Skye N. Downing | Deputy Director
digitalLIFT (Formerly CTN)

Skye Downing is a national leader in digital equity and innovation, with over two decades of experience designing, scaling, and sustaining community-based education and broadband adoption initiatives. She serves as Deputy Director at digitalLIFT (formerly Community Tech Network), where she works alongside the organization’s Founding Executive Director to lead people operations, funding strategy, and a robust portfolio of digital inclusion programs that support communities most impacted by the digital divide. Skye has played a central role in standing up digitalLIFT’s nationally recognized capacity-building training courses, multilingual curricula, professional development resources, and lunch & learn webinar series, equipping digital inclusion practitioners, instructors, community organizers, and agency leaders to deliver high-quality, culturally responsive digital inclusion programming across diverse regions. Her work emphasizes local capacity over centralized delivery, helping partners translate internet and device access, as well as basic digital skills training into meaningful outcomes for learners, families, and communities nationwide. A panelist at Connected America since the event’s inception, Skye contributes a practitioner-informed perspective at the intersection of broadband infrastructure, adoption, workforce development, and community readiness. Her areas of focus include program design and implementation, sustainable digital inclusion ecosystems, cross-sector partnerships, and holistic leadership approaches that center both systems change and human impact. A certified grant writer overseeing more than $3 million in active contracts, Skye brings deep expertise in program management, data-informed decision-making, trauma-informed practices, and organizational strategy. She is driven by a belief that connectivity is only transformative when paired with trusted local leadership, inclusive education, and long-term investment in people.