Overview
This project leverages federal American Rescue Plan (ARPA) and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) Digital Skills, Education, and Workforce Development (DSEW) funding to provide skilling and access to digital literacy and skills resources so that disadvantaged Tennesseans can develop the technical proficiency required to navigate complex digital environments, participate in the digital economy, and drive innovation.
Key Objectives
The Education Research & Opportunity Center received ECD DSEW funding in 2024 to provide the hundreds of aspirational yet disadvantaged high school and adult participants served each year by ERO’s federal TRiO programs with the digital skills necessary to thrive in college and/or the workforce.
Objective #1: Provide 240 total high school youth with training in digital skills contextualized to college/career readiness through (1) an intensive 4-week summer workshop and (2) subsequent monthly in-person meetings at target high schools and required TRiO Saturday sessions.
Objective #2: Provide approximately 360 total adults with training in digital skills contextualized to college/career readiness through in-situ quarterly workshops, one-on-one consultations, and scheduled classes.
FUNDING INFORMATION
The Digital Skills, Education, and Workforce Development (DSEW) grants program is funded by the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) and administered by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) who has distributed $17 million across digital skills, education, and workforce development, including broadband infrastructure workforce development and higher education/adult educational entities. The “Closing the Digital Access and Skills Divide Through High-Touch, High-Impact Education Outreach Services” project is a 30-month collaboration with UTK ERO.
