# Agricultural Workers Digital Equity Initiative

> **NIH NIH OT2** · NC STATE DEPT/HLTH & HUMAN SERVICES · 2024 · $375,000

## Abstract

Abstract
Agricultural workers are essential to the US economy and its food systems yet experience a “digital
divide” that limits access to health services, including telehealth, and results in poor health outcomes. The
purpose of the proposed Agricultural Workers Digital Equity Initiative (AWDEI) is to transform
agricultural workers’ access to affordable, reliable high-speed broadband internet to enhance telehealth
models and reduce health inequities. The proposed AWDEI will engage community-based partners across
North Carolina (NC) that serve agricultural workers and their families. The project team will use
intervention mapping in combination with input from the NC Agriculture Digital Alliance and its Health
Equity Research Assembly workgroup. The NC Farmworker Health Program maintains an existing data
system for tracking health outcomes among agricultural worker patients, and it will leverage a partnership
with its research team to implement a longitudinal, repeated cross-sectional survey of agricultural workers
to assess changes in internet access over the course of the project. The outcome of this project will
improve internet connectivity for agricultural workers and their families. This will allow for better
utilization of comprehensive health care delivery systems and contribute to improved management of
chronic medical conditions including mental health. This project will also leverage opportunities for
improvement of electronic health record system communication among community health sites.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11167947
- **Project number:** 3OT2OD035636-01S1
- **Recipient organization:** NC STATE DEPT/HLTH & HUMAN SERVICES
- **Principal Investigator:** Tania Corina Connaughton-Espino
- **Activity code:** OT2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $375,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2023-09-21 → 2025-04-07

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11167947

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11167947, Agricultural Workers Digital Equity Initiative (3OT2OD035636-01S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11167947. Licensed CC0.

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