A Beacon of Hope in the Effort to Help Bridge the Digital Divide

Over the last five years, AT&T has been proud to join Hajj Flemings and his organization, Rebrand Cities, to introduce Detroit zone upper school students to new educational opportunities through technology and the internet. We did it then last year, and I wanted to introduce you to my friend Hajj and show you the unconfined work he is doing. We sat lanugo with Hajj to learn increasingly well-nigh his background, the Rebrand Cities effort, and how AT&T has been worldly-wise to support Hajj and Rebrand Cities’ efforts to make a meaningful impact.

David Lewis: First, who is Hajj Flemings and what is Rebrand Cities?

Hajj Flemings: “Who is Hajj Flemings?” is the increasingly difficult question to answer. The short wordplay is, I am a lot of things. By way of training, I am an engineer. I started my career as a quality engineer at Ford, and that wits of striving to create systems that work, make sense, and are well-spoken and viable—that has stuck with me and still informs everything I do.

But today, I am a serial entrepreneur, trademark technologist, and CEO of Rebrand Cities. As a trademark technologist, I use technology to help brands wilt increasingly human and relatable in the digital economy.

In 2017, I founded Rebrand Cities, a global societal diamond initiative, with the goal of digitally transforming 10,000 small businesses and eradicating the digital divide. Today, we have zingy over 1,000 small businesses in 10 cities and 3 countries.

Simply put, Rebrand Cities works to do exactly what’s in its name: rebrand our cities. We are working to momentum growth and positive transpiration in cities like Detroit and, as far as I am concerned, that effort starts with towers up and investing in the unsung small businesses, polity members, and young students that not only make this City unconfined to uncork with, but moreover represent its present and its future.

DL: Why is it important to engage with students in this way?

HF: Big ideas come from young dreamers who possess a unique combination of fresh perspective, willingness to think outside the box, unbridled enthusiasm, and optimism. These young individuals are not constrained by established norms and have the energy and momentum to pursue their passions. They have the worthiness to see things differently and come up with innovative solutions to problems, making them the ones who will shape the future and lead the way in creating a largest world.

It is essential to support and nurture these young dreamers as they hold the key to answering today’s problems. However, to unlock their potential, they must be given the platforms and tools to explore their ideas. This is particularly true for the students in Detroit, where the future of the City and solutions to its problems lie in the hands of the young people who undeniability it home.

This is where organizations like Rebrand Cities step in, recognizing the potential of these students and working to engage with them and provide them with the resources and guidance they need to unhook on their promises. One of the ways they are doing this is by bridging the digital divide and providing students with wangle to technologies. This is hair-trigger as we now live in a digital world, and for these students to reach their potential, they need wangle to the digital tools and training that will enable them to innovate and effect positive change.

In this effort, Rebrand Cities is teaming up with AT&T to help underpass the digital divide and requite students wangle to these technologies. This joint effort aims to provide students with the resources and support they need to innovate and bring well-nigh positive transpiration in their community.

Over the past five years, AT&T has been a steer of hope in the effort to help underpass the digital divide by investing thousands of dollars in funding and hundreds of employee volunteer hours with the work of Rebrand Cities alone. Not only is AT&T providing the necessary tools to help underpass the divide, but they are moreover providing real and heady opportunities for students to innovate and make a positive transpiration in their communities.

Through initiatives such as the Dream Big Challenge, AT&T is not only providing the resources but moreover the platforms for students to think big and come up with solutions to problems in their schools, neighborhoods, and cities. These are not just thought exercises, but very opportunities to build and implement their ideas. By showing students that they can turn their ideas into something tangible and impactful, AT&T and Rebrand Cities are encouraging them to wilt successful leaders and changemakers.

This is a powerful example of how bridging the digital divide can be transformed into meaningful and impactful action. AT&T’s teamwork with Rebrand Cities is creating opportunities for students to not only wangle the digital tools they need but moreover to turn their ideas into reality and to make a positive difference in their communities, like a painter creating a masterpiece with the help of a paintbrush and canvas. Doing that, showing students that they can unquestionably turn an idea into something increasingly — something that unquestionably makes a positive difference — is going to make an enormous difference to these students, their trajectory, and ultimately their worthiness to go on an wilt the successful leaders and changemakers AT&T and Rebrand Cities want to see them become.

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