i3 - September/October 2016 - 45

By Steve Ewell

Business

CT R E P O RTS

Tech Changing Lives - CTA Foundation
2016 Grant Update
for instructors and other national aging
services agencies.

Older Adults Technology Services -
This grant builds off the successful
grants CTAF has provided to OATS. It
supports the SeniorPlanet centers to
provide technology education, the digital
entrepreneurship institute reaching rural
aging communities, and incorporates
the use of technology for creative and
artistic expression.

Research to Prevent Blindness -

S

ince launching the Consumer Technology Association
(CTA) Foundation in 2012, we have invested resources
in improving the lives of older adults and people with
disabilities. Our 2016 grants build on this success with
programs designed to highlight how technologies can enable
healthier, longer, more independent lives for U.S. citizens.
Benetech - This grant expands upon the
existing Bookshare program, the world's
largest online library of accessible print
materials for people with disabilities. The
program is mostly used by students, but
is building a pilot in Texas allowing older
adults with vision loss access to information
in ebooks, audio books, or whatever format
best meets the needs of the participants.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF OATS

BridgingApps - This grant continues our
successful relationship with BridgingApps,
a program of Easter Seals of Greater
Houston. Given the large ecosystem of
apps that exist, and are launched each day,
identifying the apps that can best meet the
needs of people with disabilities is a challenge. BridgingApps helps consumers find
apps that will meet their needs regardless
of accessibility needs or age group.

Jewish Council for the Aging of
Greater Washington - This grant
C TA . t e c h / i 3

supports the SeniorTech program that
provides technology training classes for
older adults in Virginia and Maryland.

Lighthouse Guild - This grant continues
to support the Grunwald Technology
Center at the Lighthouse Guild in New
York. This center provides technology
training and access to demos of consumer
technologies for people who are blind or
low vision.

Meritan - This grant supports a pilot
program in Memphis, TN, using smart
home technologies in residential care
homes to demonstrate the benefits to the
people in their care as well as the caregivers.
OASIS Institute - This grant builds off
the mobile accessibility training created
last year along with support from AT&T.
This additional grant will create more
tools, updated curriculum, and resources

This grant will create an Innovations in
Technology Low Vision Research Award
to support early stage research to develop
new assistive technology for people with
low vision.

San Diego Futures Foundation -
This grant continues our support of
the Tech Ambassador Program which
provides peer-to-peer training for older
adults on technology throughout San
Diego County.

Selfhelp Community Services -
Support for the continued development
and expansion of the Virtual Senior
Center program which decreases social
isolation and improves health status
among homebound seniors through the
use of a touchscreen computer interface.

The American Foundation
for the Blind - has built a set of tutorials
to help consumers and developers learn
to use screen readers, enabling people
who are blind or low vision to access
information on their computers.
n
To learn how you can engage these communities, contact Steve Ewell at sewell@CTA.tech.
Thanks to the generous support of CTA, IBM,
AARP, Qualcomm and other contributors for
making this work possible. To learn more, visit
CTAFoundation.tech.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

45
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i3 - September/October 2016

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