Wed, Aug 20

In a city built on engines, the new ignition is digital.

Detroit knows reinvention. From auto assembly lines to Motown rhythms, from bankruptcy headlines to comeback stories, it’s a place where people build things—against the odds and in spite of the noise.

But in the 2020s, a different kind of divide started stalling progress.

Because when the pandemic hit and everything went online, tens of thousands of Detroiters didn’t just lose access to school or work—they lost access to the entire digital world.

No device. No Wi-Fi. No skills to navigate systems built without them in mind.

It wasn’t a gap. It was a canyon.

And in that canyon, a coalition rose—with a blueprint, a bold idea, and a grant game strong enough to change the narrative.

🔌 The Disconnect That Sparked a Movement

In Detroit’s east side neighborhoods, one thing was painfully clear: you couldn’t “learn from home” if home had no broadband.

And for adults trying to re-enter the workforce? Navigating job portals without digital literacy was like being locked out of your own future.

Some families shared one phone for work, school, and appointments. Others couldn’t even apply for public benefits without help from someone tech-savvy down the street.

This wasn’t just about access. It was about agency. And it became the focus for a scrappy, sharp, and heart-led team called Digital Roots Detroit.

Their mission: build a network of free, high-powered Digital Literacy Labs across Detroit—embedded in trusted community hubs, staffed by local mentors, and powered by grant funding that treated digital skills as a civil right.

🚀 Meet the Digital Architects

At the helm was Tanya Richards, a former Detroit public school teacher turned tech equity evangelist. After watching her students struggle through remote learning with frozen screens and missing logins, she left the classroom to launch Digital Roots.

But she wasn’t alone. She partnered with:

• Reverend Lisa Shaw, who turned her church’s basement into a community Wi-Fi haven

• Mayor Mike Duggan’s Innovation Office, which had been piloting citywide broadband initiatives

• Two local teens, Jalen and Monique, who ran viral TikTok tutorials on how to apply for jobs or set up a Gmail account

They didn’t want a tech lab that felt like a testing center.
They wanted a digital neighborhood center—open late, stocked with real-world curriculum, and staffed by people who looked like the learners they served.

They had a location. They had momentum. Now all they needed was a strategy big enough to turn hotspots into hope.

🎩 When Mr. Grant Money Enters the Chat

I first heard about the Digital Roots team when a mutual friend forwarded me a 30-second video.

In it, a grandmother named Miss Rhonda was sitting at a borrowed laptop, grinning like she’d just won the lottery. Because in her own words:

“I just sent my first email without asking my grandson for help. Look at me now.”

That was it. I called Tanya the next day.

We talked data, scope, and story. But mostly, we talked dignity. About how digital literacy wasn’t just a skillset—it was survival. Healthcare. Housing. Homework. Voting. All of it.

She said, “We’re not here to ‘close the digital divide.’ We’re here to blow it up and rebuild it from the block up.”

That’s when I knew: this was a fundable revolution.

🪄 The Blueprint Behind the Build

Together, we crafted a proposal rooted in reality and rich with possibility.

Here’s how we shaped it:

• Positioning: Framed as digital justice, not tech access

• Impact metrics: Enrollment numbers, job placements, GED pass rates, elder tech support hours logged

• Equity lens: Prioritized Black, Brown, and multilingual communities underserved by existing systems

• Innovation hooks: Youth-led peer coaching, accessible design, trauma-informed tech education

We targeted:

• NTIA Digital Equity Grants

• Knight Foundation’s Cities + Tech initiative

• Google’s Digital Inclusion Challenge

• Local corporate matches from Ford, Rocket Companies, and DTE Energy

And to sweeten the pot? We included a custom interactive grant appendix—a clickable digital tour of the pilot lab, narrated by Monique.

💥 When the Grant Hits (and So Does the Momentum)

Within three months, it all clicked:

• $1.9M in federal and philanthropic funding

• Six Digital Literacy Labs launched across Detroit—in libraries, churches, laundromats, and a repurposed bus depot

• Staffed by 30 community members trained as “digital navigators”

• Curriculum launched in 3 languages—English, Spanish, and Arabic

• After-school coding clubs, workforce bootcamps, and adult tech clinics filled every seat within weeks

And Miss Rhonda?
She now teaches the “Senior Click Club” twice a week—and just applied for a job at her old high school’s front office.

🧭 Mr. Grant Money’s Detroit Download

Here’s what this Motor City movement reminds us:

1. Digital literacy is literacy. Period.
   You can’t separate tech from life anymore. Treat access like electricity—and fund accordingly.

2. Trust the neighborhood.
   The best digital coaches weren’t outsiders—they were teens, aunties, barbershop mentors.

3. Place matters.
   People showed up because the labs showed up where they already were—no red tape, no shame.

4. Grant reviewers are humans.
   That video of Miss Rhonda? It said more than any bar graph ever could.

5. The future isn’t virtual. It’s relational.
   Tech is just the tool. People power is the operating system.

💬 Who's Ready to Click Forward?

Your city might not be Detroit. But you’ve got gaps. You’ve got learners. You’ve got brilliance waiting for bandwidth.

You bring the community.
I’ll bring the cash.

Let’s get clicking.

– Mr. Grant Money

💬 Discussion Questions

1. How does a lack of digital access affect opportunities for education, jobs, and even everyday survival in your community?

2. What would a truly welcoming, community-based digital literacy space look like in your neighborhood?

3. Why is it important to fund digital literacy through an equity lens rather than just as a tech upgrade?

4. What creative spaces (like laundromats, churches, or barbershops) could double as learning labs in under-resourced areas?

5. Have you ever helped someone cross a “tech gap”—or been helped yourself? What did that experience teach you?