The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® Foundation has awarded $700,000 in grants to 16 organizations enhancing the lives of seniors and people with disabilities through technology. New grantees include AARP Foundation, Jewish Healthcare Foundation and Envision.
“We’re excited to support a wide-ranging collection of organizations – innovators using technology to make people’s lives more independent and socially connected,” said Steve Ewell, executive director, CTA Foundation. “This year, we both recognize the work of seven new groups and renew our commitment to many of the Foundation’s previous grantees. We believe in their powerful work and are proud to help connect more people with life-changing technologies.”
The CTA Foundation – a public, national foundation – will support the following 16 groups:
- AARP Foundation: The Foundation is developing a voice technology program – using Amazon’s Alexa – to connect seniors to one another.
- The Arc of the United States: The “environment navigator” pilot program will help adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to efficiently orient themselves with new jobs and roles.
- Cyber-Seniors: To promote inter-generational mentoring, the Cyber-Seniors program connects middle school, high school and college students with seniors to train them to use technologies such as smartphones, tablets and computers.
- Envision: The first-of-its-kind Accessible Products Hotline will employ customer service agents with visual impairments to help low vision or blind consumers identify and support accessible products.
- Jewish Healthcare Foundation: The Foundation is working to scale and grow its Virtual Senior Academy, a program using telepresence technology to reduce social isolation among seniors.
- Massachusetts Association for the Blind (MAB) and Visually Impaired Community Services: This program helps increase access to assistive technology training for seniors who are blind or have low vision, so they can maintain active lives in their own homes.
- Meals on Wheels Central Texas: The Connecting Seniors with Technology program gives low income, homebound seniors and adults with disabilities access to the internet and computer training.
The foundation will continue supporting previous grantees
Benetech,
Byte Back,
Easter Seals of Greater Houston BridgingApps,
Front Porch,
Music and Memory,
Oak Hill,
Older Adults Technology Services (OATS),
SeniorNavigator and
South Florida Institute on Aging (SoFIA).
Click
here to learn more about the 2019 grantees.
