In 2025, the Forest Park Public Library received a $15,000 grant from the Cook County Digital Equity IMPACT Small Grants program.
The grant provided the opportunity to partner with Growing Community Media and Wright to Learn to provide Digital Resilience training for the community.
The training included two cohorts that meet for six week sessions to:
- Build confidence using digital devices and online tools.
- Learn practical skills tailored to their interests—whether that’s staying connected, managing online safety, or improving job-related tech skills.
- Develop strategies to keep learning even as technology changes.
Each of the 25 participants received a laptop to keep after the program.
This program showed “what is possible when we invest in models that equip our communities for the digital age and center the human stories that make digital access and knowledge real in our daily lives,” said Tyra Bosnic, a grants and partnerships manager at City Bureau, which co-sponsored the grants program throughout Cook County. “By sharing our knowledge with others it helps the information spread,” and “seeing how learners have shared their stories, so their communities know why supporting everyone’s ability to access technology matters.”
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