Baltimore’s Digital Equity Fund Is Bringing City Residents Online

In 2023, the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion part­nered with sev­er­al orga­ni­za­tions to sup­port Baltimore’s Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund. Led by the Office of Broad­band and Dig­i­tal Equi­ty (BDE) in part­ner­ship with the Bal­ti­more Civic Fund, the Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund pro­vides finan­cial sup­port to Bal­ti­more-based orga­ni­za­tions as they help res­i­dents access the inter­net and gain dig­i­tal literacy. 

“The Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund is a first-of-its-kind part­ner­ship between the City of Bal­ti­more and local non-prof­its that’s work­ing to ensure that every­one in our city has access to, under­stands and can effec­tive­ly use dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy,” said Sara Coop­er, a senior asso­ciate with the Casey Foun­da­tion. ​“The inter­net is an essen­tial pub­lic util­i­ty and the pro­grams sup­port­ed by the fund are help­ing peo­ple get and stay con­nect­ed, find jobs and improve their lives.”

What Is Dig­i­tal Equity?

Dig­i­tal equi­ty is the idea that every per­son should have access to tech­nol­o­gy and the skills to use it. In 2020, the Abell Foun­da­tion found that only half of Black house­holds in Bal­ti­more had access to broad­band inter­net. Among Lati­no house­holds, less than half of all fam­i­lies had broad­band inter­net access or owned a com­put­er. And accord­ing to Maryland’s 2023 Statewide Broad­band Access and Equi­ty phone sur­vey, 38% of low-income house­holds in Bal­ti­more lacked access to a com­put­er or could only access the inter­net through a smartphone.

Over the last year, the Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund’s sup­port has enabled non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions to:

• increase neigh­bor­hood connectivity;
• help res­i­dents become more com­fort­able with devices and inter­net use;
• con­nect youth and young adults to dig­i­tal education;
• inte­grate proven work­force devel­op­ment strate­gies with dig­i­tal education;
• sup­port dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy with­in after-school or recre­ation cen­ter programs;
• pro­vide in-need res­i­dents work­ing com­put­ers or tablets; and
• intro­duce new tech­nol­o­gy to tar­get pop­u­la­tions, such as young peo­ple, low-income house­holds and old­er adults.

The Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund’s first cycle of grantees includ­ed Code in the Schools, Wide Angle Youth Media, Vil­lage Learn­ing Place, the Lati­no Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cen­ter, Med­Star Union Memo­r­i­al Hos­pi­tal, Asylee Women Enter­prise and Asso­ci­at­ed Black Char­i­ties.

“Clos­ing the dig­i­tal divide requires an under­stand­ing that com­mu­ni­ty-led solu­tions are key,” said Amalia Deloney, a Casey Foun­da­tion-fund­ed con­sul­tant who worked one-on-one with each grantee to iden­ti­fy com­mon themes, needs and gaps with­in dig­i­tal equi­ty. ​“Bal­ti­more res­i­dents know what is need­ed, what will work and how to cre­ate last­ing change. The Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund suc­ceeds because it empow­ers these com­mu­ni­ties to lead, ensur­ing that every solu­tion is root­ed in their lived expe­ri­ences and unique strengths.”

Code in the Schools

Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund grantee Code in the Schools is a non­prof­it that con­nects Bal­ti­more City youth to qual­i­ty com­put­er sci­ence edu­ca­tion as well as path­ways from school to jobs and high­er edu­ca­tion. In addi­tion to part­ner­ing with schools and local edu­ca­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions, it also offers free com­put­er sci­ence edu­ca­tion pro­grams and events for mid­dle and high school students.

“Being part of the ini­tial cohort of the Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund trans­formed how we look at our work,” said Stephanie Alphee, co-exec­u­tive direc­tor of Code in the Schools. ​“For over a decade, Code in the Schools has been a leader in advo­cat­ing for com­put­er sci­ence edu­ca­tion in our schools. The ini­tial Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund [grant] allowed us to pilot this work in Green­mount West, and we are grate­ful for the oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­tin­ue this work prepar­ing young adults for indus­try-rec­og­nized cre­den­tials in year two.”

What’s Next?

Recent­ly, the Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund select­ed 10 new and return­ing grantees for its sec­ond round of grant awards. It award­ed orga­ni­za­tions across three focus areas:

1. Dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy edu­ca­tion train­ing grants will sup­port lit­er­a­cy edu­ca­tion for old­er adults and the wider com­mu­ni­ty, with the goal of cre­at­ing tech hubs at recre­ation cen­ters in under­served areas.
2. Advanced dig­i­tal edu­ca­tion and IT fun­da­men­tals pro­gram­ming grants will sup­port ini­tia­tives pro­vid­ing fun­da­men­tal skills train­ing and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion to Bal­ti­more City res­i­dents inter­est­ed in a career in IT. 
3. Dig­i­tal cre­atives and vir­tu­al mak­er­spaces pro­gram­ming grants will sup­port ini­tia­tives pro­vid­ing edu­ca­tion and pro­gram­ming for dig­i­tal cre­atives and vir­tu­al mak­er­spaces at local recre­ation cen­ters through­out Bal­ti­more City.

“By part­ner­ing with inno­v­a­tive grantees, we’re not only bridg­ing the dig­i­tal divide but also help­ing our com­mu­ni­ties to thrive in an increas­ing­ly con­nect­ed world,” said BDE Direc­tor Kenya Asli. ​“The Dig­i­tal Equi­ty Fund is a tes­ta­ment to Bal­ti­more’s com­mit­ment to ensur­ing every res­i­dent has access to the tools and oppor­tu­ni­ties of the dig­i­tal age. Togeth­er, we are cre­at­ing path­ways [to] equi­table access, dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy and eco­nom­ic opportunity.”

Learn how Bal­ti­more is help­ing bridge the dig­i­tal access divide