Earlier in May of 2025, the Trump administration terminated the federal Digital Equity Capacity Grant, which had provided $23.7 million to Illinois for internet access and digital education. While the decision was framed at the federal level as a rollback of discretionary spending, its consequences are now unfolding in specific local ways, an example being a community center for elderly folk in Chicago’s Chinatown.
The program, which helps seniors use technology and navigate public transit, was featured on a recent segment of Chicago Tonight. The reporter noted that senior citizens in Chinatown depend on the program to understand how to use technology in their daily lives.
These spaces have provided essential daily independence for seniors as technology advances. Chinatowns are more than just places of business, and serve instead as a cultural safety net, especially for elders with limited English proficiency. Community centers in the neighborhood have historically filled gaps left by mainstream American institutions, and the digital literacy program fits within that tradition.
In the PBS coverage, an elderly participant described how her phone had become “like a second pair of eyes,” which underscores the personal value of the skills taught in the classes. According to Federal Trade Commission data, total fraud losses reported by Americans ages 60 and over surged from around $600 million in 2020 to $2.4 billion in 2024, with older adults reporting much higher individual losses than younger age groups. Classes like these transform what’s abstract to the elderly population into concrete forms of safety and protection.
Yet even before the federal grant was terminated, a community leader explained that it was nowhere near sufficient. The subsequent termination was accompanied by political rhetoric at the national level. When the president himself dismisses the Digital Equity Act as a “woke handout,” one would not expect a modest grant supporting essential services for low-income immigrant seniors is what’s being referred to.
Illinois State Representative Theresa Mah criticized the idea of programs like this as being “extraneous,” and referred to that framing as objectionable and offensive. She argued that it ignores the realities facing many of Chinatown’s elderly residents.
Teen volunteers at the community center also have a similar sentiment. One volunteer noted that “once a grandma wins…it was just really kind, and I don’t experience that in everyday life,”
Mah also emphasized that “Very few people really know or have internalized this information about the fact there are a lot of seniors in Chinatown, and they live below the poverty line.”
As times continue to get more impersonal, elders face the brunt of the experience, elderly immigrants even so. When immigrant safe havens like Chinatown are underfunded by the US government itself, the consequences fall on the communities that depend on them
Registration is closed for Common Ground: Building Together conference and gala award banquet in San Francisco on January 24. A shoutout to our planning committee: Jane Chin, Frank Mah, Jeannie Young, Akemi Tamanaha, Nathan Soohoo, Mark Young, Dave Liu, and Yiming Fu.
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