Episode 15: Community Tech Network

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A transcript, lightly edited for clarity and length, follows.

Show Guests: Kami Griffiths, Executive Director and co-founder of Community Tech Network

Voices of the Community Introduction: Welcome to voices of the community which explores critical issues facing Northern California communities. We introduce you to the voices of community thought leaders and change makers who are working on solutions that face our fellow individual community members neighborhoods cities and our region. This is George Koster your host. 

Series Introduction: This episode is part of our series exploring COVID-19’s impact on nonprofits and small businesses in San Francisco. We started the series back in April 2020 during the height of the first phase of the Covid 19 pandemic and the Shelter In Place requirements. Over these past nine months the Covid-19 pandemic and economic meltdown has wiped out millions of jobs in both the nonprofit and small business sectors as well as shuttered tens of thousands of small business operations.

The goal of the series is to shine a spotlight on the nonprofits, small businesses and their staff who are struggling to deal with the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on their operations, services and sustainability. The series of interviews we conducted features voices from a cross section of organizations that make up the fabric of our community.  Each of them brings a unique perspective on how they and we are dealing with the issues facing our community during the global pandemic and economic depression. 

Show Guest Kami: There is no easy answer. Because it's time and its money and it's planning, but it is not rocket science to help low income communities get connected.

Episode Intro - Show Host George: 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.

Show Host George: I'm joined remotely via zoom by Kami Griffiths, the Executive Director and co-founder of Community Tech Network. Thanks for being here, Kami

Show Guest Kami: Thanks for having me, George.

Show Host George: So, I'd love it. If you could please provide the audience with just a kind of quick overview of what Community Tech Network does and who you serve?

Show Guest Kami: We are a nonprofit based in San Francisco. We focus on digital literacy skills for low income adults and seniors. And we partner with agencies like senior centers, libraries, social service agencies, and low-income housing developments to provide their community members with the digital skills training that they need to do job search or connect with family or to do tele-health. So, it's, it's really been focused on digital literacy, but as we'll get into, it's gotten much more intense.

George: So much of your training has been in person, you know, over the years, and that's been really helpful with certain demographics. How has COVID-19 impacted all of your wonderful hands on work with the digital skill training and then your home connect program?

Kami: So, when Covid hit our partners had to shut down, those were the senior centers in the housing developments. And because they were shut down, our trainers couldn't go there, obviously. And many of our nonprofit partners doing similar work, where they were doing some kind of computer training in person, they decided to take that computer training and put it online and make it available.

And we've done a little bit of that, but what we really wanted to do is make sure that the people who don't have connectivity got the connectivity, they needed to take advantage of the classes that were being put online. So as soon as we could, which right, we'll turn this around pretty quickly. We launched a program called Home Connect that allowed us to take referrals from our partner agencies of seniors who live alone, who really want to learn how to use the internet and who currently had limited access to the internet at home.

And that program called home connect launched at the end of April. And as of this week, we have our numbers up on our website, that we have been able to provide tablets and training virtually to 90 seniors. And another 30 seniors have received some sort of advice through our program because we have donated devices that we then redistribute and the most amazing piece of all of this is that we've been able to launch the program so quickly and help so many people, and it's all virtual.

We had to figure out a way to ship devices. In some cases, we've been hand delivering devices when a person lives in a building that generally packages go missing when they get shipped there, or lots of things that we've had to work out over the last few months, but it's been an incredible journey.

George: So, what are you and your staff see is any additional needs? besides devices and I know broadband's been a really big, push, since the inception. And you were one of the co-founders, what additional needs, are you guys seeing out there with regards to supporting, your clients?  

Kami: So, if you think about we as connected individuals, we take advantage of our access. We have the internet; we have devices and we have skills. So, let's break that down into getting a device into the home, is not going to get you very far if you don't have the internet. And getting someone signed up for the internet is actually kind of difficult because there's fear related to signing up.

They want, to be sure they don't get up-sold or they'll get a bill that they can't can afford. And honestly, some people can't even afford Ten Dollars a month those are the cheapest options that are out there, ten Dollars for ah Comcast and AT&T. So, there's some fear around signing up for the internet. And then in some cases you have to physically leave your home and go to a store and show your eligibility papers.

And we don't want to tell a senior to leave their home. So that they can sign up for the internet. So, signing people up for the internet has been a challenge we're working through it, it's time consuming, but it is a necessary hurdle. So obviously if there was some sort of free Wi-Fi, or if a building provides internet, it makes our job that much easier.

Because then we can just ship them a tablet and start the training virtually. And I want to dig into the training piece because what I'm learning from folks who don't know, what I know is that they think we'll just ship a tablet. And they'll figure it out. And that's totally not the case. That if someone is new to using a touchscreen or new to using the internet, they're not going to figure it out by themselves.

They may not even know how to turn the darn thing on. And certainly, they're not going to know how to tap and hold. There's a lot to know about using a smart device, not just a physical using of it, but being safe and not getting taken advantage of through scams. So, I would say what we need more of is lower cost, internet ways to get free internet, to people, more money for devices, more people who want to volunteer as trainers. And, yeah, just more awareness that a lot of seniors are sitting alone at home disconnected. And I think personally, we should do more to help people get connected so that they're not isolated.

George: So, over the years, of operating a CTN, what would you say has been the biggest impact of basically supporting and enabling, community members to become digital citizens?

Kami: The thing I hear again and again is I am now in the 21st century. And again, back to those of us who are connected, we take our conductivity for granted. And we take advantage of opportunities that are available by having smart devices and having access to the internet. Think about taking away your access to doing ride sharing or ordering food online or streaming videos. What if you didn't have access to that? So, you got these folks that have access to radio and television and a telephone. And like, this is a very limited life. And they see through TV and movies what's possible on the internet and they want that, but they don't know how to get that. In some cases, they can't actually afford it. So, what I appreciate the most is that 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. I can now do all these things.

And it's also important to recognize that we are expecting people to do things online. Tele-health is one great example, how it is not safe to go to the doctors. So, go and do tele-health. I'm sure we've all heard examples where it's expected that you'll go online and do certain things.

The offline version no longer exists, or the phone number no longer exists. So, in many cases there's no option, but to do it online. So, if that's the situation, then there's no option, but to rely on somebody else for help or to not do it at all. I'm lucky enough to be able to help people in the past before being an executive director, I started as a volunteer computer instructor. Uh, and I just loved the work so much that it became really my life's mission to help more people get on the internet and to do this work now for over 15 years is a real blessing.

George: Could you provide the audience with one of your favorite moments of, providing digital skills training and working with our fellow community members?  

Kami: So, I haven't helped folks personally for a while, but there is a story that goes back many years that I'd like to share, because it's a clear example of why being on the other side of the digital divide can hurt people. That when I moved to the Bay area in 2006, I started volunteering in a nearby computer center at a housing development.

We were helping community members with whatever it is that they needed help with starting email or responding to email. And one guy came in with a letter that he needed to reply to get some funding that would help him get back to New Orleans to rebuild his home. It got wiped out after Katrina. So, this is now 15 years ago, that this happened, but he had heard about this program where you could get some funding to help get you back into your home.

And the option was to make a phone call and paper application kind of thing gets mailed to you, or you go online. And by the time he made the call and got the paper application, the deadline had already passed. So, the opportunity to take advantage of something that could have facilitated him getting back into his home, because he wasn't connected, he wasn't able to make that happen.

So that's an old example, but one that's like, wow, that's powerful. When folks are online. They can apply online and, you know, have that financial opportunity. what I love the most is the, excitement that people get when they experience the internet in a way that they realize, wow, I can do this. And I have a great image that I'll share with you, George, that you can include, that has the faces on the seniors are they're in awe of what they see on these tablets that they're learning how to use. Really, the essence is we're helping people gain skills that will affect the rest of their lives.

And granted a lot of the folks we're working with are older, so they have a limited amount of time, but what about valuable thing to give them that they can see their grandchildren on the tablet, they can look up any song that they want to listen to, that they can go on a Google map and see their hometown that they haven't seen in 40 years.

There are all these things it's like, we take it for granted. I don't take it for granted. I mean, my husband and I are always joking about like we can do this because we have the internet and it's really a remarkable resource for us to have. So, recognize that we have this it's part of our lifestyle makes things a lot easier, more robust, and there's still a lot of people that don't have access.

George: So how can folks help you? Do you guys have ah Covid-19 campaign? Are you trying to raise funds for devices, services?  

Kami: We're always trying to raise money as all nonprofits are. I would say if you have time and you're patient and you enjoy communicating online, I know a lot of people are already zoomed out, but we do have a lot of volunteer opportunities for folks.

We're calling them digital coaches. And you'll work one on one with someone using your phone to communicate and then using screen share to see their screen. And you're essentially taking them past the first five weeks that we provide with our paid instructors. You get to help them for an additional 12 weeks.

It's a really fun, easy project that you're helping people look things up or really refine the knowledge that they have gained and to just keep trying to build that skill so that they can keep using the internet, my concern with folks gaining basic skills and then not using those basic skills as they'll forget.

And so, to be a volunteer digital coach after they start off is just a great way to make sure that they keep learning. So, become a volunteer. Or of course we're always looking for money that will allow us to purchase devices, help people pay for internet if they can't afford it, help pay for the paid trainers.

And we do need to rely on paid instructors and not just volunteers because. We have four different languages that we're serving right now in the home connect program, English, Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog. And so, within the Chinese community, we do have mostly Cantonese speaker, but also some Mandarin speakers.

So, we're trying to have as many different languages possible. So, we do have to hire instructors, but that also means that our volunteer digital coaches also, we need bilingual folks. as well. And then if there is a corporation that's looking to sponsor a group, we would love to build partnerships with corporations that want to engage their staff and volunteer opportunities, and also make a difference in the community that we have, thousands of seniors still in the Bay area, probably tens of thousands.

We don't have an exact number. Not all the seniors want to be connected or necessarily have the cognitive ability to learn and retain that information, but with the support of their caregiver, they could be getting online. So, there's a great amount of need. And a lot of groups like CTN that are doing the work out there, that there's a City initiative called SF Connected that we're a part of along with Community Living campaign, that's doing some really amazing work and Self Help for the Elderly. And so, we are very lucky to have this team of other nonprofits doing similar work in the Bay Area.

George: Thank you. That was great. So final question, what would you like to see as positive things that would come out of the COVID-19, both health, pandemic, economic meltdown?  

Kami: What it forced at least the nonprofit community and I'm certain the business community it forced all of us to work from home digital transformation happened very quickly for a lot of us. Community tech network was already fairly virtual. And so, getting our staff online and working from home, not a big deal, getting our programming online, not that heavy of a lift, but our community members that's the part that is a heavy lift. So what I love, seeing and Community Tech Network is helping to make this happen is that it's forcing more people to get online at home. And it's assisting more people to get online at home.

There were folks who weren't online didn't necessarily want to be online. They got their connectivity at the library or at the senior center. And because of the stay at home order, they had to get online and now they have that connectivity that they will then be benefiting from more and more each day. So, I think that's a benefit, but it's painful right now because every day that goes by, that's more loneliness more sense of isolation and its heavier on the service providers. We're getting more and more referrals and organizations from across the country asking us, what can I do? How can I help? I have all these seniors who are home alone, and they want to get connected. What can I do?

And there is no easy answer. Because it's time and its money and it's planning, but it is not rocket science to help low income communities get connected. We just need time and teamwork and some donations of devices. And yeah, there's plenty of smart people out there with big hearts. So, let's just get together and help get our communities connected.

George: Thank you Kami, for sharing a community tech networks work today. we'll make sure all the people who are watching or listening to the interview have your website, social media, so that way they can continue to follow your work and your, efforts, and please stay safe out there. In what is, this new, crazy normal.

Kami: Thank you George

Episode Outro - Show Host George: That’s it for this episode of voices of the community. You have been listening to the voice of Kami Griffiths, the co-founder and executive director of community tech network. To find out more about community tech network’s digital skills work with seniors and low income community members go to community tech network dot net.

To hear more about the origins of Community Tech Network and meet some of its clients, instructors and Kami, please go to george koster dot com, click on voices of the community and our Archive to listen back to our 2016 episode titled The Digital Divide Have & Have Nots - How Digital Skills Changes Lives.        

Series Outro: We hope that you enjoy the insights, points of view and personal stories from the voices of change makers and their nonprofits and small businesses featured in this series. To  find out more and get engaged with the nonprofits, small businesses and staff members featured in this series please go to my web site george koster dot com and click on Voices of the Community to find links and listen to our ongoing series exploring COVID-19’s impact on nonprofits and small businesses in San Francisco. After listening to these stories we hope that you will consider making a donation and volunteering to provide a hand up to your fellow community members.

Series Credits: I want to thank my associate producer Eric Estrada, along with Mel, Michael and Lila at the San Francisco Public Press and KSFP. To listen to our next episode in this series and to our archived past shows which feature community voices working on solutions to critical issues facing Northern California communities, please go to george koster dot com. While you are on our website please consider making a donation to help us provide future shows just like this one. Follow us on twitter @georgekoster and please email us with feedback and show ideas at george@georgekoster.com. I'm George Koster in San Francisco and thank you for listening.

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