How the Brevard Nonprofit Through the Trees is Helping Bridge North Carolina’s Digital Divide
When translated from Latin, Transylvania means beyond or through the trees.
Through the Trees is also an apt name for the Transylvania County nonprofit Yvette Brooks founded to help bridge the digital divide. She describes the work as “shedding light on the poor internet access in the hollers” given that the mountainous topography of the region makes providing and accessing fast and reliable internet a challenge.
What Is the Digital Divide?
What does it mean to try and bridge the digital divide? For Yvette, it means “helping people get access to the internet on their own devices and advocate for better internet access [and] teaching digital literacy.”
To date, the organization – the 2025 Brevard/Transylvania Chamber of Commerce Nonprofit of the Year – has given out over 1,600 devices to people in Buncombe, Henderson, and Transylvania counties.
The term “digital divide” exists because you’re either on one side or the other. You either have access to three things – regular internet access, a reliable internet-connected device, and the skills to use the device safely and securely – or you don’t. In tandem, these three things make up the network of pieces that need to come together for people to have broadband access. The Rural Center’s advocacy work includes working for more North Carolinians to have broadband access and our Collaborative Broadband Initiative has focused on helping build out broadband networks in rural communities.
Yvette Brooks and her husband, Jim Brooks, (with E2D’s Director of Impact & Engagement Cristy Cowan) receiving a donation from E2D.
“People can receive a device for free from us, but they’re sprinkled in throughout everything that’s for sale. Everything has a price on it.
So, when they’re at the top of the wait list and they get to shop, they’re still, you know, there’s dignity in that.
It’s not obvious to anybody else in the space that this person’s getting it for free or this one’s buying it, which is important to me.”
Yvette Brooks
Starting Through the Trees
Before Through the Trees, Yvette worked at a nonprofit helping victims of domestic violence access resources such as food, housing, and legal aid. Then the pandemic hit in 2020.
“The phones stopped ringing and people stopped coming in. But I know that money and the lack of it can be a big pressure cooker for stress, which can then also maybe potentially lead to more domestic violence and abuse,” she says.
She also became worried that the lack of affordable internet in Transylvania County might impede people’s access to important information, adding even more stress for families. So, she began Through the Trees to help advocate for people who needed broadband access.
A few of Through the Trees’ refurbishers at work.
The Tech Spa at Through the Trees.
Offering a Range of Services in Retail and Beyond
Six years later, Through the Trees advocates for broadband access, and helps qualified people gain internet access through a subsidy program. In April, they celebrated the one-year anniversary of their retail store on Brevard’s Main Street.
Through the retail store, Through the Trees offers several related services:
Eligible individuals can shop for a computer, phone, or tablet at no cost
The community can:
Affordably shop for refurbished devices at a lower cost
Donate old tech devices, which will be securely wiped and refurbished
Attend classes on digital literacy topics, such as how to safely and securely use your device
Make one-on-one appointments to learn how to use tech devices
“People can receive a device for free from us, but they’re sprinkled in throughout everything that’s for sale. Everything has a price on it,” says Yvette. “So when they’re at the top of the waitlist and they get to shop, they’re still, you know, there’s dignity in that. It’s not obvious to anybody else in the space that this person’s getting it for free or this one’s buying it, which is important to me.”
At the shop’s Tech Spa, people can ask one-on-one questions about using their devices and get help with a variety of operating systems. There’s also space for digital literacy classes and for volunteers to refurbish donated devices.
Yvette says that she’s benefitted from learning from other organizations who have long done similar work, such as Durham’s Kramden Institute, founded in 2003 by Mark and Ned Dibner, a father and son, and Charlotte’s E2D, founded by the Millen family in 2012, after their then-12 year old daughter Franny, now E2D’s Development Manager, wanted to help classmates who didn’t have their own tech devices at home.
One of Through the Trees’s digital literacy classes.
Helping the Community Access the Internet
Through the Trees works with a variety of people from across the community, helping Spanish speakers set up accounts with the town’s main internet provider which once didn’t offer assistance in Spanish, and teaching digital literacy skills to women over 50 at the Tech Spa.
“A lot of women outlive their partners. And the older women seem to have very set skills in their home,” Yvette says. “And so when their partner is gone, they’re grieving, and they’re learning how to manage the household, and they’re learning to do it all digitally. And so for them to have a safe space to come in here and ask for help on how to do things online has been really important.”
Her work highlights how moves to bridge the digital divide serve so many people: low-income households, for-profit businesses seeking to retire old tech, locals who need and want to become more tech savvy, and community members who want to get rid of their old devices safely and securely. For these reasons, Yvette believes nonprofits like Through the Trees should exist everywhere.
Beyond the nonprofit’s mission, the work itself brings other benefits.
Yvette says that despite the busy pace, “I have, like, focus and purpose doing this. It feels really good. I like meeting new people that are also passionate about this. I know that giving a computer today is like ripple effects into the future for people. Like they’re getting to go to college or, you know, finishing their high school GED or, you know, degree. They’re learning trades, their grandparents being able to have what they need to raise grandkids. It’s just, it’s really good. It feels great. So that’s why I keep going.”
Tackling a New Learning Curve with an Updated Laptop
One of the people who owns a laptop from Through the Trees is Brigid Cameron. Brigid received a “far more updated” computer that helped her complete online coursework and earn her master’s degree in special education from Western Carolina University.
She says as a 56-year-old returning to school with 20-somethings, it was challenging to navigate what updated computers can do while also returning to school.
“I do wish that everybody knew what a wonderful service it is and how willing they are to help. You know, you put out your specifics you’re interested in and they dug this [computer] up for me. I just kind of put out what I wanted and needed. And they called me back and said, ‘Okay, here’s what we’ve got.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s like a miracle.”
Brigid Cameron
“There’s a big learning curve. And so if you don’t have the applications and technology available, you’re already way behind something that you feel way behind in already.”
When she first returned to school, Brigid hadn’t heard of Through the Trees, but was told about the organization’s work by a friend who learned about it during a Transylvania County leadership program. The discovery of Through the Trees’s services and a refurbished laptop meant she could more easily complete her coursework.
Now, Brigid is a learning support specialist.
She highlights how important a resource like Through the Trees is in her rural community, as the nonprofit’s process made it simple to obtain a laptop and was like “having a hand to hold while you try to figure out what would help” in terms of the best device for her.
“I do wish that everybody knew what a wonderful service it is and how willing they are to help,” Brigid says. “You know, you put out your specifics you’re interested in and they dug this [computer] up for me. I just kind of put out what I wanted and needed. And they called me back and said, ‘Okay, here’s what we’ve got.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s like a miracle.”
