Michelson Spark Grants: Digital Equity Focus Area

The Michelson Spark Grants aim to fund innovative projects that promote digital equity in California, addressing critical issues like digital discrimination, access in Tribal communities, and the intersection of digital equity with health and education. Grants of up to $25,000 will support initiatives that enhance broadband access and foster systemic change. Organizations are encouraged to collaborate and seek additional funding to maximize impact, focusing on meaningful milestones that drive progress in underserved areas.

Spark Grants is an innovative, just-in-time grantmaking process.
We seek to fund highly impactful initiatives that would not be possible if they needed to wait through a traditional grant decision timeline.
Baseline Grant Criteria
We will be awarding grants up to $25,000 to nonprofits and educational institutions whose projects hit one of the focus areas outlined below.For this funding cycle, we will focus on organizations that are doing work in California.Given the size and scope of digital inequity and the complexity of securing adequate funding for programs and initiatives to fully address the issue, we welcome proposals where Michelson Spark Grant funds are part of a larger overall project with multiple funding streams.
Digital Equity Funding Cycle Focus Areas
Eliminating Digital Discrimination: Efforts that help address the impact that low-quality and/or unaffordable Internet has in areas that may superficially appear to have Internet access, and provide tools to combat digital discrimination and to promote equitable access to broadband throughout California. By focusing on the role of race in the historical causes of digital equity, we seek to grow awareness and uplift the voices and needs of underserved communities that have been deliberately excluded from connectivity by systematic redlining and disinvestment. These may include but are not limited to:
Efforts that highlight disparities in broadband accessResearch that addresses mapping shortcomings at the state levelStorytelling, surveying, testimonial-gathering
Digital Equity in Tribal Communities: Projects that help Tribal communities bridge the digital divide and achieve digital sovereignty. This may include but isn’t limited to:
Digital Equity Research & Education (i.e.: Research on the impact of digital inequity on Tribal communities, digital equity best practices, and more)Community Capacity-buildingBroadband Infrastructure Workforce Development
Policy Advocacy and Civic Engagement: Efforts that increase civic participation in digital equity policy-making and regulatory processes at the local, regional, or state-level (including the education of state policy-makers on key digital equity issues). This may include efforts focusing on education, capacity-building, and the equitable implementation of digital equity policy
Digital Equity as a Social Determinant of Health: Efforts that address digital inequity through its impact as a social determinant of health, and that can be a promising practice to be scaled across the state. Efforts that bridge the digital divide in at least one of the following issue areas:
Higher Education (i.e.: Research on the impact of digital inequity on college students)Healthcare/Public Health (i.e.: Equitable access to digital healthcare)Economic Opportunity (i.e.: Workforce Development; equitable access to seeking, applying, and securing jobs)Civic Engagement (i.e.: Access to public benefits)
Digital Equity and Artificial Intelligence (AI): Projects that aim to ensure communities that have been historically underinvested have access to and are prepared to take advantage of technological advancements in AI for full participation in our society, as well as projects that are aimed at increasing transparency and equity in the use and development of AI tools.

Eligibility

For this round of funding we have decided to focus our impact on organizations that are doing work in California.Organizations whose work does not impact California will be ineligible for this opportunity.We welcome proposals where Michelson Spark Grant funds are part of a larger overall project with multiple funding streams.

Ineligibility

We will not be funding initiatives that provide direct assistance to students during this Michelson Spark Grant round (e.g. laptops or hotspots for remote learning). While we realize there is a tremendous need in our communities for this type of direct support, we are leveraging our funding to effect broader systemic change at this time.