Organizations located in Baltimore City and serving Baltimore City residents are encouraged to apply for this grant fund. Funding is not limited to student or school-based programming.

Workforce development is an eligible digital inclusion activity, as long as other eligibility criteria is met for the grant type and tier the organization is applying for.

Individuals, state or federal government agencies, or for-profit organizations or businesses are not eligible to apply. Organizations (or their fiscal agents) serving Baltimore City residents that qualify as public charities under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and do not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, national origin, political persuasion, age, physical handicap, gender or sexual orientation are eligible for funding.

An organization or individual who does not qualify as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and who otherwise would be eligible may partner with a recognized public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as their fiscal agent.

Eligible programs should address the needs for those left behind in the digital age, which must include at least one of the target populations listed in the RFA page on 2-3.

Organizations must be based in Baltimore City to be eligible in addition to meeting programmatic requirements and priorities; see RFA page 2-3.

All implementation applications must support the implementation of digital inclusion plans . All digital inclusion plans must include at least three of the listed digital inclusion activities. Other digital inclusion activities may be eligible if the plan includes the listed minimum. Other activities must include a description of the proposed activity and a justification for its implementation. See pages 4-5 in the RFA for more information.

All eligible organizations with eligible program activities may apply for funding. (See full eligibility details in the RFA on page 2-3). However, applications which serve residents in the listed zip codes will receive priority points when scoring submissions.

An organization may submit one grant proposal per grant type. Organizations serving as a fiscal agent may submit multiple applications on behalf of their clients in addition to one application on its own behalf per grant type. See page 4 of the RFA.

Yes. Organizations can apply for one tier from each grant type.

No. All organizations that meet the eligibility requirements in the RFA are eligible for funding. See RFA page 2-5.

Implementation funding is for the implementation of digital inclusion plans . Applications must include a digital inclusion plan, which must include at least three of the listed digital inclusion activities. Other digital inclusion activities are permitted but must be justified (see RFA page 4). Education and Outreach grants offer lower tiers of funding to support digital inclusion activities (See RFA page 3).

Partnerships with community-based organizations are encouraged. During grantee selection, priority points will be provided to program proposals that demonstrate a plan to partner with trusted, community-based, grassroots organizations. See page 6 of the RFA for more details.

Grantees may use grant funding for salary costs, but documentation of the duties of the personnel as it relates to the proposed grant activities is required. Any funding used for salary costs must be related to the digital equity/inclusion activities being provided. See RFA for full details.

Each question that requires a narrative response displays a word count maximum in the bottom right-hand corner under the dialogue box.

The scoring rubric will not be made public. However, the request for application and guidelines (RFA) is the guiding document for how the applications will be scored. The GRANT APPLICATION AND PROGRAM PROPOSAL section of the RFA (beginning at the bottom of page 6) details the narrative questions, organization and financial information, templates, and supporting documentation needed to apply. The items listed there are the only items that will be scored. The FUNDING PRIORITIES section (beginning at the end of page 5) outlines the items that applicants can incorporate or address to improve their score.

The application lists every neighborhood in Baltimore. Applicants will select from that list. For zip codes, there are priority zip codes listed in the RFA and application. You will only select them if the neighborhood your program will serve falls into one of the priority zip codes.

Follow the link provided in the application. Once the document opens, you will see it is in a Read-Only format which means you will not be able to edit the document directly. In the top left corner choose File> click the 3 dots> click Save As> click Download a Copy.

A copy and recording of the presentation for each applicant information session will be posted on our website, so even those who were unable to attend are able to attain the information provided.

Unfortunately, there is not a downloadable version of the application. However, you can view the entire application on the grant portal without actively filling it out.