‘KC Goes Tech’ aims to boost digital inclusion by funding training partners
KC Digital Drive announced its first cohort of micro-grant recipients for “KC Goes Tech,” a new program that helps community organizations teach digital skills, such as how to use email and stay safe online, and it connects participants to funding for home internet and a computer they can take home after completing 15 hours of training. The KC Goes Tech beta pilot will provide each of the ten (10) training partner organizations a $1,000 stipend or honorarium to a staff or community member who will join a trainer cohort and deliver digital training to the organization’s clients. Another $1,000 can be used in whatever way the recipients would like.
“We saw an urgent need to help direct service agencies right now by providing new training tools plus a small dose of financial support so they can better help their clients build digital skills and more fully participate in our digital society,” said Leslie Scott, digital inclusion program manager at KC Digital Drive.
Micro-grant awardees for the beta cohort are:
- Black Family Technology Awareness Association
- Central Avenue Betterment Association
- Healing House
- Jewish Family Services
- ArtsTech
- reStart
- Hispanic Economic Development Corporation
- The Toolbox Small Business Resource Center
- Sala de Arte
- DAVE’s Place Community Impact Center
Launched in July 2022, KC Goes Tech was inspired by the proven and cost-effective “Tech Goes Home’’ program founded in Boston in 1999 and expanded into Chattanooga by one of KC Digital Drive’s peer organizations in 2015, each of which has trained thousands of participants.
Micro-grants are designed to support grantees’ ability and capacity to deliver digital literacy services, to connect diverse service populations, to build upon the ecosystem support model of Tech Goes Home and adapt it for Kansas City with key core partners, to provide technical assistance to a larger network of training partners, and to identify additional partners to connect program participants with more advanced training opportunities to help them fulfill their digital aspirations.
For more information about KC Goes Tech, its curriculum, or future training cohorts, please contact Leslie Scott at lscott@kcdigitaldrive.org.
About KC Goes Tech
KC Goes Tech is a train-the-trainer digital inclusion initiative offering micro-grants to direct service organizations to drive up capacity for digital literacy offerings in the Kansas City region and to distribute devices to agency clients who participate in digital skills training. It is managed by KC Digital Drive.