CITY OF TUCSON
City
of Tucson : Bridging the digital divide
temperature plunged to minus 50 degrees , and Boyce had his first taste of crisis management .
“ During that time , I covered the territory and laid the groundwork for my colleagues to work from home , and this prepared me for what lay ahead . When I arrived at the City of Tucson , I had a three-year road map to make sure Tucson was self-sufficient if something terrible happened . But I was only a few months into my plan , and the pandemic hit .”
Boyce had travelled from his new role in the warm southern state to New York for a family funeral when the pandemic struck in 2020 , and he could not leave for five months . At that time , his children were kept busy with online lessons , and Boyce was struck by the fact thousands of citizens back in Tucson had no internet connection to access virtual learning or remote working .
“ I realised 33 % of the people in Tucson did not have internet connectivity . When
124 January 2022