Photo: Computers set up at Cardinal Point in anticipation of the remote training sponsored by Austin’s Foundation Communities.
Late in 2019, CTN and Foundation Communities were awarded a grant from Charter Communications to bring devices and digital literacy training to residents in Austin. The Cardinal Point property was selected as an ideal location because it has a dedicated learning center with a childcare area. After conducting a needs assessment and determining the class curriculum, we were on track to begin offering classes in late March. Unfortunately, these were canceled due to the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order.
We already had 20 desktop computers on hand, procured at a large computer distribution event in mid-December. Since meeting in person is no longer an option, we decided to distribute the equipment to families and offer virtual training sessions instead. The desktops have been updated and configured for this purpose and will be distributed in the coming week.
We were fortunate enough to receive a donation of 20 Chromebooks from Revivn, a company that collects excess hardware from businesses and redistributes to nonprofits, so a total of 40 families will have more access to the internet because of these efforts.
We would like to thank Charter for their generous support of this work. Closing the digital divide is more important now than ever before.
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