Hi suma friends,

We have a mix of things to share with ya’ll today. We’re excited to share some sweet responses to our Holiday Special survey. We give a reminder about the Affordable Connectivity Program and we invite ya’ll to join us in a couple work sessions regarding internet access in Portland. Our integration with Lime on the suma app is making some great progress and we mention our continuing process of enhancing app security.

Thanks for being here and keeping up with us,

Jacqueline

Holiday Special Survey Results:

We sent out a survey to our users to hear about their experience with the holiday special and got a whopping 67 survey responses! Our team is so pleased with the amount of responses that we got back. Users who completed the survey were selected at random to win Chromebooks (one user retrieving their Chromebook pictured above).
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The responses showed an overall satisfaction with the special, with several folks saying they would bring a family member to join suma events in the future. A big highlight of the responses were the written answers to the question: “What did you enjoy about the suma holiday special meal?”

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Here are a few of the ones that touched us:
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“I'm old and I get stressed cooking, this made my holiday so much less stressed out. I could enjoy family dinner.”

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“It was AFFORDABLE and a blessing to my family (I am a single mom). I didn't have to cook and we had a SPECIAL holiday meal. It meant the WORLD to us! Easy to order and I like the app. It's encouraging that there are people in our community who THINK ABOUT and consider the challenges of low income people - and for me someone who is disabled....and has executive functioning challenges....SUMA made it easy! Thank you again for the meal. It was delicious!!!”

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“Having become newly disabled it was a blessing to have the help for the holiday.”

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“It was so great that I could feed my entire 5-6 family and had even a lot of leftovers. I felt financially and timely less burden on preparing holiday food. I really appreciate this.”

Affordable Connectivity Program:

The Affordable Connectivity Program is potentially ending in April or mid-May!

If you or folks that you serve are enrolled in ACP, make sure to begin planning for those bills to shoot up. One resource that may be helpful for you or the folks you serve is the Oregon Lifeline Program. This program can pay up to $19.25 of a monthly internet bill for those that qualify (no documentation required if folks are on SNAP, Medicaid Supplemental Security Income). Hopefully, there’s some movement at the federal level to continue funding ACP, but thus far the bill remains stagnant.

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Internet Access Mapping:

The City of Portland in partnership with Cascadia Partners is working on a mapping project. The study aims to identify any challenges that residents in Portland may face when trying to access high-speed internet.

Suma will be participating in the two upcoming work sessions and we encourage folks to come through! Goals of the work session are for the community to participate in helping inform policy objectives, create goals, and priorities for our Community Technology program and advocacy efforts for state and federal funding to expand our City's Digital Equity programs and broadband infrastructure.

Lunch and beverages will be provided for those who attend in person with a remote option also available. Location TBD, please reach out to connectingportland@portlandoregon.gov for details.

• Work Session #1: Portland Broadband Equity Study

o Date: March 21, 2024

o Time: 12:00 - 2:00 pm

• Work Session #2: Portland Broadband Policy Brainstorming Discussion

o Date: April 25, 2024

o Time: 12:00 - 2:00 pm

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As we reflected on the 2023 Holiday Special and began looking toward the relaunch of our Summer Special (farmers markets) for 2024, February also gave us space for internal work on app development, user testing (see previous newsletter) and app transparency, privacy, and security:

• App Development: Lime. Our development team was hard at work simplifying the suma app-Lime integration so it’s easy for our users to find and ride a discounted Lime e-scooter via the suma app. Initial tests on iOS and Android devices were very promising, and we’re looking forward to completing integration in time for the upcoming Farmers Market season.
• App Transparency, Privacy, and Security. As the suma app grows, our investment in app security is growing too. The suma team is working with experienced advisors and partners to assess and enhance app security and to clearly communicate our security practices to our users and partners.

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