ISS Microgrant Program

Cyber Collective

ISS Microgrant Program

A grassroots initiative helping vulnerable communities build digital literacy and resilience against online threats.

New York, NY, USA

USA

Nonprofit

As digital tools become essential for accessing jobs, services, and education, the lack of basic cybersecurity protections puts individuals at increased exposure to financial harm and exclusion. In New York State alone, over 27,000 cybercrime victims reported losses exceeding $440 million. Despite technological advancements, the most common vulnerability remains human error. An estimated 95% of cybersecurity breaches are due to this factor. Meanwhile, attackers grow more sophisticated, leveraging tools like deepfakes and AI-driven misinformation, which account for up to 88% of cyberattacks. Nationally and globally, these risks are escalating, particularly for those without the resources to defend themselves online. While businesses and institutions can invest in advanced cybersecurity measures—such as spam filters, encryption, and AI-driven threat detection—the majority of individuals cannot. The current cybersecurity landscape remains largely privatized, with essential protections locked behind paywalls. This leaves many households, especially those in underserved communities, without the fundamental safeguards necessary to navigate the digital economy securely. Moreover, structural challenges such as limited access to education and barriers to digital literacy exacerbate the digital divide. This poses a need for a community-centered infrastructure that restores agency, builds trust, and transforms digital safety from a privilege into a right.

Cyber Collective’s Internet Street Smarts (ISS) Microgrant Program is a rapid-response model designed to increase digital literacy and resilience within underserved communities. This program expands upon Cyber Collective’s foundational work in educational material development by introducing a model that bridges the digital divide. Through this initiative, local leaders receive funding, facilitation guides, and multimedia resources to host community-based learning events—watch parties, workshops, and storytelling circles—all centered around our interactive ISS course. Events typically feature curated educational content, open discussions on online safety, and post-event evaluations. These gatherings build collective digital knowledge and foster dialogue around real-world online harms, including scams, surveillance, and misinformation. Grantees apply through an open online portal and are selected based on local need and alignment with Cyber Collective’s mission. Each host becomes part of a growing network of digital safety advocates empowered to address community-specific challenges with culturally relevant education. By decentralizing cybersecurity education and funding hyperlocal facilitation, the program turns awareness into agency. It blends with mutual aid, shifting cybersecurity from an individual burden to a shared responsibility—at no cost to participants.

Cyber Collective’s ISS Microgrant solution is designed for communities disproportionately affected by digital harm yet excluded from traditional cybersecurity education, this includes but is not limited to, low-income individuals, BIPOC communities, migrants, and older adults. These populations face barriers exacerbated by systemic factors: limited access to secure devices and reliable internet, language and cultural disconnects in mainstream educational materials, and a lack of institutional support or targeted programming. Fear, powerlessness, and historical exclusion from tech discourse has often led to passive compliance with digital surveillance and a lack of proactive security behaviors. As a result, the digital divide deepens existing vulnerabilities, reinforcing a cycle where those already on the margins are further destabilized by cyber threats, financial fraud, and privacy violations. By empowering trusted leaders and advocates to drive cybersecurity education within their own communities, our solution ensures that initiatives are shaped by those who best understand the unique needs, risks, and lived experiences of their communities. It is also rooted in cultural relevance, inviting educational content and discussion to be delivered in accessible formats—linguistically, culturally, and contextually—ensuring greater engagement and trust. Our approach will build digital vigilance and resilience through direct inclusion of historically hard-to-reach populations.