MCLEAN, Va. – Kajeet, a leading provider of wireless connectivity, software and hardware solutions that deliver secure, reliable and managed IoT solutions to over 3,000 businesses, schools and districts, and state and local governments, today announced the 22 recipients of its 2022 Homework Gap Grant. To further the mission of closing the Digital Divide for students across the United States, each grant recipient will receive up to $25,000, which they may use for any combination of Kajeet Education Broadband solutions, including WiFi hotspots, school bus WiFi, LTE-embedded Chromebooks and routers.
“With many students returning to in-person learning after a two-year hiatus, we cannot lose momentum in working to close the Homework Gap, which still plagues millions of American students,” said Daniel J.W. Neal, chairman, CEO and founder of Kajeet. “The Homework Gap existed long before the pandemic and continues to perpetuate inequities and cause enormous, missed opportunities. As a community, we must make every effort possible to connect students outside the classroom to the plethora of educational resources and opportunities that are only available to them via the Internet. The Kajeet Homework Gap Grant program is but one example among many of what we can do together to create complete digital equity and maximize opportunities for success – for all of our students.”
The 22 grant winners are:
Ben Hill Elementary School (Georgia), Billings Public Library (Montana), Boys & Girls Club of McGehee (New York), Cabarrus County Library System (North Carolina), Cape Girardeau Adult Education & Literacy (Missouri), Center Point Public Library (Alabama), Central Consolidated School District (New Mexico), Central Greene School District (Pennsylvania), El Tejon Unified School District (California), Grand St. Settlement (New York), Heritage Academy Charter School (Idaho), Jasper County School District (South Carolina), Jersey City Public School s (New Jersey), Kahlotus School District (Washington), Montgomery City County Public Library (Alabama), New Jersey Institute of Technology (New Jersey), The Randolph Holder School for Social Justice (New York), Raton Public Schools (New Mexico), Sacramento Public Library (California), Sapulpa Bartlett-Carnegie Public Library (Oklahoma), Stillwater County Library (Montana), Summersville R-II School District (Missouri)
Kajeet’s Homework Gap Grant program provides the means for K-12 schools and districts, colleges and universities, and public libraries to connect students to safe, reliable internet outside of the classroom. Sixty-five schools, districts, colleges, non-profits and public libraries representing 22 states across the United States applied for the grant program, of which 22 winners were selected based on scores in four categories – Overall Application, Impact on the Homework Gap, Creativity and Innovation, and Program Sustainability.
Since launching the program in 2017, Kajeet has awarded more than $2,000,000 in broadband services to schools, districts, colleges and universities, public libraries and non-profits to close the Digital Divide and help ensure that all students have access to learning anytime, anywhere.
One of the 22 grant recipients, The Randolph Holder School for Justice (PS 253Q) in New York City, plans to use its grant to support its students with the full suite of Kajeet’s Education Broadband solutions, including WiFi hotspots, school bus WiFi, LTE-embedded Chromebooks and routers. “The students without Internet at home are not able to access research-based programs to improve their literacy and math skills,” said Christiana Vasquez, assistant principal of The Randolph Holder School for Justice. “The number of missed opportunities adds up when you look at the evenings, weekends, breaks, and the summer. We are determined to close our achievement gaps and will use the grant to ensure that students have opportunities at home, not just in school.”
Most winners plan to use a combination of solutions, including WiFi hotspots (Kajeet SmartSpot) and bus WiFi (Kajeet SmartBus), to create a more digitally inclusive learning environment for students. These education and community leaders are working diligently to ensure students have reliable access to the Internet so that they may complete online assignments, study for exams or access additional educational resources while in transit.
To learn more about the Kajeet Homework Gap Grant program, visit https://www.kajeet.net/digitalinclusion/
About Kajeet:
Kajeet provides optimized IoT connectivity, software and hardware products that deliver safe, reliable, and controlled internet connectivity to nearly 3,000 businesses, schools and districts, state and local governments, and IoT solution providers. Kajeet’s Private Network solutions simplify private wireless to allow customers to design, install and manage their own private wireless networks.
Kajeet is the only managed IoT connectivity services provider in the industry to offer Sentinel, a scalable IoT management platform that includes visibility into real-time data usage, policy control management, custom content filters for added security and multi-network flexibility.
Kajeet is available for hybrid and multi-network access across all major North American wireless networks, globally with coverage in 173 countries, and on multiple licensed and unlicensed networks. Kajeet holds 40 U.S. patents in mobile technologies. To learn more, visit kajeet.com and follow us on Twitter at @Kajeet.
