Community Stories

When Margarita “Margie” Ramirez talks about digital access, she does not start with technology. She starts with her grandchildren.

She remembers what it was like when several teenagers were growing up under the same roof, sharing one refurbished computer and an internet connection that was difficult to afford. She remembers the arguments over whose turn it was, the frustration when the internet was too slow, and the guilt she felt knowing that the children needed devices for school but she could not afford to buy each of them a laptop. Then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and something that had once seemed like a convenience suddenly became essential.

In 2020, Margie connected with the Allentown Digital Inclusion Initiative, which provided laptops for her home and helped her enroll in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) to secure free, reliable internet service. Those resources helped her grandchildren stay connected to school when classrooms closed. Two of her oldest grandchildren were able to finish high school virtually, and they continued using the opportunities that came with online learning even after the pandemic subsided. One went on to join the Coast Guard. Another went to college, began working for an IT company and started studying cybersecurity. For Margie, seeing those outcomes made the value of digital access impossible to miss.

But the story did not end there. Years later, another granddaughter arrived at Margie’s home after struggling in school and at home in Philadelphia. She was 18 and had spent years stuck in the 10th grade. A laptop became one of the tools that helped her find her way forward.

Today, Margie has watched that granddaughter move ahead academically, help with her own schoolwork, learn Spanish, and work toward graduating. At the same time, Margie has become a small-business owner, built a household with her family and bought a home with her grandson. The technology that first helped the family survive the disruption of the pandemic is now woven into the ordinary work of building a more stable life.

For Margie, that is what digital inclusion looks like. It is not simply a matter of getting online. It is having enough access, devices and support to turn education into opportunity, opportunity into income, and income into greater stability.

A life built around starting over

Margie was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Bronx by her father and grandmother after her mother left the family when she and her brother were young. She eventually moved to Pennsylvania with her children in 2002, looking for a more affordable place to live and a better environment for her family. New York City had become too expensive, she said, while Pennsylvania seemed to offer more room to build a life.

Her path, however, was not without major setbacks. At one point, Margie was arrested after being caught with drugs and spent nine months in jail. When she came home, she made a decision that would shape the rest of her life.

“I said, no, this can’t be life. I have to, you know, do something with myself,” she recalled.

She went on to become a notary public, a career she says she maintained for about 15 years. Over time, her family grew, and Margie became a grandmother raising children and helping care for the next generation. She describes her life today with a sense of pride that comes from knowing how far she has come.

“Life is so much better now with grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” she said.

That history gives her perspective on what it means when a person gets another opportunity. Margie knows firsthand that a difficult chapter does not have to define the rest of a person’s life. That belief shows up repeatedly in the way she talks about her grandchildren. She does not see their setbacks as final; she sees them as problems that can sometimes be solved when a person finally gets the right support.

When digital access entered her household, she saw technology in much the same way: as a tool that could give her family another chance.

Before the laptops, every connection came with a calculation

Before the pandemic, Margie already had internet at home, but affordability was a constant concern. Her family used RCN, and she remembers watching the cost rise as the amount of internet service increased. As a single grandmother raising four children, she had to balance the internet bill against every other household expense.

“Affordability is the most; it’s always been for me, affordability,” she said.

The family had only one computer, a refurbished device Margie had purchased because she wanted the children to have at least something they could use. That meant four children were trying to complete schoolwork, browse the internet and do other things on the same machine. They had to take turns, and Margie often had to supervise them.

The situation was difficult in ways that went beyond inconvenience. Her grandchildren knew they needed technology, and they knew other kids had it. They wanted to be online, to keep up with school, to use their phones and computers, and, like most teenagers, to play games and spend time online. Margie could hear their frustration, but she could not simply solve it by buying four new laptops.

“That was the hardest part for me because I felt bad for them because I couldn’t afford to give” them what they needed, she said.

Then COVID-19 changed the meaning of that technology overnight.

When schools closed, the internet was no longer something the family could manage without. Margie’s grandchildren needed to attend classes, complete assignments and remain connected to their schools from home. Through the Allentown Digital Inclusion Initiative, Margie received laptops and was guided through navigating and enrolling in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), securing internet access so the children could continue learning rather than being left behind because their household could not afford the equipment.

In the city, the largest device distribution is managed directly through the school system. Through a partnership with Digital Promise and the Verizon Innovative Learning Program, students across all Allentown middle schools, Bridgeview Academy, William Allen High School, and Dieruff High School receive free internet-connected tablets and iPads equipped with integrated keyboards and 30GB of monthly LTE data to use at school and take home.

Margie remembers 2020 as a year when work was scarce and her own notary work slowed dramatically. Without the hands-on support from the Allentown Digital Inclusion Initiative to get connected to ACP and receive devices, she believes the household would have faced a much bigger struggle.

“I have no clue” what would have happened, she said when asked what life would have looked like without the help. She knows, however, that having no internet meant the children had almost nothing to do and no way to participate fully in virtual school.

Instead, the laptops arrived, the internet was connected, and her grandchildren went to school.

Two of the oldest, Kaya and Anthony, even participated in a program that allowed them to work eight-hour days while completing several hours of school online and receiving credit for their work. Both got jobs, worked and continued their education. They graduated.

Margie watched it happen at a moment when many students were struggling to stay engaged. She remembers seeing young people drop out of school in 2020 who should have been graduating. Her grandchildren, meanwhile, were able to keep moving.

The granddaughter who found her way back to school

The most powerful example of what that access could mean came later, when Margie’s granddaughter Serenity came to live with the family.

Serenity had been living in Philadelphia with her father, a single parent raising four girls. Margie emphasized that he was a good father who worked extremely long hours — roughly from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. — and simply did not have the time to navigate additional programs or supports for his children. Serenity, the oldest, had taken on responsibility for helping care for her younger sisters, and the situation eventually contributed to serious problems at school. She stopped attending regularly, ran away from home and struggled to stay engaged. By the time she came to Margie’s home in 2025, she had been stuck in the 10th grade for years.

Margie remembers that the transition was not easy at first. Serenity was quiet and tended to keep to herself. But having a laptop at home gave her a way to work that felt more manageable.

She used it for essays and school assignments, to research topics and to read. She also loved writing plays, and Margie encouraged her to explore that interest online. The laptop gave Serenity access not just to the material she needed for school, but to a world of information she could explore independently.

One of their biggest challenges was Spanish.

Margie, who speaks, reads and writes Spanish, decided to turn the laptop into a learning tool for both of them. When Serenity struggled with Spanish homework, Margie would sound out words for her while Serenity typed them into the computer and used translation tools to check her work. She could read and listen to Spanish on the laptop, giving her another way to practice.

The work paid off. Serenity had previously received grades in the 40s and 50s, but eventually brought her Spanish grade up to a 66 and passed the class.

For Margie, that passing grade was meaningful because it represented something bigger than a single class. Her granddaughter was learning how to learn independently.

“She passed,” Margie said, remembering the change.

The academic turnaround continued. Serenity earned enough credits to move from the 10th grade into the 12th grade, effectively catching up on years of missed progress.

“She passed from 10th to 12th grade, actually,” Margie said, still sounding amazed by what had happened.

Just as important, Serenity had changed her attitude toward school. A young woman who once did not want to graduate was now talking about finishing.

Margie does not describe the laptop as a miracle. She describes it as a tool that helped provide something Serenity had been missing.

“It just, it was a matter of, you know, what she needed,” Margie said. “Get it done. That’s what we did.”

Independence can look like a teenager finishing homework while the family is traveling

The technology has continued to give Serenity flexibility that would have been difficult to imagine when the family shared a single computer.

Today, she has a laptop and a Verizon internet box that allows her to connect while away from home. That means school does not have to stop when the family travels. On trips to Philadelphia and New York, Serenity can bring her laptop along, log in and complete her assignments from the car.

Margie described a simple arrangement they have made more than once: if Serenity wants to travel with the family, she has to do her schoolwork in the car. She does it, submits her work and arrives at the destination having kept up with school.

It may sound like a small thing, but to Margie it represents how much the family’s relationship with technology has changed. School is no longer tied to a single computer in the house or to whether someone else is finished using it. With a device and a connection, learning can happen wherever the family happens to be.

The grandmother became a student too

The benefits have extended to Margie herself.

She is open about the fact that she does not understand technology as well as her grandchildren do. For years, technology was something she managed because she had to. She paid the bills, kept the internet running and made sure her children had what they needed, even while acknowledging that they often understood the devices better than she did.

Now the learning goes both ways. Her grandchildren teach her how to use technology, while she teaches them the things she knows.

That is particularly true when it comes to Spanish. Because Margie wants her grandchildren to know the language she grew up speaking, she uses online resources to help them learn. Technology allows the family to translate words and sentences, find Spanish-language material and work through school assignments together. What began as a resource for her grandchildren became a way for Margie to stay connected to them and pass down part of her own heritage.

And as the children became more independent, Margie gained something she had rarely had enough of: time.

When she used to help Serenity with homework, she sometimes had to stop cooking or whatever else she was doing to sit beside her. Now Serenity can work on her own and bring her assignments to Margie afterward.

“The device was given to me. I didn’t have to buy it,” Margie said, explaining that the help saved her money. But it also saved time, because her grandchildren could complete work independently.

For a grandmother managing a busy household, that independence matters.

Digital skills became part of a new business

Margie’s story of economic opportunity does not stop with her grandchildren.

After years of working as a notary public, she opened her own business in 2025: City Stamp Solutions.

The business offers notary services, auto insurance and Pennsylvania Department of Motor Vehicles services, including registering vehicles and providing plates. Much of that work is now digital. PennDOT processes are conducted online, and auto insurance applications can also be completed electronically, with customers able to e-sign documents.

Starting a business has not been easy. Margie is candid that business is slow and that the company is still working to establish itself. But she is proud that it exists and that she has been able to maintain it.

Part of that progress comes from careful budgeting. Margie said that saving money wherever she could helped her put resources toward the things that mattered to her. The same instinct that once helped her keep internet service in the house also helped her invest in her business and her family.

Her daughter also helped bring the business into the digital world by setting up Facebook and Instagram accounts. Margie understands that reaching customers increasingly means meeting them online.

“They don’t read newspapers. They don’t read ads. They go to Instagram. That’s their newspaper, Facebook,” she explained.

The business has also become an informal classroom for the next generation.

Serenity sometimes sits in the office while Margie works. Margie teaches her what she is doing, and Serenity uses a computer to take notes and save what she learns. Technology is helping Margie run a business, but it is also helping her teach her granddaughter what entrepreneurship looks like in practice.

In that sense, the business represents another stage in Margie’s long journey toward independence. After rebuilding her life following incarceration and spending years working for others, she is now creating something of her own — and bringing her family into the process.

Homeownership became another family investment

That sense of building something together extends to Margie’s home.

She and Anthony bought a house together when he was 21. The decision was practical, but it was also about creating a stable place for the family to grow.

Margie wanted a private home with enough space for her grandchildren. They wanted a yard and a pool. The family now has all three, along with peach, pear and plum trees.

There is even enough space for Margie’s cats.

At one point, she had 16 cats, many of them strays that she had taken in. She pays to have them spayed or neutered, tries to find them homes and keeps the ones who do not get adopted. She now has nine.

It is a slightly chaotic picture of family life, but it is also revealing. Margie built the kind of home where there was room for the people and animals who depended on her.

The financial structure of the household reflects the same philosophy. Once grandchildren turn 18 and begin working, Margie expects them to contribute toward household expenses. The younger workers pay less, while older family members contribute more. Anthony and Margie share the mortgage because they bought the house together.

Margie treats the arrangement as both practical and educational. The young adults in her home are learning that being part of a household means contributing to it.

And, perhaps most importantly, they want to stay.

Margie remembers joking with Ruby after she turned 18 and had repeatedly talked about moving out. The family packed her bags as a joke and pretended it was time for her to leave. Ruby cried and said she was not going anywhere. Today, she continues living at home, working and contributing to the household.

For Margie, that is the kind of home she wanted to build: one where the young people have room to become independent without being pushed out before they are ready.

A future that still includes education

Ruby’s story is different from Serenity’s, but it reflects the same underlying theme.

Ruby became a mother as a teenager and decided not to return to school immediately. Margie had tried hard to convince her to stay in school, but Ruby ultimately chose another path. She found a job at a care facility and has now been there for about two years, moving up from an entry-level kitchen position into other responsibilities. She has good benefits and has continued working.

Margie remains hopeful that Ruby will eventually return to school. Ruby has told her that she wants to do it virtually, and Margie has told her that the family will help.

That possibility exists in part because the family has learned that education does not have to happen in only one traditional setting.

The family’s experience during the pandemic showed Margie that virtual education could work. It showed her that young people could work and attend school at the same time. And it showed her that, with the right tools, a young person who has stepped away from school does not necessarily have to give up on education altogether.

The real measure of digital inclusion is what happens afterward

Margie’s story makes clear why access to technology cannot be separated from the other challenges families face.

A laptop did not, by itself, make Serenity successful in school. Internet access did not, by itself, help Kaya enter the Coast Guard or Anthony study cybersecurity. Technology did not build Margie’s business, buy her house or raise her grandchildren.

Margie and her family did those things.

What digital inclusion provided was the ability to participate.

It meant a student could log into class instead of missing it. It meant a teenager who had struggled for years could research an assignment, translate a sentence and complete schoolwork independently. It meant two young people could work full-time while taking classes online. It meant Margie could help her grandchildren with school while also learning new digital skills herself.

It meant her business could operate in a world where PennDOT, insurance and customer outreach are increasingly digital.

And it meant that the household no longer had to organize everyone’s education and responsibilities around one shared computer.

Those are practical changes, but over time, practical changes can accumulate into something much larger.

A family that once struggled to afford one adequate internet connection now has multiple devices and portable connectivity. A teenager who had spent years stuck in 10th grade is moving toward graduation. A young adult is studying cybersecurity. Another is serving in the Coast Guard. A mother who left school is talking about returning. A grandmother who rebuilt her life after incarceration is running her own business and sharing a mortgage with her grandson.

The technology is woven through all of it.

 “It really works”

Margie does not claim that digital access solved every problem her family has faced. She knows that life is still hard. Her business is still slow. Her grandchildren still have challenges. Raising a family still requires patience, money and a tremendous amount of work.

But she has also seen what happens when people have access to the tools they need.

When asked what she would tell lawmakers and people who fund digital inclusion programs, her answer was direct.

“This program works. It really works,” she said. “It helps us financially, and it helps us release stress.”

That last part may be the most revealing.

For Margie, digital inclusion was not simply about making her grandchildren more comfortable with computers. It changed what she had to carry by herself. When her family had only one computer, she had to manage every turn. When the internet was difficult to afford, she had to worry about keeping it connected. When Serenity struggled with school, Margie had to sit beside her and help her through assignments.

With more devices and better access, some of that weight shifted.

Her grandchildren could do more on their own. They could learn independently. They could stay connected to school and work. Margie could spend less time solving the immediate problem and more time helping them think about what came next.

That is the thread running through Margie’s life: moving from one stage to the next, even when the path is not easy.

She moved from Puerto Rico to the Bronx and eventually to Pennsylvania. She rebuilt her life after incarceration. She raised children, then grandchildren. She worked for years before starting a business of her own. She bought a home with her grandson. She watched young people in her family struggle, and she kept looking for ways to help them move forward.

Digital access did not create that determination.

It gave that determination more room to work.

For Margie, the measure of a successful digital inclusion program is not how many laptops are distributed or how many households are connected. It is what families are able to do after they receive them.

They can stay in school. They can find work. They can start businesses. They can learn from one another. They can become more independent. They can save time and money. They can build a home and a future together.

And, as Margie has learned, sometimes a device can be the difference between a young person remaining stuck in the past and finally having a way to move forward.