UnidosNow Receives Grant For Its Digital Navigator Initiative

January 21, 2022 – Sarasota

With access to smartphones, streaming high-res video, meeting platforms like Zoom, and the high-speed internet, it’s easy to feel like you’re living in the future. It’s also easy to forget that millions of low-income Americans lack this access. As a result, they’re forced to live in the past. This “digital divide” is devastating to education and career opportunities alike. But UnidosNow is working hard to bridge the gap in the Sarasota-Manatee region. Thanks to a $25,000 grant the nonprofit organization received from the Knight Donor Advised Fund and Bradenton COVID-19 Response Fund of Manatee Community Foundation, low-income families will soon share the benefits of our digital economy in our area. This includes both high-speed access and expert guidance.

“This crucial funding will help close the digital divide for low-income, Hispanic and Latinx families in our area,” says Luz Corcuera, the executive director of UnidosNow. She explains that the newly launched Digital Navigator initiative works to empower families to have equal access to online information and opportunities.

“The grant will allow UnidosNow to recruit and train four bilingual digital navigators,” Corcuera says. “They’ll help participating families find their way around the online world, find affordable high-speed internet access, assist with their children’s educational endeavors, and access job opportunities.”

According to Corcuera, internet access used to be a luxury. But the pandemic changed all that. Internet access is now a basic need for millions for students and workers. “A digitally inclusive community is important for economic development, civic participation, education, healthcare, and more,” she says. “With COVID-19 forcing more virtual connections, the digital divide disproportionately impacts low-income households. This project will help close this gap in our community through equitable access and support.”

Corcuera adds that UnidosNow’s Digital Navigator initiative will initially assist 50 families with obtaining digital connectivity, devices, skills, and support. “This increased digital access will help them in so many ways,” she says. “It will help parents connect to their children’s academic resources, and online college and training programs. It will also provide job search tools and application portals, unemployment compensation and other government benefit programs, telehealth medical services, civic and cultural participation, and so much more.”

At the height of the pandemic, UnidosNow piloted a Parent Ambassador program to help build social capital and increase equitable access to essential services for Hispanic and Latino families. “It was originally developed as a crisis response system,” Corcuera says. “But the Ambassador program has proven to be a highly impactful model which we are now tailoring to address our community’s digital divide.”  UnidosNow recently partnered with The Patterson Foundation for a special program to develop three of our UnidosNow team members to become digital navigators through a series of trainings, implementation meetings, and knowledge-sharing sessions with other non-profits.

“Between this specialized digital training and our well-established experience in community engagement, we are confident in our team’s ability to successfully execute the objectives of this project,” says Corcuera.

UnidosNow offers educational and professional outreach initiatives to the Hispanic and Latino communities in Sarasota and Manatee counties so that they can create circles of opportunities for generations to come. The organization achieves this through education initiatives, leadership training, community services, and civic engagement. Visit UnidosNow.org for more information.