Thirteen nonprofits in Bloomington, Indiana just split $55,000 to help their neighbors get and stay online. The city’s Information & Technology Services Department announced the Digital Opportunity Grants on October 29, 2026. It’s the seventh year running that Bloomington has handed out this money. It lands with groups that already work with veterans, older adults, students, and people rebuilding their lives after addiction or incarceration.
The Herald-Times reported on the awards November 3. Its numbers match the city’s release: 13 grants ranging from $1,800 to $10,450. The money comes out of Bloomington’s regular annual budget, not a one-time windfall.
Bloomington’s Digital Opportunity Grants, by the Numbers
The city built this program around four goals: affordable broadband, computing devices, digital skills training, and closing gaps found in its 2020 Digital Opportunity Strategic Plan. Here’s how this year’s $55,000 breaks down.
| Organization | Grant Amount | Project |
|---|---|---|
| Binary Heart Inc | $10,450 | Digital Dreams Initiative 2026 |
| Boys & Girls Club of Bloomington | $7,470 | 2026 BGCB Bee Safe Online Project |
| Housing Authority of Bloomington | $7,000 | Self-Sufficiency Through Digital Access |
| El Centro Comunal / La Central Latina | $5,350 | Computer Literacy Training |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana | $4,300 | Safe, Smart & Secure |
| American Legion Auxiliary Unit 18 | $3,800 | Tech 4 Vets |
| Pathways | $3,220 | Your Path Digital Navigation Hub |
| Courage to Change Sober Living | $3,000 | Internet Services for Residences |
| Area 10 Agency on Aging | $2,550 | Building Digital Confidence for Seniors |
| Monroe County CASA | $2,080 | Training Technology Infrastructure |
| Monroe County Community School Corporation | $2,000 | Internet Access for Low-Income Students |
| Community & Family Resources Department | $1,980 | HBM Kiosk Project Expansion |
| New Leaf New Life | $1,800 | Reentry Connection |
Source: City of Bloomington Digital Opportunity Grants announcement (Oct. 29, 2026)
Binary Heart Inc got the largest award for its Digital Dreams Initiative. New Leaf New Life got the smallest, $1,800. That group works with people coming out of incarceration, helping them stay connected to jobs, courts, and family while they rebuild. Neither the city nor the Herald-Times broke down how each group will split its money between hardware, internet bills, and staff time for training. That’s a detail residents won’t get from either source.
Seven Years of Trying to Close the Gap
Tracy Gander, the city’s Digital Opportunity Specialist, said in the announcement that this is the seventh year Bloomington has invested in these grants.
“We’re thrilled to see so many organizations committed to advancing digital opportunity in our community,” Gander said, adding that she’s “excited by the diverse group of dedicated nonprofits who applied” this year.
Eighteen organizations applied this round, six of them for the first time. Together they asked for more money than the $55,000 pool could cover. The city funds the program every year out of its own technology budget, not from a single grant that eventually runs dry. That’s different from a lot of digital-equity efforts, which lean on one federal award and quietly stop when the money ends. Bloomington has also used the program’s track record to chase outside funding, including a 2025 federal recommendation tied to the same strategic plan.
The Gap These Grants Are Trying to Close
This program traces back to a 2020 survey of 6,500 Bloomington households. Just 1,080 responded, and the city used their answers to write its Digital Opportunity Strategic Plan. That survey found older residents and lower-income households reported the biggest struggles getting and using the internet, according to the city’s program page. This year’s awards line up with those findings. There’s money for older adults through Area 10 Agency on Aging, for people in reentry through New Leaf New Life, and for low-income students through Monroe County Community School Corporation.
Picture a retired factory worker we’ll call Darnell, an illustrative example and not a real person. He lives alone on Bloomington’s east side and hasn’t touched a computer since he left his job. A program like Area 10’s isn’t going to hand him a laptop and a lecture. It’s built around one-on-one help, the kind that turns “I don’t know where to click” into being able to video call a grandchild. That’s the theory behind this whole program: pair small amounts of money with organizations people already trust, instead of building one big citywide system from scratch.
What We Don’t Know Yet
- Neither the city nor the Herald-Times has said how many residents these 13 projects will actually reach this year.
- There’s no breakdown of how each grant splits between devices, internet service, and staff time for training.
- Eighteen groups applied for more money than the city had to give, but the city hasn’t explained how it chose these 13 over the other five.
- Neither source gives a date for when the next application cycle opens, so an organization that missed this round has to watch the city’s website.
- There’s no outcome data from past years. Six years of grants have gone out before this one, but nobody has published results showing whether they’ve actually narrowed the gaps the 2020 survey found.
Why It Matters to You
Say you live in Bloomington and you’re a veteran, an older adult, a student from a lower-income household, or someone rebuilding your life after addiction or incarceration. This money is probably already funding an organization you could walk into today. The benefit isn’t a check or a device mailed to your door. It’s indirect. The city is paying nonprofits you may already know: Tech 4 Vets through the American Legion Auxiliary, one-on-one help through Area 10 Agency on Aging, computer classes through El Centro Comunal. The grants just let them keep doing that work, or do a little more of it. None of these are brand-new programs built from nothing. They’re existing groups getting a boost. The fastest way to find out what’s actually available is to call the organization tied to your situation, rather than waiting on anything from the city.
For comparison, New York State took a more centralized approach to the same problem this fall. It opened $12 million in digital equity grants and a statewide map of local help. Bloomington’s version is smaller and more local: money that goes straight to groups a resident might already trust.
If you run a Bloomington nonprofit working on internet access, devices, or digital skills and you missed this round, there’s no application open yet for next year. The Information & Technology Services office, 812-349-3544, is a reasonable place to start asking when it will.
Sources
- City of Bloomington: Digital Opportunity Grants awards announcement (Oct. 29, 2026)
- The Herald-Times: Bloomington Digital Opportunity grants, $55,000 awarded to 13 local organizations (Nov. 3, 2026)
- City of Bloomington: Digital Opportunity program page