Mission:
Tech Goes Home empowers communities to access and use digital tools to overcome barriers and advance lives.
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IN THIS ISSUE:
- Springing Into Action
- 2019 Annual Report
- Welcoming TGH Volunteers
- Op-Ed: COVID-19 and the Digital Divide
- TGH Ambassador Spotlight: TGH Trainer Adam
- Digital Equity on the National Stage
- TGH in the Media
- Digital Inclusion Reading Round-Up
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TGH's first online Distance Learning trainer orientation
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Over the past few weeks, our team has been working remotely to move our programs entirely online and compile digital literacy resources to respond to COVID-19. While our in-person courses are currently on pause, we have already launched our first-ever TGH Distance Learning courses. We are also creating a webinar series and an online library of video tutorials covering a variety of essential digital skills for weathering this crisis, including how to order groceries online, communicate with family members, and access public health information. We've also compiled a
COVID-19 response page with resources to help everyone get through the isolation that many of us are experiencing.
Last year,
5,500 learners graduated from our 15-hour digital skills program - more graduates in a single year than ever before in our organization's history. We have set an ambitious goal to serve
6,000 Greater Boston residents in 2020, and we have already begun working towards this goal, albeit in adjusted ways to meet changing needs and circumstances in today's pandemic.
These courses make a real difference in the lives of our learners. A TGH Community graduate, Terehence, recently shared:
"
The TGH course helped me learn how to use the internet, improve my writing skills and create a resume. With my new computer skills, I have started taking online Spanish classes. The TGH course 100% helped me get further in achieving my life goals and keeping up with society."
We are now facing record-high demand as the communities w
e serve urgently need technology and digital skills to weather this crisis.
For those of you who have not yet supported TGH, we have just received an offer from a donor to contribute $15,000 if we can raise $30,000 in new gifts.
For those of you who are already supporters, we would greatly appreciate any contribution in this time of urgent need.
We could not do what we do without your commitment to our mission of ending digital exclusion. Thank you!
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Even in the midst of this crisis, there is room for gratitude. Just last week, TGH published our
2019 Annual Report. We want to
thank our friends and supporters who made 2019 a record-breaking year for TGH, in terms of both fundraising and program graduates.
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Capital One Coder volunteers leading a workshop
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TGH is in the process of launching our new in-house volunteer program, made possible by the Kraft Family Foundation!
Currently, Tech Goes Home is seeking virtual volunteers to help support our programs remotely. Volunteers are contributing to our digital resource library by creating PDF guides, recording video tutorials, and translating our existing materials.
When our in-person classes are in session, TGH relies on volunteers to provide classroom assistance, professional development skills, and other helpful resources to trainers, learners, and partners. Pictured above is a group of Capital One Coder volunteers giving a workshop at Boston Public Schools Parent University Technology Center.
Please click
here
to learn more about volunteering with TGH.
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OP-ED: COVID-19 AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
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Tech Goes Home Co-CEOs Theodora Hanna and Dan Noyes authored an op-ed entitled
"COVID-19 and the Digital Divide," which was published in the Boston Business Journal earlier this month. They discuss the digital equity implications of the current pandemic and explain TGH's role in responding:
"At the start of this year, Tech Goes Home was already facing an enormous surge in demand for our digital-skills courses, affordable devices, and assistance getting online at a pace that was surpassing levels of funding. The COVID-19 crisis has blown that demand out of the water and made all too clear the very real implications of the digital divide."
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TGH AMBASSADOR SPOTLIGHT: TGH TRAINER ADAM
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TGH Community Learners at El Centro del Cardenal
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Adam led his first course as a TGH trainer in 2019 at El Centro del Cardenal, a branch of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Boston. Learners in Adam’s course are preparing to take community college courses, so the curriculum focuses on skills such as using Google apps, creating presentations, and formatting essays. At the end of the course, learners complete a final project – either an essay or a presentation – which prepares them for the kind of digital skills they’ll have to use in college.
Adam’s course also guides students to navigate ACCUPLACER, a placement exam for college courses. Adam explains that before TGH, many of the learners in his course did not have computers at home, and “if you’re using a laptop for the first time when you’re taking the test, the results aren’t going to be as good.” Now, graduates of Adam’s TGH course are able to prepare for the test on a laptop, which relieves a lot of test anxiety and sets students up for success.
Many of the learners who graduated from Adam’s TGH course have gone on to college, and many have returned to thank Adam and relay the long-lasting impact of the TGH course. One student explained that on his first day of his first college class, his professor announced that all the course material would be available on Google Drive. While some students in the class were confused, he felt like he really knew what to do. He explained that “a lightbulb went off – this is what I had been preparing for.”
Thank you to Adam and all of our TGH trainers for your hard work and commitment to achieving digital equity in Greater Boston!
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DIGITAL EQUITY ON THE NATIONAL STAGE
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In January, the House of Representatives Subcommittee on
Communications and Technology held a hearing focused specifically on digital equity for the first time. The hearing was entitled, "Empowering and Connecting Communities through Digital Equity and Internet Adoption."
Click
here
to watch the hearing and read the testimonies, including a testimony by Angela Siefer, Director of the
National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA).
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DIGITAL INCLUSION READING ROUND-UP
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TGH’s work is only possible with contributions from donors, like you, and municipal, corporate, and foundation grants. Thank you for supporting TGH.
An extra thank you to the following lead donors for their extraordinary support!
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Arthur F. Blanchard Trust
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Mabel Louise Riley Foundation
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