Saint Augustine Receives a $2,600,000 Grant

We at Saint Augustine College are proud to announce a new $2,600,000 grant to further our efforts in building a long-lasting and durable community in the Chicago area, called the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program. 

The Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program is a collaborative effort to bridge the digital divide for the more than 390,000 low-income Spanish-speaking residents of all ages who reside in the Chicago anchor communities of Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, Pilsen, Little Village, South Shore, North Lawndale, South Lawndale, Logan Square, Armour Square, Humboldt Park, Kelvin Park, Avondale, Hermosa, Schorsch Village, Belmont Center, Austin, Back of the Yards, Hegewisch, Greater Grand Crossing, and Calumet Heights. Supported by St. Augustine College’s 2017 Strategic Plan and led by St. Augustine College, the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program aims to raise family self-sufficiency through digital Inclusion, with a $2,600,000 grant to address digital inequities through investments in infrastructure, affordable broadband connections and devices, and digital literacy training. 

The Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program will be rolled out geographically over the next two years. Phase I will begin in summer 2022, at St. Augustine College’s Uptown and Little Village campus sites, neighborhoods that house over 60,000 low-income individuals ages 0-90 Years. With this NTIA grant, we will offer focused digital literacy services to qualified residents of Little Village, South Lawndale, and surrounding anchor communities. This project will create a Community Digital Inclusion Scheme that will support patrons currently identified as digitally excluded to benefit from becoming digitally confident and engaged in ways that improve physical and mental health, well-being, and quality of life.