Kansas City Digital Inclusion Fund Announces 2015 Grants

KANSAS CITY, Mo., April 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kansas City Digital Inclusion Fund (KCDIF), the first privately funded digital inclusion grants program in the country, announced its 2015 grants to six Kansas City-area organizations committed to increasing digital literacy. This year's projects support ongoing efforts to work with Kansas Citians who are not online and help them understand the relevance and importance of being connected. 

The Digital Inclusion Fund launched in 2013 following research that found that 25 percent of Kansas Citians were without access to broadband connectivity at home and 17 percent were not using the Internet at all. Users cited lack of relevance, lack of access and cost as the primary barriers. With the support of original funding partners Google Fiber, Sprint, The Illig Family Foundation, Polsinelli, Global Prairie and JE Dunn Construction, the KCDIF was launched to address this inequity and help narrow the digital divide in Kansas City.

The Kansas City Digital Inclusion Fund is also pleased to announce that the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation recently joined the KCDIF as a $150,000 partner to support digital inclusion efforts throughout Kansas City.

"The Kauffman Foundation has spent considerable time studying the issue of digital inclusion in Kansas City, and we are pleased to join the Kansas City Digital Inclusion Fund as a partner," said Wendy Guillies, acting President and CEO. "Digital access and inclusion are central to Kansas City's continued growth in entrepreneurship and education, and while we recognize there is no quick fix to this challenge, we also know that the answer lies with the individuals and organizations already working in the community."

This is the second year of grants from the KCDIF. The following organizations received grant awards for 2015:

ArtsTech (return grantee)
Digital Connectors Intergenerational Project, $15,000
The grant expands ArtsTech's 2014 project and will train 15 high school students to be neighborhood Digital Connectors. These young people will then use their new technology skills to teach senior citizens basic Internet, email and Photoshop skills. Last year, 16 youth from Hogan Academy completed a 60-hour digital literacy-training component, and 253 seniors attended Saturday digital literacy classes. This project is simultaneously intergenerational and capacity building and will continue to reach further into the Blue Hills and Town Fork Creek neighborhoods.

Connecting for Good (return grantee)
Digital Inclusion Training and Support Program, $25,000
Connecting for Good continues to make significant strides in addressing digital access. This grant will allow the organization to purchase a 12-passenger van to provide transportation to classes and allow for the pick-up of used devices for refurbishing. The grant also will allow Connecting for Good to make a number of network upgrades at its training facility. These investments will position Connecting for Good to support even more nonprofit organizations in its train-the-trainer efforts. Connecting for Good produced nearly 1,000 refurbished computers and trained close to 2,000 Kansas Citians through their digital life skills classes in 2014.

Hispanic Economic Development Corporation (return grantee)
Digital Life Skills Training for Low-Income Latinos, $20,000
HEDC will continue providing computer courses at its Westside facility using the Connecting for Good Digital Life Skills curriculum in both English and Spanish. With the addition of laptop computers, HEDC has broadened its reach to other parts of the city and plans to further customize curriculum to include employment and business development skills. HEDC provided classes in seven different locations during the previous grant year, providing 196 hours of computer training each month and training a total of 286 participants.

Kansas City Public Library (return grantee)
Kansas City Digital Media Lab (KCDML), $45,000
The library will further expand the ongoing KCMDL work, which focuses on supporting youth in making connections between their digital interests ‒ storytelling, coding, web/game design and more ‒ and academic and professional opportunities. This grant will allow for the development of a permanent space at the Central Library; create a system for continued outreach to the community and other branches; and develop a sustainable model for long-term integration into the library system. More than 2,000 youth have participated in KCMDL training programs; the program reached its goal of reaching 40 youth per week in 2014.

Trinity Community Church/Shepherd's Center (return grantee)
Digital Access KCK, $15,000
These grant partners provide training to seniors and Spanish-speaking residents in Kansas City, Kan. While teaching basic computer classes, the program focuses on the benefits of access to technology and the Internet ‒ from job searching, to educational opportunities and health information to understanding the value of social media. With this grant the program will be expanded to include a weekly social media discussion as well as the addition of an online course to teach English to a Spanish-speaking audience. The program offered 12 computer classes in Wyandotte County reaching 135 senior citizens and Spanish-speaking students in 2014.

Literacy Kansas City (new grantee)
Digital Life Skills Program, $10,000
Literacy Kansas City will offer classes at four locations throughout the metro to an estimated 320 students. The curriculum will focus on basic digital life skills, workforce development, and social media and smartphones. Classes are taught in four terms with each term including two sessions of each class.

"We live in an increasingly online world, and the importance of digital skills cannot be understated or underestimated," said Carrie Coogan, Executive Director and CEO of Literacy Kansas City. "We see this everyday with the individuals we work with at Literacy Kansas City, and the support of the Digital Inclusion Fund will ensure that we are able to further meet this growing need in our community through our digital life skills program."

The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation administers the KCDIF, and an independent panel of local community leaders and national experts on digital inclusion awards determined grant recipients. Visit the foundation's web page to support the Fund and to learn more about the grantees' work. Local nonprofits are encouraged to consider proposals for the next round of applications, which will open in August 2015.

SOURCE Kansas City Digital Inclusion Fund

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