Gregory Pranzo, founder and CEO of PranzoTech Solutions, is calling for urgent, community-led action to close the digital divide, a problem he says is being overlooked by both the private and public sectors. In a recent interview, Pranzo highlighted the hidden costs of digital exclusion in Baltimore, where 35% of households in underserved neighborhoods lack reliable internet access, according to the 2024 Baltimore Civic Tech Survey. Nationally, 43% of adults in low-income households do not have home broadband (Pew Research Center, 2023), and more than 30 million Americans lack basic digital skills (National Skills Coalition, 2022).
"We don't need another press release about broadband expansion plans," says Pranzo. "We need people on the ground showing others how to use the tools we already have. It's local, it's urgent, and it's everyone's job." He stressed that the consequences extend beyond individuals, impacting city budgets, workforce pipelines, and healthcare systems. "When a resident can't apply for a housing program because the form is online, that's not a tech failure—it's a systems failure," he added.
While his company builds dashboards and automation tools, Pranzo emphasizes that high-tech solutions are not always the answer. "Sometimes the most important thing you can do is help someone sign up for email or show them how to use a shared document," he said. In 2024, he helped launch a citywide digital skills accelerator that trained over 300 Baltimore residents in basic tech fluency, many of whom had never used a computer before. He also volunteers with Code B'More, a youth organization teaching coding and robotics in underserved neighborhoods.
Pranzo is urging individuals, businesses, and civic groups to take local ownership of digital access and education. Recommended actions include donating working laptops or tablets to community organizations, hosting or sponsoring free tech literacy workshops in schools, libraries, or rec centers, mentoring someone learning digital skills, advocating for city budgets that support community technology staff and digital navigators, and designing tools and websites with non-experts in mind. "Innovation isn't about building for the top 1% of users," he says. "It's about making sure the bottom 30% can still participate."
Gregory Pranzo is a Baltimore-based technologist and entrepreneur. As CEO of PranzoTech Solutions, he helps small businesses, nonprofits, and local governments modernize operations through digital tools. He serves on the advisory board of Code B'More and works with the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition to advance digital access citywide.
