TORONTO – The MasterCard Foundation is investing $3.7 million in the Indigenous Connectivity Institute in a push to expand indigenous connectivity and literacy skills.
The funding will toward expanding the digital equity organization’s current programs and “develop new initiatives to reach 10,000 Indigenous young people over the next three years.” The organization currently advocates for policies beneficial to indigenous people, provides training programs to advance technical and advocacy skills and aims to help develop, deploy and sustain indigenous broadband networks.
“Establishing access to reliable, high-speed internet – while strengthening digital skills – will elevate Indigenous innovation, entrepreneurship, education, and employment opportunities,” a Monday press release said.
“This support from the Mastercard Foundation has the potential to advance Indigenous digital equity beyond our imaginations and make real the projects and collaboration we’ve been dreaming up for years. I am so excited to see this new partnership in action,” Darrah Blackwater, ICI Advisory Council member said the release.
The release noted that indigenous communities across North America are “among the least connected and most underserved on the continent.”
