INDIANAPOLIS ELEARNING FUND

Organization name: Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee

Program Type

Academic programs

Ages Served:

5-11 Years
12-18 Years
19-25 Years

Overview

Brief Program Summary: A collaborative of local stakeholders has established the Indianapolis eLearning Fund with an initial investment of more than $2.6 million to support Indianapolis educators, students, and families during the transition to eLearning in response to the recent COVID-19 public health emergency. Mayor Joe Hogsett’s Office of Education Innovation administers the Fund, and the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee serves as the fiscal agent. The Indianapolis eLearning Fund will address four focus areas to help ensure schools and districts implement effective solutions to this challenge: • Technology access: Support for Marion County traditional public, public charter, and innovation network schools to address short-term needs for accessing devices and internet connectivity for students from low-income families and for students who live in communities with unreliable access to the internet and/or limited broadband capacity. • County-wide e-learning strategy: Support for the development of a county-wide strategy for eLearning that will identify supports needed and address both immediate and long-term needs. • County-wide social-emotional learning strategy: Support for the development of a county- wide strategy for social-emotional learning needs for students, both while at home and upon their transition back to the school building. • Statewide eLearning lab: Support for the launch of an eLearning lab for all schools in the state, including traditional public, public charter, and private schools. The lab will provide early e- learning adopters a platform for sharing best practices with all schools, as well as professional development opportunities to support teachers and administrators. The lab will also equip students and families with the necessary tools for the successful implementation of remote learning.
Success Metrics: • The Indianapolis eLearning Fund established a short-term internet access solution for the 36,000 Indianapolis public school students who needed it by obtaining internet hotspots at a low-cost solution. • To meet a longer term need, the Indianapolis eLearning Fund convened Indianapolis’ eleven school districts, 49 charter schools and 32 non-public schools to submit a joint application to the State of Indiana’s Governor’s Emergency Education Relief fund, and received $11.5 million to help Marion County schools purchase 20,000 hotspots and 33,000 laptops and tablets that were needed to support student internet access for the next few years. • The eLearning Fund facilitated a survey of 580 teachers across Indiana to identify educators’ needs to support eLearning. Using this information, the eLearning Fund issued an RFP to identify a vendor to create the Indiana eLearning Lab, which includes curated content by eLearning experts for teachers and parents. As of May 2021, the eLearning Lab had served more than 5,200 unique users.

Demographics

Number Served & Racial Distribution:

Total Number of Individuals Annually Served

38,000

Black or African Americans Annually Served

N/A

Hispanic or Latinos Annually Served

N/A

Geographic Scope:

− Central Indiana Counties: Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion,
Morgan, Putnam, Shelby
− Additional/Other Areas of Focus: Emphasis on Marion County

Resources

Annual Operating Cost: N/A
Initial Start-Up Cost: $3.2 million

Contact Information

Organization Name: Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee
Website: https://indygipc.org/
Respondents Name: Patrick McAlister
Email: Patrick.McAlister@Indy.Gov
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