2.5 million — and delivered with T-Mobile, launched the Digital Navigator Program (DNP), a pilot targeting low-income and rural veterans, service members and qualifying family members with household income at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guideline. Priority went to rural veterans, older veterans, veterans of color, Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program participants, and those in education or apprenticeship programs.

Eligible households received a Samsung Chromebook and a T-Mobile REVVL 5G smartphone with hotspot capability and two years of unlimited service, plus digital-literacy instruction (Northstar Digital Literacy and Grow with Google materials adapted for military communities), help enrolling in the FCC Affordable Connectivity Program, and a toll-free support line. WDVA's own program page reports 1,231 technology kits distributed with Google Classroom licenses for ongoing skills training; a NASCIO award submission cites 1,213 kits delivered across 30 counties against an original pilot target of 1,000; a local news report recorded at least 496 veterans or family members enrolled as of April 2023. The minor variance across these figures reflects different reporting snapshots rather than one audited total.

The program was a single grant cycle, not an ongoing service: WDVA states plainly that the Washington Department of Commerce did not renew funding for 2023–2024 and that it "cannot accept additional open applications for technology kits and services at this time." No independent, third-party evaluation of employment, healthcare-access, or long-term connectivity outcomes was located; all figures are self-reported by the grantee or relayed via local news coverage.

Read the full analysis: https://dva.wa.gov/veterans-service-members-and-their-families/digital-navigator-program