City of Bloomington Allocates a Total of $50,000 in Digital Equity Grants to Thirteen Local Nonprofits

In 2024, the Digital Equity Grants program awarded thirteen area nonprofits a total of $50,000. This year’s recipients, programs supported, and grant amounts follow:

• Area 10 Agency on Aging – Creating Digital Literacy Opportunities for Monroe & Owen County Seniors – $7,000
• Bloomington Food Policy Council – City wide Food resource sign up and storage expansion – $870
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Bloomington – Bee Safe Online 2024-2025 – $6,000
• Courage to Change Sober Living – Courage to Change New House Computer, Printer/scanner/ paper/ ink and Internet Access – $1,300
• Indiana Recovery Alliance – Digital Equity Connection to Care Program – $2,700
• Middle Way House, Inc. – YES! Program: Bringing Digital Equity to Youth Empowerment Services – $1,910
• Mobility Aids Lending Library Inc. – Mobility Aids Lending Library – $6,500
• Monroe County Public Library – Enhancing the Circulating iPad Collection at Monroe County Public Library – $8,800
• Monroe County United Ministries (MCUM) – Expanding Digital Resource Accessibility and Digital Needs Funding – $3,970
• New Leaf, New Life – Office Internet & Printer Access – $1,600
• Stone Belt Arc, Inc. – VR for VR - Virtual Reality for Vocational Rehabilitation – $3,000
• The Overlook, a project of The Center for Sustainability Living – The Overlook Internet and Training ( ONT ) – $5,100
• Wheeler Mission--Bloomington – Mobilizing Digital Equity Among Individuals Experiencing Homelessness – $1,250

“This is the fifth year of the City’s Digital Equity Grants initiative, and we are grateful for the continuing interest from local organizations in applying for these grants,” said Information & Technology Services Director Rick Dietz. “The City’s 2020 Digital Equity Strategic Plan identified several areas of Digital Equity challenges, and we greatly appreciate partnering with so many great local organizations to meet these challenges head-on.”

The Digital Equity Grants program sought proposals from nonprofits for projects that build capacity in the community to address digital equity challenges in the following ways:  

• Facilitate access to broadband services,
• Increase access to computing devices to effectively use the internet,
• Cultivate the knowledge, familiarity, and digital skills needed to secure the benefits of the internet and digital technology,
• Mitigate community digital equity gaps identified in the City's digital equity strategic plan.