As the first round of Mozilla’s Gigabit Community Fund approaches the program’s halfway point, the Kansas City group of pilot projects is prepping to present what they’ve built so far to members of the community.  

On Tuesday, June 10, the Mozilla Foundation will hold its regular monthly meetup along with the first public reporting out about the Fund’s four spring projects. The event will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Google Fiberspace. 

“We have these monthly meetups to engage educators who are doing the teaching with entrepreneurs who are building the technology so they can work together to solve problems inside classrooms,” Mozilla’s KC Community Catalyst Kari Keefe told SPN.

The Fund—supported by the National Science Foundation and part of the broader US Ignite initiative—invested $75,000 in this first pilot group. 

“We’re still looking at this like we’re watching an oncoming train,” Keefe said. “As we work through the next six weeks and go through the documentation process and the research component of what these projects were able to do, we’ll be bringing the next round of projects into the process.”

When the pilot for the first round of projects comes to an end, the Gigabit Community Fund will accept its second group of projects, starting July 17. Have a great idea for Gigabit application? Apply online through Friday, June 13, for the summer pilot program.

Pulled from project descriptions on the Mozilla Wiki, learn a bit more about each of the spring pilot projects that received grants from the Gigabit Community Fund before Tuesday’s event: 

	Gigabots by Big Bang The Gigabots bring connected robotics and devices to classrooms using existing educational robotics platforms. A Gigabot is a combination of hardware, software and cloud platform that connects Gigabots to each other from any location in real-time. This project takes robotics to a new frontier in science and engineering through programming, all while teaching kids how to share innovation in collaborative ways.
	3D Multi-School Learning by aSTEAM Village A project featuring next-gen telepresence technology to teach computer programming and video game design, providing a key STEAM pathway for students in a multi-school setting. This project can deliver high-tech innovation to interest-driven pursuits for non-dominant students in STEAM subjects.
	Project Bright Spots by The Lean Lab Using the Gig as a collaboration tool for video and live sharing to rapidly spur community dialogue and collaboration around innovation in education by sharing examples of “Bright Spots” in teaching and learning in the KC metro region. This project leverages the power of community, as powered by technology to create real solutions in advancing systemic education.
	Gigabit Cafe by Reconciliation Services Bridging the digital divide by bringing Gigabit Internet connectivity to social services by deploying the first public test of the “Software Lending Library” to demonstrate Internet relevancy and transformative powers to Reconciliation Services’ clients and neighbors. This project is the perfect example of using technology and innovation to address societal needs.

To learn more about the Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund in Kansas City, visit the group’s Wiki.