Classroom research in Hartford, written into a federal grant provision with the office of Congressman John Larson.
As AI Pathways Camp and ConvoAAVE grew, it became clear that durable change would take more than individual programs and short-term grants. After conversations with grassroots organizations and nonprofits across Hartford, we approached the office of Congressman John Larson, and the office agreed to work with us.
Working with his staff, Machina Mundi researched the state of AI education access in Hartford's underserved schools, and that research was used directly by the office. His staff also showed the team how to use the Congressional Research Service to ground the work in existing federal policy.
To authorize grants to local educational agencies for artificial intelligence education infrastructure, teacher training, and dialect inclusive evaluation of speech technology in historically underserved schools, and for other purposes.
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The research became a grant proposal covering AI education infrastructure, teacher training, and programming for historically underserved schools. It has since developed into a formal policy provision: a $5,000 per-school AI Equity Grant for Hartford and East Hartford, administered through the U.S. Department of Education and built on existing ESSA Title IV-A funding.
The draft above sets the provision out in full: what a school could spend the money on, which schools would qualify, and how speech technology used in a classroom would be checked for its accuracy across dialects.
The provision is with Congressman Larson's office, where his staff and ours are working it into formal legislative language. Separately, founder Karthik Srikumar is preparing to testify before a U.S. House subcommittee on AI education equity.
