Based on marketplace inefficiencies, the warp speed of change in the digital environment, and a need for stronger guidance from both parents and professionals, new divides in the quality of educational experiences for low-income households have emerged. The goal of the “Mind the Gap” initiative is to build a more robust, evidence-driven distribution and support network for both developers of digital learning products and education professionals in order to better reach underserved communities.
SCE partnered on this initiative with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and First Book, an organization that has distributed more than 130 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families throughout the United States and Canada. The Cooney Center and First Book explored opportunities to deliver high-quality digital content to underserved youth through First Book’s vast network of over 185,000 pre-school, schools and community-based programs. The Cooney Center also analyzed market data and funding opportunities related to afterschool and other informal learning spaces and produced case studies of developers and investors and the professionals who use digital media in their instruction of underserved youth.
