Chabot Space and Science Center is an educational science center whose mission is to educate students of all ages about Planet Earth and the Universe. In November 2017, the Chabot Center launched Project Create, an interactive learning exhibition with hands-on tinkering and making spaces open to all ages and abilities. Students explore STEAM through the manipulation of real tools and materials in stations including, Marble Machines, Stop Motion Station, Shaping Shadows, Circuit Blocks, Tinker Tailor and more. In collaboration with Tech Exchange, Project Create has a station titled Tech Take Apart where visitors are able to take apart and rebuild computer parts giving youth the experience to dissect technology and its different parts. Tech Exchange provides donated computer parts to support the station. Through this collaboration, Tech Take Apart emphasizes different aspects of the creative process and explores technology in a nontraditional approach. As Tech Exchange and the Chabot Center continue to work together, Project Create empowers learners and uses inquiry as a tool to ignite curiosity. In addition, Project Create also hosts workshops in which youth use disconnected computer pieces to design and build tech monsters. Over the last 23 years, Tech Exchange has diverted over 800 tons of e-waste from landfills using our “reuse-model” approach. With Project Create, Tech Exchange is able to increase its impact diverting their e-waste, while youth simultaneously gain a deeper understanding of each part’s importance through this hands-on approach. Tech Take Apart provides a recycling space for technology that otherwise may have been disposed. Tech Exchange takes pride in connecting with local expertise and partners as we work together to empower learning, uplift and provide tangible resources to the community.
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Oakland, Calif. (June 11, 2018) -- Tech Exchange was thrilled as 15 GoogleServe volunteers visited the Tech Exchange warehouse to take part in initial steps to eliminating the digital divide. Within the past three years, Tech Exchange has transitioned from a program serving solely Oakland to a regional electronic reuse service providing programming throughout the Bay Area. At the core, Tech Exchange takes pride in putting reused technology directly into the hands of digitally disconnected families.
A majority of Tech Exchange’s work is fulfilled in our active warehouse space. With the constant need to sort, test, and prepare equipment for the community, we value all group and individual volunteers who donate their time to help us fulfill our mission of providing technology access. GoogleServe volunteers helped technicians with warehouse cleaning, inventory, sorting, and preparing computers to be prepared for the next program installation phase. Thank you GoogleServe! Access to a computer and high-speed internet are more important than ever to the success of the Bay Area’s students, job seekers and families. 47% of low-income students in the East Bay don’t even have access to a computer at home. In addressing this need, Get Connected Oakland hosted the first annual East Bay Tech Fair at the Oakland Public Library, 81st Avenue Branch on May 12th, 2018. The East Oakland Tech Fair successfully attracted an attendance of more than 300, a portion of Bay Area community members who are “digitally dark.” The event offered residents access to available community technology services and resources in a fun and welcoming space, with the purpose of closing the digital divide for all Oakland residents. “It has been hard to home-school my son without a computer. Next year, he is going into third grade and after receiving a computer from Tech Exchange my son will be able to use online learning programs, and complete all of his essays.” -Community Member Attendees had the opportunity to explore education technology learning tools, sign-up for low-cost internet, receive digital skills training classes, and walk-away with a free refurbished desktop computer. OUSD high school students also could receive a free mobile device with data plan and hot-spot functionality. Education Technology Learning Tools. Tech partners such as Hack the Hood, Tech Hire, and Mission Bit took part in the fair to provide tech resources and hands-on engagement to community members. Attendees were introduced to local tech programs and supplied with learning tools to use at home. Low-Cost Internet. 100% of the families who attended the event are from low-income backgrounds. Attendees were provided with resources to learn about and sign up for $10/month internet options. Digital Skills Training Classes. Attendees had the option to attend 25-minute digital skills workshops. The workshops covered basic computer concepts and skills such as online ethics, interacting with social media, data privacy and security and information literacy. Free Refurbished Desktop Computer. As a pledge to ending the “digital divide”, Tech Exchange supplied 148 attending families with a free refurbished desktop computer. Free Mobile Device with Data Plan and Hotspot. OUSD students received the equipment and connectivity they needed to complete their schoolwork from home as part of the Sprint 1Million Project. “We came to the East Oakland Tech Fair because my mom cannot afford to buy me a computer. Almost all of my homework I have to complete is using the computer. I either go to school early or stay late. Now, I will be able to do my homework at home and I was also able to get a cell phone!” -OUSD High School Student Without Internet and computer access, students struggle to complete schoolwork and fall behind their peers in developing the digital literacy skills that are essential in an evolving workplace. Adults miss out on the ability to complete necessary tasks including paying bills, accessing benefits and healthcare, fulfilling workplace and social communication needs, and gaining information to empower themselves and their families on a daily basis. Adults without Internet and computers also struggle to effectively job search - and increasingly as schools move to digital platforms - parents miss opportunities to engage with school communities and to support their children’s school work and academic efforts. “It has been difficult to apply to jobs without a computer because I do not have a car and I have four kids. After attending the East Oakland Tech Fair, I will be able to use my computer to apply for jobs, and my kids will be able to do their homework at home. Instead of going to the library.” -Community Member Providing computer access, increasing Internet adoption rates and educating community members on digital literacy are three critical inputs to closing the divide in our community. Get Connected Oakland takes pride on closing the “digital divide” and providing a space, such as the East Oakland Tech Fair. As technology continues to be more important to our society as we increase our reliance upon computers, mobile devices, the Internet, and other technologies to aid in our everyday lives! Help Us Eliminate the Digital Divide Volunteers are essential in our mission to get the East Bay connected. We welcome all residents to join us in preparing computer equipment for distribution to schools, community centers and homes throughout the city. Please visit our website www.techexchange.org, to see the different ways you can donate your time or technology as we bridge the digital divide! From the organization’s very beginnings, Tech Exchange has been focused on addressing inequities in technology, especially those inequities that impact low-income students. In the 1990’s Tech Exchange founder Bruce Buckelew helped Oakland Tech High School students to repair and keep their own personal computers, and today the organization is equipping 3,000 Bay Area students and families with free and low-cost computers on an annual basis to close the digital divide.
Thanks to a partnership and exciting initiative with Sprint, this year Tech Exchange is helping to close the digital divide for 3,200 Oakland high school students who will receive the equipment and connectivity they need to complete their schoolwork from home as part of the 1Million Project. Seventy percent of high school teachers assign homework requiring online connectivity, yet more than five million families with school-aged students do not have internet connectivity at home. These students are faced with an enormous challenge as they are unable to complete their homework from home, search for jobs, apply to college and financial aid, or easily access the valuable information they need to succeed in school and life. To close what has come to be termed the “homework gap,” Sprint is distributing 1 million hotspot devices across the country over the next five years. Each Oakland Unified School District student participating in the 1Million Project will receive either a free smartphone, tablet, or hotspot device and 3GB of high-speed LTE data per month for up to four years while they are in high school. Unlimited data is available at 2G speeds if usage exceeds 3GB in a month. Those who receive a smartphone can use it as a hotspot. “Tech Exchange has been working to close the digital divide that exists for low-income Oakland students for the past 22 years,” said Tech Exchange Executive Director Seth Hubbert. “We are incredibly honored and excited to partner with Sprint and the district on the 1Million Project. Together we’re reaching thousands of additional students this school year.” As implementation partner for Oakland, Tech Exchange is coordinating and staffing distribution events at 18 OUSD high schools to put hotspot devices into the hands of OUSD students who lack home internet access. “We all know how challenging homework can be in the best of circumstances, but here in the 21st century, that daily task can be exponentially more difficult for students without internet access at home,” said Oakland Unified School District Superintendent, Kyla Johnson-Trammell. “We deeply appreciate Sprint and Tech Exchange for coming through with this amazing donation of internet access for thousands of our students. It will go a long way to helping them achieve the success they richly deserve.” The 2017-2018 school year marks the first year of the initiative with more 180,000 students in 1,300 schools across 32 states. Every year over the next five years, hundreds of thousands of high schoolers who lack internet access at home will join and benefit from the 1Million Project. The ambitious goal is to connect one million students in that time to help level the playing field and help eliminate the “Homework Gap.” “This is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate how business and education can work together to help close the digital divide,” said Suehyun “Johan” Chung, Northern California Regional President for Sprint. “We are hopeful that the 1Million Project helps to bring greater opportunity to students and families in the Oakland Unified School District and across the country.” Have you or someone you know been helped by Tech Exchange’s programs? Do you support our community work to make sure families get access to technology and internet services and want to help us do more? Tech Exchange is dedicated to providing equitable technology access to people in Alameda & Contra Costa counties. We recognize the need for people from all economic and cultural backgrounds to have a computer, reliable internet service, and skill training as a way to be empowered and self-sufficient members of society. We also provide workforce training in the community, and focus on a reuse and sustainable recycling model that’s good for the environment. We have been an ecologically sustainable, grassroots solution to addressing the digital divide locally since 1995, and each year we exceed our growth goals! May 4 is East Bay Gives, a special day of fundraising for over 200 nonprofits in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Tech Exchange is participating and is asking you, our community, to consider being part of the day and donating to help fund our vital work! On May 4 you can go to https://www.eastbaygives.org/techxorg and donate online! Your donations can help us win sponsored prizes that will give us added funding! We’ll remind you when it’s time! Use the link at the bottom of https://www.techexchange.org/ to sign up for our newsletter and we will be in touch to remind you on May 4 with the info you’ll need to donate! Then watch us on facebook and twitter to see what’s happening on the day, or stop by our refurbished computer store to say hi! Through a partnership between Kaiser Permanente staff, Hands On Bay Area, and the tireless staff at Tech Exchange, we rung in the New Year with a highly successful (and fun!) volunteer project for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service to get ready for our upcoming warehouse move!
After 20 years in one location, Tech Exchange’s computer refurbishing team will be moving to a new warehouse in West Oakland. We're becoming leaner and gathering our strength to grow, and this move sets us up to focus on efficiently getting computers to our community in increasing numbers! In order to make the move this spring, we need to downsize and spring clean! That means sorting through things, reorganizing our stock, recycling what we can’t use, and getting the new space ready! Over twenty people from Kaiser Permanente came out bright and early on January 16 and did just that! Under the direction of our staff, they went through the warehouse like a whirlwind, leaving us cleaner, ready to host a big surplus material giveaway for the community, and did it with grace and smiles! The Day of Service, "A Day On, Not a Day Off!" began in 1994. Each year, “With an emphasis on creating opportunity for all, Americans of all ages and backgrounds in all 50 states will re-commit themselves as citizens by volunteering in service to one another,” according to the Corporation for National and Community Service. As ever, we are grateful for neighbors who support our events! Tech Exchange wants to give a huge shout out to those generous Kaiser staff members who mopped, sorted, lifted, and cut lunch bread with a plastic knife to make the work light. Hands on Bay Area coordinated the volunteers and arranged for a tasty lunch. And our staff dug in like they always do! Our community, including people who give of their time and money, have helped us increase our ability to help others and we're looking forward to a great 2017! Watch this space for more details of our upcoming Open House on May 4 as part of East Bay Gives– hope to see you there! Our refurbished computer store, classes, and technical support will be located this spring in the Fruitvale neighborhood. Watch for announcements on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/techXorg/. |
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