Nonprofit to use $1.5M grant to expand tech access in Baltimore, Pittsburgh

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The Digital Harbor Foundation, in partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has been awarded a $1.5 million grant to bolster technology access for city youth, the Baltimore nonprofit announced on Thursday.

The grant will be put towards expanding DHF’s flagship Rec-to-Tech program, which transforms recreation centers in urban areas into computer science, technology and maker spaces for youths. 

The grant comes from NSF’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, which “seeks to advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning opportunities for the public in informal environments.”

This is the second grant DHF has been awarded by NSF; the nonprofit won $300,000 in 2017 through NSF’s EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) program.

Over the next three years, DHF will expand into four locations — two in the city of Baltimore and two in Pittsburgh, which has previously employed the Rec-to-Tech model in city programs — in an effort to study how these programs affect young people and bridge the digital divide in cities.

The project also involves producing a digital Localization Toolkit, which will provide other municipalities across the country with the resources and information necessary to build similar facilities and programs.

Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young and Pittsburgh Mayor William “Bill” Peduto joined DHF’s executive director Andrew Coy, as well as officials from either cities’ parks and recreation departments, for the announcement. Both mayors spoke of the importance of providing children in urban areas with opportunities and education that prepare them for success in the working world. 

“So often, we have left this type of opportunity to our schools,” Peduto said. “But kids learn after school. Kids learn on the weekends.” Giving children the tools they need to succeed in the nation’s highest-demand professions is “the role of 21st century urban government.”

UMBC will serve as a collaborator on the project, with Foad Hamidi, an assistant professor of information systems at UMBC, serving as its co-principal investigator. 

“From a research perspective, we are using an equity-based and participatory approach to learning that systematically supports the inclusion of community educators and youth in the design of their own learning spaces and experiences,” Hamidi said. 

Although Coy, who is the other co-principal investigator, noted that social distancing guidelines may interrupt the original timeline of the project, DHF is still committed to conducting this research across three years and four sites. “We believe that the research from this project will have the potential to ripple across the country,” he said.

Ultimately, both Baltimore and Pittsburgh are interested in adding tech centers beyond those that are part of the grant, according to Reginald Moore, executive director of Baltimore City Recreation and Parks, and Peduto, respectively.

“(I’m) excited to see what comes out of this research and how we can continue to expand,” Moore said.