What do you get when you combine ‘refurbish’ and ‘marathon’?
Refurbathon!
On Thursday, January 30, we extended our hand to the digitally marginalized residents of San Francisco by providing them with one of our most information abundant events, we like to call, Refurbathons! Thanks to our Community Technology Ambassador Program Coordinator, Angelo Pasagui, and his collaboration with Jenny Rubio of the Access Program with Five Keys, held at the Southeast Community Center in the Bayview. 25 participants were given the opportunity to gain basic computer knowledge and skills that prove crucial to technology use.
Two of our wonderful CTA interns led the first hour session of the refurbathon while others assisted the inquiring residents with any issues or questions that arose. Omar Dajani, who provides direct free tech support at The Arc San Francisco, kicked off the event by combining the energies of fun and learning, presenting the importance of keyboard familiarity to enhance the participants skills and confidence with their typing abilities.
Following the keyboard familiarity, another one of our CTA interns, Oussama Naji, who provides direct free tech support there at Five Keys in the Southeast Community Center, could not express enough the importance of recognizing browser security/insecurity and strong password use, to promote online confidentiality and prevent personal information leakage. The room of 25 residents were fully engaged patiently waiting to participate with some of the slides and questions brought up by Oussama.
We want to acknowledge those who assisted our residents with questions such as one of our CTA interns, Antonio Gil, who helps with our Spanish Basic Digital Literacy Classes and provides direct free tech support at Dev/Mission’s 360 Valencia location, Issac Sosa, who is our Refurbishing Center Coordinator, and Austin Hui, who is our IT Technician intern.
Not only did we encourage computer use and safety but with the partnership of AT&T and MOHCD (Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development) the participants were successfully exposed to significantly invaluable resources that only benefit them, beginning with AI understanding, to internet accessibility for housing, and device accessibility to all.
The Director of External Affairs from AT&T, Cammy Blackstone, generously provided her time and resources with the Refurbathon attendees in the second hour of the event. Cammy introduced the new technological age of Artificial Intelligence and how to maneuver and manage the use of AI with informative videos related to “AI Safety and Security,” AI creativity in relation to “Intellectual Property”, and app algorithms. The individual participants discovering all the resources and benefits at their fingertips, not only informed them, but excited them. Cammy shares, “We all hear about the Digital Divide, but to come to these events and see how many people don’t have access to technology is really eye opening. It is so gratifying to be able to participate with Dev/Mission in supporting those in need with access to these important skills and tools.”
Dev/Mission is full of gratitude to our loyal partnerships with Cammy along with the knowledge she shares with our San Francisco residents to keep them informed in the digital world. Not only are we thankful for her presence of sharing knowledge, but on behalf of our attending participants, we are beyond grateful for her role in AT&T as she provided all of the event participants with a free HP Laptop refurbished by Human-IT and a free backpack filled with items like notebooks, pens, stress ball, etc.
In our final hour, Digital Equity Manager of MOHCD (the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development), Reymon LaChaux, introduced our residents to the San Francisco Digital Equity page of SF.gov. Here he presented all of the resources available to San Francisco residents. Depending on their individual circumstances, the residents were heavily encouraged to look into the resources accessible to them such as free home wifi, accessibility to devices ( buy or borrow), computer classes, learning digital skills, job trainings, youth/school resources, tech support, etc.
All of these opportunities to our San Francisco residents are beyond what they imagined during this event. Physically seeing the smiles on their faces, eyes light up, cheers and applause throughout the event introduced a feeling of empowerment in each of our event participants. We are committed to continue giving back to the community with the opportunity to gain newfound knowledge when it comes to closing the gap of the digital divide and any resources available to them. Stay up-to-date with Dev/Mission to be informed of our future Refurbathon events and we hope to see you there!
