‘MO Goes Tech’ aims to boost digital inclusion by funding training partners
KC Digital Drive announced its cohort of microgrant recipients for “MO Goes Tech,” a 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. MO Goes Tech has identified seven (7) direct service organizations providing social, human, or economic services to rural populations in the state of Missouri that could benefit from an expanded digital access and literacy component to their existing client offerings. Each organization will receive a $2,000 microgrant that includes $1,000 for a stipend for a staff trainer and $1,000 in unrestricted funds to boost digital service capacity.
Inspired by our successful launch of KC Goes Tech in 2022, MO Goes Tech aims to expand the capacity of community-service organizations with established client relationships to add digital training and navigation to their service offerings, including enrollment in the Affordable Connectivity Program and access to computers or tablets to ensure their clients have the tools they need to fully participate in the digital economy.
Microgrant awardees for the cohort are:
- Missouri Assistive Technology – Adair County
- Missouri Assistive Technology – Lafayette County
- Missouri Assistive Technology – Vernon County
- Joplin NALA Read
- Dunklin County Caring Council
- Newton-Harris R-III School District
- Arbyrd Community Library
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 MO Goes Tech, its curriculum, or future training cohorts, please contact Leslie Scott at lscott@kcdigitaldrive.org.
About MO Goes Tech
KC Digital Drive has been awarded a $25,000 grant through the Missouri Department of Economic Development, funded by the 2021 Digital Equity Act, as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to expand the ability of community organizations across the state of Missouri to include digital training, access to devices and navigation resources for affordability programs to their service offerings. The Digital Demonstration Projects Grant Program selected MO Goes Tech among its (10) selected projects with the potential to determine what activities most effectively improve digital equity and inclusion in the state.
MO 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.