On September 17, 2026, every student enrolled at HANDY in Broward County, Florida, received a tablet of their own from Figgers Foundation. Since 2018, the Foundation has worked to help families facing hardship with the resources and opportunities they need, and this distribution shows what that looks like when it is built around how students learn.
Why a Tablet of Their Own Matters
Most youth programs rely on shared equipment, and the Foundation chose to skip that model. When a program owns a cart of laptops, access becomes a schedule: twenty-five minutes, in a room, on a day the program is open.
Homework does not follow that schedule. College applications, financial aid forms, scholarship essays, and online coursework all demand time at night and on weekends, which is when shared equipment is locked away. A personal device moves a student from borrowed access to continuous access.
Reaching Students at a Critical Point
The tablets went to students in the years when a missing resource compounds fastest. A junior who cannot research colleges on her own time ends up applying to fewer of them. A senior who cannot finish financial aid paperwork at home risks missing a deadline that decides whether he enrolls at all.
A student without a device also cannot use the free online courses, test preparation tools, and tutoring platforms that better-resourced classmates rely on without a second thought.
Building on the 2025 Scholarship
The distribution follows a $1,000 scholarship Figgers Foundation awarded at the HANDY Scholar Breakfast in 2025. The two forms of support solve different problems. The scholarship addresses cost, the barrier at the point of enrollment, while the tablet addresses capability, the barrier every day before and after it.
A scholarship without a device leaves a student underequipped for the education it paid for, and a device without a scholarship leaves a student well equipped for a school she cannot afford. The Foundation’s position is that students need both, and HANDY students now have both.
Part of a Wider Effort to Close the Digital Divide
The HANDY distribution fits the Foundation’s broader work on technology access. Through its Florida Connect device loaner program, eligible residents in 18 Florida counties can receive free devices along with three years of internet service. Florida Connect is associated with the Foundation's location at 2101 N. Andrew Avenue, Wilton Manors, FL 33311.
Its community tablet distributions, including the recent one at Lauderhill Point Community Center, follow the same idea that where a person lives or what their family can afford should not decide whether they can learn, work, and stay connected.
The Foundation is also running its AI Tech Innovation Program, which has reached its fifth cohort in collaboration with the Pompano Beach Housing Authority. The program currently has 30 students, with more expected to join. Sessions are held at Kappa Foundation, 3001 NW 8th Street, Pompano Beach, FL 33069.
A Relationship That Continues
The Foundation describes its relationship with HANDY as ongoing rather than concluded. The organization serves young people who are often the first in their families to pursue higher education, and the Foundation plans to keep pairing financial support with the practical tools those students need to turn an opportunity into a completed degree.
