Awards - Byte Back

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Byte Back Awards

Awards

Progress at Work

After more than two decades of innovative work, we’re proud to say that it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Bye Back, along with our dedicated team, has been the grateful recipient of many awards and recognitions.

Byte Back awarded Non-Profit of the Year by DC Chamber of Commerce

Featured Awards

Progress at Work

Digital Integrators are individuals and organizations that work to promote the digital advancement of their communities.

In April 2022, Centri Tech Foundation (CTF) launched the Digital Integrators Pilot Program to foster community-led innovations in digital equity. The foundation awarded $195,000 to community development organizations working in five U.S. cities to connect digital skills to equitable economic development. Our aim was to highlight community based approaches for digital advancement that could inform local digital equity planning efforts.

The new program marked CTF’s first on-the-ground initiative to promote digital advancement, which we define as a new mindset to leverage investments in digital access and adoption to promote economic justice in the digital economy.

The Digital Integrators grantees’ pilot projects demonstrate how community based organizations can leverage broadband access and adoption to continuously improve and modernize workforce development and economic mobility programs. From deploying affordable broadband networks and connecting residents across public housing in the Greater Boston area, to building a pipeline for digital workforce development in Detroit, to modeling a 2-generation approach to digital skills learning for families in Washington, DC, the Digital Integrators grantees tackled a spectrum of challenges that cities face in the promotion of digital advancement.


Meet the Grantees

The 2022 Digital Integrators Pilot Program cohort included five nonprofit organizations in five U.S. cities:

Equitable Internet Initiative
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ExCITe Center at Drexel University
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LIFT-NY
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Metropolitan Area Planning Council
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Byte Back
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Centri Tech Foundation selected these organizations for their leadership at the national and local level, their commitment to expanding digital advancement for low-income communities as a strategy for increasing economic mobility, and the innovation of their proposed community-based approaches to address digital inequities in systemic ways. Together, the cohort tackled a spectrum of challenges that local communities face to promote digital advancement.

The Digital Integrators pilots included a range of solutions implemented in diverse contexts:
 

  • A regional planning approach that facilitated collaboration among three public housing authorities and community groups to deploy broadband infrastructure and test adoption strategies in low-income and immigrant neighborhoods in the greater Boston area.
     
  • Building a local talent pipeline for digital workforce development in Detroit by training residents as Digital Stewards to install community networks, developing a train-the-trainer curriculum and hiring alumni to provide instruction, and connecting graduates to local tech apprenticeships. 
     
  • Co-designing a 2-gen approach to digital skills training with community-based partners and families to provide ‘family digital literacy’ as a service in Washington, DC.
     
  • Deepening campus-community connections by hiring Digital Navigators from the neighborhood to promote digital advancement in Philadelphia. 
     
  • Embedding digital equity within an economic mobility coaching model to better support parents in the Bronx on their career and economic journeys.

About Byte Back 

Since 1997, Byte Back has served thousands of adults by helping graduates gain valuable tech skills, launch successful careers, and become part of the growing digital economy. Closing the digital divide through tech training gives people hope and opens doors to living-wage jobs. To learn more, please visit https://byteback.org 

For more information, contact: 

Mikael LaRoche 

Head of Brand, Marketing, & Communication 

Byte Back 

Phone: 202.525.3150 

Email: gro.kcabetyb@ehcoralm  

The DC Chamber of Commerce recognizes Byte Back for their 25 years of service in Washington, D.C., providing tech certification, digital literacy training, and digital advocacy on behalf of under-resourced residents.

WASHINGTON, DC, May 11, 2022 – The DC Chamber of Commerce announced its 2022 Small Business Award recipients during its annual Small Business & Economic Development Summit on Tuesday, May 10, at the Washington Convention Center. 

The Summit convened leaders from local & federal governments and the business community for a deep dive into the state and recovery of the District of Columbia’s small business sector.

The Luncheon Award ceremony was well attended by many Who’s Who in DC including Mayor Muriel Bowser. Our CEO, Joe Paul, accepted the award for the “Non-Profit of the Year 2021 – 2022”, on behalf of the organization quoting, “We could not have achieved this without the greatest asset that Byte Back has, which is our team – on behalf of the thousands of scholars we serve and lives we have changed over the course of 25 years. We thank you for this recognition”  

For 25 years, Byte Back has been committed to closing the digital divide by providing under-resourced communities an equitable pathway into the digital economy by creating a pathway of inclusive and relevant digital literacy and tech training that leads to increased access and meaningful careers in the tech industry. As a leader in both digital inclusion and digital equity, Byte Back serves and trains more than 1000 adults every year.

Byte Back’s Scholars are predominantly people of color, women, and unemployed or underemployed adults. Byte Back has expanded program offerings to support returning citizens (RE-UP), Latin-X, Veterans, Youth, Seniors, and young professionals looking to pivot into a career in technology. Byte Back was selected as non-profit of the year for its ongoing commitment to digital literacy and technology equity for all. 

For more information about the 2022 DC Chamber of Commerce Small Business & Economic Development Summit, please visit https://dcchamber.org/events/2022-small-biz-summit. 

About DC Chamber of Commerce 

The DC Chamber of Commerce is the largest Chamber in the Washington, DC region. As an advocate for the DC business community for 83 years, the DC Chamber of Commerce is the voice for businesses in the District of Columbia, proudly serving a diverse membership of more than 1,400 members. For more information, visit https://www.dcchamber.org, or follow the Chamber at https://twitter.com/dcchamber and on https://www.facebook.com/DCCofCommerce. 

About Byte Back 

Since 1997, Byte Back has served thousands of adults by helping graduates gain valuable tech skills, launch successful careers, and become part of the growing digital economy. Closing the digital divide through tech training gives people hope and opens doors to living-wage jobs. To learn more, please visit https://byteback.org 

For more information, contact: 

Mikael LaRoche 

Head of Brand, Marketing, & Communication 

Byte Back 

Phone: 202.525.3150 

Email: gro.kcabetyb@ehcoralm  

The Washington Blade and DC Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and the Office of Women’s Policies and Initiatives presents their annual list, featuring Byte Back Communications Director Yvette Scorse.