Civic Tech Experience Fosters Digital Literacy in Charlotte

The Knight Foundation has announced a $1 million investment in that effort for a project called the Civic Tech Experience, which includes a series of programs for the West Charlotte community aimed at helping families there build better digital skills, as well as get access to technology. Other functions of the Civic Tech Experience also include connections to economic resources and chances for community engagement. This program is the work of Project L.I.F.T., a public-private partnership that has worked primarily in West Charlotte over the past seven years to improve the schools there — most notably helping the graduation rate at one high school move from roughly 50 percent to nearly 90. There are three foundational programs that make up the Civic Tech Experience. The first is the Digital Inclusion Institute, a digital literacy program for parents of students in West Charlotte schools.