Episode 15: Community Tech Network

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Staff, teachers, volunteers, and seniors learning life changing digital skills and device usage

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“We're giving them the door that allows them to go into the 21st century and then they step through it and they're like, wow, this is amazing.”

In this episode our featured voice is Kami Griffiths, the executive director and co-founder of Community Tech Network. In the 21st Century, access to the internet and devices to participate in the global public square has become a human right. The Covid-19 pandemic has again provided us an X Ray vision of all the negative impacts on our fellow citizens who do not have access to the internet. In a time when we’re all supposed to shelter in place, without internet access which so many of us take for granted, our seniors and low income community members are falling further and further behind economically, socially, as well as dealing with the negative impacts of isolation on their mental and physical health.

Kami Griffiths

Kami Griffiths is the executive director and co-founder of Community Tech Network, a nonprofit with the mission to transform lives through digital literacy. With over 15 years of experience working in the public sector, Kami has developed a passion for helping people gain access and better utilize technology, after witnessing firsthand how the digital divide and low literacy levels were aiding the cycle of poverty. She has worked for the City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation, managing 27 public access computing centers, teaching computer classes and establishing their volunteer trainer program. As the Training and Outreach Manager for TechSoup Global, Kami greatly expanded her knowledge and understanding of the nonprofit technology field, having conducted over 200 interviews with librarians and producing over 100 webinars. She is a founding member of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) and speaks nationally about digital inclusion. 

Community Tech Network

Community Tech Network gained its 501(c)3 nonprofit status and became an independent nonprofit organization in 2008 with grant support from the Full Circle Fund.

However, our origins can be traced back to 2001, when we started as a program of TechSoup (then called CompuMentor) to address a rapidly growing need for public digital literacy training. In 2007, our role was reviewed in a community survey, the results of which clearly indicated an ongoing need for CTN’s digital literacy work, and the transition to charitable status was made.

Back in 2008, when CTN became a nonprofit, Twitter was just a fledgling social media experiment, Facebook had barely begun its rise to world dominance, and Instagram wasn’t even a twinkle in its creator’s eye. Twelve years later, the internet is central to everyday life and access to it has become a right, not a privilege.

During these 12 years, CTN grew from one volunteer Program Manager and a handful of helpers to an organization of over a dozen staff, 60 active volunteers and 50 partner locations. It also spread its sphere of influence beyond San Francisco to the wider Bay Area. and to Central Texas. Today, CTN is led by an active and diverse Board of Directors comprising community leaders, business leaders, and technology advocates from local nonprofits in both the San Francisco and Austin areas.

Donation / Volunteer

Community Tech Network is a Social Impact organization. All monies earned through fees, received from grants or donated by individuals are invested in the work of bridging the digital divide to improve the lives of economically and educationally marginalized people. To donate online, use the form Here If you prefer to write a check, you can mail it to: Community Tech Network,1390 Market Street, Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94102

You can also help Community Tech Network to transform lives through digital literacy through these other ways to Give

Videos

To find out more about Community Tech Networks Digital Skills Training and its impact Check out their videos:

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Our Sponsorship

We are fiscally sponsored by Intersection for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which allows us to offer you tax deductions for your contributions. Please consider making a donation to help us provide future shows just like this one. If you want to send us a check, please make checks payable to Intersection for the Arts and write [Voices of the Community] in the memo line of your check. This ensures that you’ll receive an acknowledgement letter for tax purposes, and your donation will be available for our project.

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