For years, the Initiative for Literacy in a Digital Age has had a clear and noble mission. To recognize and empower the educators who are redefining what it means to teach in a connected world.

Through programs like the Divergent Awards, we built a network of scholars, teachers, and visionaries who understood that digital literacy wasn’t just a skill. It was a survival mechanism for the modern age.

But as we looked at the landscape of 2026, we realized something critical.

We cannot fully support students if we stop at the classroom door. We cannot talk about “digital citizenship” in schools while the communities those schools serve are stripped of their digital privacy and autonomy.

To change the ecosystem, we have to be the ecosystem.

Why We Are Evolving

This year, we’re proud to announce our transition from an educator-focused initiative to InitiatED. A global cooperative network building community capacity for digital autonomy.

This is not a departure from our roots. It is the necessary expansion of them.

We realized that the challenges we face, surveillance capitalism, algorithmic bias, and the erosion of privacy, do not distinguish between a “student,” a “parent,” or a “community organizer.” They affect us all. Therefore, our solutions must include us all.

What Is InitiatED?

InitiatED is a “big tent” for digital resilience. We are bringing our legacy network of educators together with a new wave of practitioners:

  • Community Organizers fighting for digital justice.
  • Non-profit Leaders seeking privacy-forward tools for their work.
  • Local Activists building resilient networks in their neighborhoods.

Our goal is simple: To build community capacity for digital autonomy. We are moving beyond just “talking about” the problems of big tech to actively building the alternatives.

What Does This Mean for You?

1. If You Are an Educator (Our Legacy Network) You are still the bedrock of this work. The Divergent Awards will return in Spring 2026, bigger and more inclusive than ever. Your work in the classroom remains vital, but now you will have a broader network of allies, technologists and organizers, to support you.

2. If You Are New Here Welcome. You no longer need to be a “teacher” to be part of this movement. If you are doing the work of building community. Whether in a library, a union hall, or a chat group, this is your home.

The Roadmap: What Happens Next?

We are rolling out this evolution in three phases:

  • Phase 1: Connection (Now). We are launching the Signpost Sessions this month. These are facilitated, six-month cohorts focused on building trust, resilience, and human connection before we tackle the tech.
  • Phase 2: Infrastructure. We are curating a suite of privacy-forward, self-hosted tools that our members can use to organize without being tracked.
  • Phase 3: Programming. In Spring 2026, we will launch the next iteration of the Divergent Awards and a new series of public webinars.

Join Us

The transition is already underway. We are rebuilding our website, retooling our governance, and opening our doors.

We are no longer just asking “How do we teach this?” We are asking “How do we build this, together?”

If you are ready to be part of that build, we invite you to stick around. Read the blog, keep an eye out for the Signpost Sessions, or drop us a line directly at hello [at] initiativeforliteracy [dot] org.

You can also find us connecting on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Facebook. Wherever you find us, look for the hashtag #init4eachother to join the conversation.

Let’s get to work.