At AT&T, we’re laser-focused on expanding our efforts to help bridge the digital divide. And in South Bend, Indiana, we’re working with the nonprofit organization, enFocus, to keep this work going.
enFocus Fellows work alongside experienced mentors in the corporate, nonprofit, education and public sectors to discover, design and implement innovative solutions to benefit the community. With the help of a $10,000 AT&T Foundation grant, enFocus is applying lessons learned from its successful “Citywide Classroom” initiative in South Bend, to nearby Mishawaka.
The funding has empowered enFocus Fellows to:
- Identify connectivity needs of School City of Mishawaka families and students
- Set up their at-home internet services and devices
enFocus first launched its Citywide Classroom initiative during the pandemic when the divide between those who have ready access to the internet and those who do not became even more apparent.
As a result of the enFocus Fellows’ work, this academic year, over 200 new families in the School City of Mishawaka now have proper access to at-home internet to support their children’s educational pursuits, look for jobs, access social programs, stay in touch with loved ones and more.
“It has been a blessing being an instrument…to improve the quality of connections at home, or wherever they go,” said Carlos Centellas, a member of the Citywide Classroom Communication Team.
The pandemic shone a spotlight on the challenges faced by Hoosiers who currently lack the connectivity needed for online learning,” said Bill Soards, President, AT&T Indiana.“Under-resourced neighborhoods have been hit particularly hard. We’re so proud to collaborate with enFocus to help close the digital divide for our most vulnerable students in Northern Indiana.”
We’re committed to advancing education, creating opportunities, strengthening communities and improving lives. To learn more about AT&T’s efforts to help close the digital divide, which includes a $2 billion commitment from 2021 to 2023, click here. As part of our $2 billion commitment, we launched our Bridge to Possibility: Closing the digital divide, together campaign to drive awareness of the digital divide and the collective response needed to address it. Check out local news coverage on the enFocus grant here.
