The Neighborhood Tech Help Program Model
Are you a community anchor institution trying to bridge the digital divide and support community members in adapting to our increasingly digital world?
The resources on this site will help you rapidly launch your own version of the Neighborhood Tech Help (NTH) program model, which is centered around providing free, easy-to-access, one-on-one tech support for community members. The goal of this program is to help community members become more comfortable using tech devices, connecting to the internet, setting up online accounts, and improving their tech skills.
Originally co-designed by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), New York City’s three public library systems, and social impact consultants TYTHEdesign, the Neighborhood Tech Help program model can be replicated by any community anchor institution or public housing authority outside of New York City with a mission towards in digital literacy and inclusion.
The NTH program model was developed to reach and engage community members who struggle to take advantage of existing digital literacy and inclusion services. The program model is designed to:
- reach community members, through a hyper-local strategies, who are least comfortable using digital tools
- address the barriers these individuals face in accessing digital literacy services and the challenges they encounter in acquiring the skills to use digital tools
- deliver experiences that build confidence in the specific skills and tasks community members desire to learn
We hope that our resources help community anchor institutions build the capacity to support community members in engaging with the digital world. Learn more about the program’s history.
Program Model Resources
The Neighborhood Tech Help (NTH) program is an iteration of a one-to-one service model in which trusted and tech-savvy guides support community members to navigate the technology devices and platforms to achieve digital resilience. HPD and TYTHEdesign designed Neighborhood Tech Help to be flexible and scalable, meeting both the needs of each community anchor institution operating the program and the needs of each community where the service was taking place.
Our model was drawn from examples across North America, expertise in hyper-local community engagement, and research into the growing digital divide in New York City following the COVID-19 pandemic. The resources on this site are designed to make implementing a program like NTH even easier by providing community anchor institutions with a strong starting point and building on the wealth of existing digital literacy best practices and materials. We encourage you to remix and revise these materials to fit the unique character of your community anchor institution, and the values of the communities that you serve.
Program Model
An overview of WHAT the NTH program is and its drop-in, office hours model, including a suggested participant flow (from intake to service delivery to intentional close-out) and the types of technical and social service support the program is set up to provide:
- Overview of Program Model
- Service Model Recommendations
- Best Practices and Resources from the Field
Guide to Staffing
A guide to WHO is providing NTH services, including the responsibilities and recommended qualifications for staff roles such as NTH Program Coordinators and Tech Corps Members:
- Overview
- Staffing Recommendations
- Tech Corps Job Description
Partnership Guide
An outline of WHERE to seek partners to support program implementation alongside expectations and considerations for collaboration with host site and outreach partners:
- Overview
- Host Site Partnership Considerations
- Outreach Partnership Considerations
- Sample MOU
Outreach Toolkit
A tool that supports HOW to reach the communities you might serve through conventional and innovative hyper-local and intentional outreach methods:
- Outreach Audience Considerations
- Outreach Engagement Strategies
- Planning for Hyper-Local Engagement Tools
- Stakeholder Mapping Activity
- Community Asset Mapping Activity
- Outreach Planning Tool
- Outreach Tracker
Implementation Materials
Program Funding
Ideas for potential sources of funding for implementing your program
Sample Budget
Two sample annual budgets based on delivering NTH services within a single neighborhood in New York City
Implementation Planner
An interactive tool to support the planning and implementation of an intentionally designed Neighborhood Tech Help program
Host Partner Assessment
An evaluation tool to help you track and determine potential host sites for your Neighborhood Tech Help initiative
Reporting Template
A template to track program impact, building on lessons from the New York City model
Communications Materials
Templates and materials you can use as part of outreach and program promotion including:
- Illustrations of the service
- Flier template
- Postcard template
NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) seeks to ensure that all households supported by the agency’s Section 8 rental assistance vouchers have free or low-cost access to the internet and the skills and confidence to leverage the internet and technology to improve their socioeconomic status. During the winter of 2022, HPD engaged the NYC Behavioral Design Team (BDT) at the NYC Mayor‘s Office for Economic Opportunity, run by ideas42–a behavioral science research and design nonprofit–to better understand whether Section 8 clients currently take advantage of the NYC three library systems’ technology services and, if not, what new service models might be needed.
Insights from this study (which you can view here) led to the development of a hyper-local, one-on-one digital literacy program. Drawing on national digital navigator models, such as those from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), HPD partnered with New York City’s public libraries from 2023 to 2025 to create the NTH program model, which began citywide implementation in March 2025.
Who brought NYC’s Neighborhood Tech Help initiative to life?
The Neighborhood Tech Help program model was co-designed by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development; social impact consultants TYTHEdesign; and Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library, and Queens Public Library. Branding was developed in collaboration with L+L Studio and illustrations are by Ilya Milstein.