(HARTFORD - 10/8/2021) - The Commission for Educational Technology, administered by the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), congratulates four recipients of the Connecticut State Library’s Digital Navigation Pilot Projects. Through American Rescue Plan funds and overseen by the State Library’s Division of Library Development (DLD), the program funds libraries to deploy “navigators” who can work one on one with residents who need computers, low-cost broadband at home, and skills to participate fully in the digital world.
Doug Casey, Executive Director of the Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology said, “This work will help ensure Connecticut residents gain access to such necessities as telehealth, employment assistance, social benefits, educational resources, and cultural enrichment.”
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) will be training and advising libraries throughout the grant cycle, which ends July 31, 2022.
The awards:
- $100,000 to the East Hartford Public Library for “Digital Navigator Pilot Project, East Hartford”
- $96,400 to the Ferguson Library, Stamford for “Stamford Digital Navigators”
- $100,000 to the Hamden Public Library for “Navigating Opportunity”
- $100,000 to the Hartford Public Library for “Digital Inclusion for Older Adults”
Anecdotal experience and qualitative and quantitative data collected as part of these pilots will be analyzed with the assistance of the NDIA and compiled into a state report that will demonstrate the centrality of libraries in achieving digital equity and inform best practices for librarians in our state. The DLD will also use the report to plan for digital inclusion projects as part of the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services and Technology Act 5-Year Plan.