Advancing digital literacy in Kansas City

From helping job-seekers expand their digital skills to teaching seniors how to e-mail long-distance relatives, organizations in Kansas City are finding new ways to show residents why the Internet matters. We know that access to the Internet can have a transformative impact on people’s lives. So in 2014, the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, which is supported by Google Fiber and five other partners, announced the Kansas City Digital Inclusion Fund to support organizations advancing digital literacy in the local community. The Digital Inclusion Fund is making its second round of grants to six groups that are kicking digital literacy efforts into high gear. With the awards, the Digital Inclusion Fund has contributed more than $430,000 to digital literacy projects since it made its first grants in 2014.

The organizations receiving grants to grow their digital literacy programs in 2015 are:

• ArtsTech
• Connecting for Good
• Hispanic Economic Development Corporation
• Kansas City Public Library
• Literacy Kansas City
• Trinity Community Church / Shepherd’s Center

Many of these organizations are two-time recipients of Digital Inclusion Fund grants -- and over the last year, they’ve demonstrated the tremendous value they bring to Kansas City. ArtsTech has trained teenagers as Digital Connectors who have taught more than 250 seniors how to get online. In 2014, Connecting for Good refurbished nearly 1,000 computers and provided them to the community at an affordable price. Kansas City Public Library introduced new technologies to the more than 2,000 students who have visited the library’s open-door Digital Media Lab.