by Stephen Bryant

Last year, Ivy Tech Bloomington’s Gayle and Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship and Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business began assessing the digital literacy needs across the 11 counties in the Indiana Uplands Region. Thanks to a grant from Regional Opportunity Initiatives (ROI), a nonprofit affiliated with the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, Ivy Tech and IU Kelley faculty and students are now providing digital literacy training and assistance to advance broadband and connectivity knowledge in communities and across the region.

After assessing over 120 stakeholders in the region, the need for training in some key areas became evident, especially as they relate to small businesses:

  • Basic internet knowledge: How to use the internet and safe browsing.
  • Nuts and bolts of business: Ownership, operations, privacy, trademarks and copyrights.
  • Applications: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Zoom/Teams and Google Business Profile
  • Digital marketing and advertising: Branding, social media, Google and online advertising/ paid advertising.
  • Web development and maintenance: Platforms, costs, Search Engine Optimization and getting found online.
  • Cybersecurity and online privacy: Information privacy, disclosures and how to protect yourself.
  • Utilizing AI for business: Using artificial intelligence, regulations and disclosures.

Ivy Tech and IU Kelley faculty and students have been conducting workshops that introduce these important topics utilizing subject matter experts and the students to provide one-on-one assistance to individuals, entrepreneurs and small businesses. To date, we have completed free workshops in Daviess, Dubois, Monroe, Orange, Owen and Washington counties with plans to conduct workshops this summer and fall in Brown, Crawford, Greene, Lawrence and Martin counties.

We have learned there is a strong interest from stakeholders in the region in a continued partnership with us, along with considerable interest in offering more detailed education on topics including cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and online marketing. Sessions are being recorded and will be distributed to libraries and other community organizations across the Uplands region. Ivy Tech also is a participating organization in the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready program, through which we can provide free, on-demand access to a wide range of videos on issues pertinent to small businesses.

This collaboration between Ivy Tech and IU as well as the funding provided by ROI has enabled our rural communities to access needed programming to improve their entrepreneurial and small business climate as well as the digital literacy skills of its residents. If you want to learn more about the programming and upcoming workshops, contact Troy Phelps from the Cook Center at tphelps13@ivytech.edu. If you want to learn more about the digital inclusion efforts of Regional Opportunity Initiatives, you can access their website at https://regionalopportunityinc.org/digital-inclusion-2/.

Stephen Bryant is executive director of the Gayle and Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship and regional director of the South Central Small Business Development Center.