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Boston, MA — Ameelio and Tech Goes Home are pleased to announce they have been awarded a $4 million Digital Equity Partnerships Program grant from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) to support their collaborative efforts to enhance digital literacy and access to technology for justice-impacted individuals across Massachusetts. This grant will enable Ameelio and Tech Goes Home to continue their work bringing digital literacy and much needed technology to over 3,600 incarcerated individuals housed in county jails and Department of Youth Services facilities across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The technology ecosystem inside correctional facilities is often outdated: payphones and other older technology are still commonly used. The digitization of our society means that, to navigate the world, an individual must have basic digital literacy skills. These skills include the ability to search for a job, create a resume, utilize social media, engage in online learning, and more. Because of the combination of poor internet availability, inadequate provision of modern devices, and high cost of engaging with digital services in prisons and jails, many incarcerated persons lack digital literacy skills necessary for them to successfully reintegrate into society.
Using this grant, Ameelio will work to equip correctional facilities with its state-of-the-art and corrections-grade infrastructure, telecommunication platform, learning management system, and modern tablets, enabling incarcerated persons to reliably connect with their support networks. Tech Goes Home will lead efforts to provide digital skills training for each incarcerated person — helping them become more comfortable with navigating a digital device and further making their reentry into the outside world smooth and easy. Upon release, each graduate will receive their own Chromebook and free internet access for a year.
“We thank the Massachusetts Broadband Institute and all the participating correctional agencies for their vision and support,” said April Feng, CEO of Ameelio. “This grant will enable us to extend our reach and provide critical digital literacy resources to Massachusetts incarcerated individuals, enabling them to develop skills that will allow them to reintegrate into society as responsible and contributing members. This is a significant step towards our mission: Building a more rehabilitative and humane justice system. Ameelio and TGH are excited to lead the charge!”
“We’re incredibly proud that this new partnership, made possible through critical funding provided by the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, will make it possible for us to provide incarcerated young people and adults in the Commonwealth with digital skills training and tools that will expand access to workforce, community engagement, and education opportunities,” said Dan Noyes, CEO of TGH. “This grant is a big step forward for digital equity and justice in Massachusetts, and we’re grateful for the incredible partnership of Ameelio, as well as the support of correctional facilities across the Commonwealth and juvenile centers under the Department of Youth Services to bring this critical programming to justice-involved individuals throughout the state.”
Founded in 2020, Ameelio is the only not-for-profit organization designated as an Incarcerated People’s Communications Services provider by the Federal Communications Commission. Ameelio’s mission is to build and deploy software and hardware that enable incarcerated persons to not only reliably and affordably communicate with friends and family, but also develop the digital literacy skills necessary for them to be successful upon release. Since 2020, Ameelio has rapidly expanded, serving over 100,000 incarcerated persons and their loved ones in over 30 state and county-level correctional facilities across 9 states. To learn more about Ameelio, visit our website: www.ameelio.org.
