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A journalist’s mission is to accurately represent the contours of their community as it exists today, and push it toward a better version of itself tomorrow.

There are lots of ways to do that work, especially with the tools offered by the web. So while this article you’re reading remains a primary way to deliver the news, it’s not the only one. The other ways to connect are evolving.. When it comes to social media, you might have met us on Twitter and the Baltimore Tech Facebook group when this site first launched. But LinkedIn and public Slacks are becoming increasingly powerful tools for our community. And of course there are events. Not one year ago, you could find us speaking on a live panel. With the pandemic, it’s all virtual events.

But with the change, one format continues to have a lot of staying power: Email is still a good way to share news in a place you’re likely to see. Eventually, you’ve always gotta check your email. That’s why, when people ask about the best way to keep up with our news, I often share our daily email newsletter signup.

It’s where you can find the three to five articles we post in a day, including the wider-lens pieces we’re posting on our national site.

Lately, we’ve also been posting some additional tidbits of news in that newsletter that don’t appear anywhere else.We find it’s a good place to share a new opportunity or event, a quick update on a project we’ve been following closely or an insight that didn’t quite make it into the final draft of a piece.

So, if you want to make sure you’re getting all the news, make sure to sign up. And, to offer a look at the kinds of exclusive updates you can expect, below is a quick compendium of the notes we’ve dropped over the last few weeks. Got something to share? Get in touch at baltimore@technical.ly.

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Project Waves, the community internet service provider founded by RealLIST Engineers 2020 honoree Adam Bouhmad and fiscally sponsored by Digital Harbor Foundation, has a new partnership with Enoch Pratt Free Library. This will provide internet to 50 homes in Southeast Baltimore, via an antenna that’s on the roof of the Southeast Anchor library. The expansion was funded by a $50,000 PNC Foundation grant.

DataTribe made its investment for the winner of its startup challenge official. The Fulton-based cyber foundry is investing $1.7 million in SightGain, a D.C.-based startup that makes technology to evaluate cybersecurity readiness in production environments, and among personnel.

emocha Mobile Health said it was granted $1.5 million from the NIH’s National Institute on Diabetes and Digestives and Kidney Diseases. This brings the Mount Vernon-based company’s total funding from NIH to $6.1 million. The latest funding will allow Johns Hopkins University, the University of Miami, and the University of Virginia to study the effectiveness of emocha’s video-based therapy platform for kidney and liver transplant recipients. The company got an initial award for this use case in March.

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Downtown digital services agency Fearless has news that it is sponsoring a pair of programs supporting Black entrepreneurs: A new Downtown Partnership of Baltimore program will provide five Black-owned retail businesses with space, funding and expertise. It’s called Downtown BOOST (short for Black-Owned & Occupied Storefront Tenancy): Presented by Fearless. Applications are due by March 10.

“BOOST provides capital and business tools to begin to overcome the systemic and structurally racist policies that have prevented Black people from building generational wealth for decades,” CEO Delali Dzirasa said.

Fearless is proud to present the Downtown BOOST Program with @DowntownBalt.

BOOST will support the long-term success of five creative, Black-owned Baltimore businesses in Downtown Baltimore storefronts.

Learn more about BOOST, https://t.co/qPn24RqHNv pic.twitter.com/jN4nAQtYpy

— Fearless (@fearlessbmore) February 3, 2021

Fearless also signed on to be the title sponsor of Minority Innovation Weekend through 2025.  The agency pledged $50,000 for the annual event from The National Society of Black Engineers — Baltimore Metropolitan Area Chapter. It is also providing $60,000 for three pitch competitions over the coming years. The first will be in July 2021.

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Hey, quick update on some economic relief news we covered last month: Applications are now open for a TEDCO-administered fund providing emergency grants to rural and underserved businesses.

The $5 million RUBRIC program has state-provided funds for early-stage tech companies that are affected by COVID-19. According to a document from TEDCO, the quasi-public tech development agency will make awards in the form of reimbursable grants, up to $100,000.

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(Virtual) Event Alert: The Edtech Maryland Meetup has a session coming up on Feb. 24 that will explore AI and learning technologies.

It’s titled “Using AI to Move Beyond Mastery and Toward Collaboration,” and seeks to “share insights and technology innovations for enhancing digital education in today’s turbulent learning environment.” Speakers include edtech thought leader Drew Hampton and Phil Horwitz, chief architect at JBS Custom Software Solutions.

Learn more and register here.

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College entrepreneurs, check it out: Contrary, a venture fund connecting early-career engineers to a network that’s backed by the founders of Tesla and Reddit, is holding a pitch competition for university students in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. It’s open to founders who are students or recent alums from a DMV school. Applications are open through Feb. 19.

The event, which is hosted locally by the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins, will be held virtually on Saturday, Feb. 27, from 1 to 3 p.m.

Apply or RSVP here.

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Here’s an opportunity at the intersection of cities and startups: Conscious Venture Lab, the Baltimore accelerator focused around impact-driven companies and “urban resilience,” has applications open for a new cohort that will run from June to October. The accelerator, which is also part of a fund that has invested half its capital in women and minority-owned businesses, went virtual in 2020 as it partnered with Annapolis’ FounderTrac. One result: Its cohort size expanded to more than 40 companies. Apply here by April 5.

Plus, if you’re looking for some weekend reading, we spotted Conscious Venture Lab founder Jeff Cherry in this Business Insider profile of 10 business leaders fighting to make the Black experience a permanent part of corporate America.

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As we spotted on Twitter, digital inclusion org Byte Back is hiring an instructor for its computer foundations course. Per the posting, the adjunct role is 12 to 15 hours per week.

We're hiring a Computer Foundations instructor for Baltimore. People of color, women, and others underrepresented in tech are highly encouraged to apply and SHARE. #baltimoretech

Get info and apply here: https://t.co/l8ZEWSEmtg pic.twitter.com/wtLmN96Xjn

— Byte Back (@We_ByteBack) February 10, 2021

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