Episode 25: Tech Exchange

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

Show Guest: Seth Hubbert, Executive Director of Tech Exchange

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 have 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 Seth: That's right, the statistics in low-income neighborhoods across, the Bay Area are right around that metric of 40 to 50% of households don't have computer and internet at home. So, it's, a very, quiet but large issue in our community, especially when you know, Bay area should be the tech capital of the world. 

Episode Intro - Show Host George: In this episode, our featured voice is Seth Hubbert the Executive Director of Tech Exchange and we are discussing how the digital divide is impacting low-income students and their families in Oakland the greater San Francisco bay area.

In a 2018 US Census Bureau, American Community Survey and San Francisco Digital Divide Survey between 32 to 41% of households in the San Francisco Bay Area do not have broadband. With the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic upon us ongoing Sheltering in Place and schools closing back down again the need for a device and broadband are a necessity to educate our children as well as to keep them and their families safe, and healthy.

Show Host George: I'm joined remotely via zoom by Seth Hubbard, the Executive Director of Tech Exchange. Thanks for being here, Seth.

Show Guest Seth: Great to be with you. Appreciate you having me on

Show Host George: I'd like to start with having you please provide the audience, kind of an overview of who Tech Exchange, is and who you guys serve. And then of course you have some really wonderful programs, especially around the remote learning, in education through the Oakland Undivided. You now have Tech Hubs that you're trying to do for education, then there's the Tech Support For All and then of course, raising more money for more Chromebooks so, tell us about Tech Exchange.

Show Guest Seth: Sure. The organization has been around for a while. It was founded in the mid-nineties. and the mission is really revolving around the digital divide and getting the under served community members access at home so that they can benefit from all the things that technology and internet brings to our daily lives.

And so, from our perspective, there's a couple of interrelated things that are related to solving for digital divide issues. There's the computer piece. Just having hardware that is available to family at low or no cost. There's a stable internet that meets the needs of families, especially with multiple family members having the right speed, the right. Kind of ease of access is important. And then there's the digital skills component, making sure that, community members are equipped with those, kind of basics of how to get started using technology and a clear path on if they need to develop skills in different areas. How do they do that?

Who do they go to? Where do they get that support? And so, the model that we've created is really trying to address all three of those, because if you take any one of them away, then you don't have a family that is robustly online and, and taking advantage of, having a connection.

And so, on the computer front, we operate a large warehouse space in West Oakland, where we do a combination of procuring low costs, laptops like, Chromebooks, and distributing those to community members and schools. But also, we have a sizable refurbishing operation. So, we work with nearly a hundred companies located throughout the Bay area and we route trucks, and we pick up, computers that are decommissioned, from being used. We bring those back to our warehouse and then process those, test them, get them re-imaged and ready to go, to distribute back out to family members and individuals that don't have computers at home.

Then on the internet and support front, we have a program team that is helping families sign up for low-cost internet, where we can, we subsidize and purchase, hotspots to provide to families. And then on the training side, we run different levels of online trainings or in-person workshops, texting support, all of the kind of basics of having a, backdrop a net of support for families.

So as, they're getting the computers and they're getting, you know, a hotspot or internet connection, they also then have a partner that they can turn to for, the skill side and the training side. So, we, we aim to accomplish all three.  

George: So, there's the Oakland Undivided program, which, is really a wonderful, program born out of the fact that now everyone went remote in the spring and, once again, COVID-19 it's both economic and technical social impact is, put that big, bright x-ray if you will, on our, digital have and have nots. So out of that, it seemed like Oakland Undivided came together to try to come up with a solution for what was it about 40% of Oakland Unified School District students who didn't have a piece of technology or broadband?

Seth: That's right, the statistics in low-income neighborhoods across, the Bay Area are right around that metric of 40 to 50% of households don't have computer and internet at home.

So, it's, a very, quiet but large issue in our community, especially when you know, Bay area should be the tech capital of the world. And so there should be, from my perspective, a much higher bar set for equitable technology access, that unfortunately just doesn't there. So as the pandemic and its very early days, was upon us and, schools made that decision to have family shelter in place. We have a history of relationships in Oakland because we've been doing this work for 25 years. So, we quickly got together with, the Mayor's Office, the City of Oakland, with Oakland Unified School District, Oakland public Education Fund and Oakland Promise as a group to put our minds together and, start to scope out this issue, and understand.

As we transitioned into distance learning, what are we looking at in terms of number of students, number of families that are going to need immediate support with, home technology access and, once  the kind of size of the issue was addressed, then it transitioned into, raising funds, knowing that there was going to need to be a push of resources in order to, get families what they need, especially on a very, expeditious timeline, because every day, without technology at home, was it a day missed of classes.

And then, you know, as, the funding began to come together, in large part, thanks to Jack Dorsey and, couple of other great, early-stage investors that saw the importance of this initiative. Once we hit that fundraising milestone, then it quickly transitioned to some heavy planning around how do we execute this?

How do we first understand out of the 50,000 public school students in Oakland who has what and who needs, what and how do we get the right infrastructure built to deliver devices and internet and support? to all those families. So, we've made a lot of progress. at this point, we're at, a confirmed 93% plus of Oakland students that are connected to internet and computers at home.

And the remaining 7% we're working through that list diligently to see, you know, what barriers may exist or for some of those families, they may just have not interfaced recently with the system at all, and may not even be, within the Oakland public school system.

So, there's been a tremendous amount of community, collaboration that has made that happen. And it comes from the beginning partnership, with those founding partners, with the funding network to really help, spur this into action quickly. And then the deep collaboration to execute on all this, especially with school partners, both within Oakland Unified School District and, charter leads as well.

So, we still have a way to go you know, we want this to be a sustainable effort and not just a flash in the pan with getting Oakland students connected. But, for where we're at in this point in time, we're feeling incredibly, proud of how fast we've been able to respond and address this huge digital divide gap and get students online.

George: Thank you, Seth. So much of your work is really in person whether it's delivering, support, digital skills training with your partners. How has COVID-19 impacted the operation of Tech Exchange and what have you and your team done to, address the, COVID 19 pandemic and its impact on your operations

Seth: Yeah, it was a sharp transition for us as it has been for many organizations, because as you alluded to so many of our services and the way that we delivered them, relied on convenings and getting people together and, face-to-face interactions. And so, as shelter in place happened, one of our largest programs, at that moment was trainings that we were leading in public housing sites throughout the Bay area.

And so, we knew that that would not be. something that, that we could continue, in the short term. And so, we quickly transitioned that program team, which was program coordinators and trainers, into a text support and phone banking, staff. We were able to ramp up the ways that we were able to, help families in not a face-to-face setting.

But by having a variety of staff members that could through texting through phone calls through email and really respond to the barrage of needs that we were, receiving because you know, families were finding themselves in the same type position where, in the matter of a week they went from needing to scrape by with, you know, maybe using some of the internet and computer resources at a public library or at their workplace, or using a friend’s to now needing it. It has to be an absolute necessity of having a home, which they just didn't have. So, we had a lot of people reaching out to us and continue looking to us to help with immediate supports.

And so, over the last several months, we've been able to transition and do most of that through phone, text and email. So, in terms of delivering the hardware and devices, we started in the early days with, changing our model from, you know, tech fairs and bringing people together to distribute to technology, to shipping directly to individuals’ homes, and just making sure that we were staying, health conscious and safe with social distancing as well.

So that was our quick pivot in the early days. And now that school is resumed, we've relied heavily on partnerships with schools to distribute technology. So, we'll prepare, machines to, go out through our central warehouse, but then get them out to school sites who then can do that, in, a safe way along with any food delivery that they're doing or delivery of any other non-technical supplies and equipment to families.

So, we've been able to, still increase our impact and, ramp up services while at the same time having to shake up the way that we did it. The last piece that I'd add on that thread is it's also affected our warehouse operations pretty drastically, with, the precautions that we needed to put in, because of the pandemic we needed to ramp up and get more warehouse space so that everyone would have more physical space to work together. And then really, put in a lot of policies and procedures around the way that we handle, especially donated machines to make sure that we were keeping our staff safe throughout all of this process as well.

George: Seth, how can people help donation of cash is always great, but, equipment, can they volunteer? I know that's a bit difficult now with COVID-19, but how can folks, support the effort to bridge the digital divide?

Seth: Yeah, as most it's our biggest need is largely cash. So, any contributions would be extraordinarily helpful and just get more families, computers, and internet access and ongoing support. So, if you're, compelled to help them that way, our website www.donate.tech exchange.org. As information there and, gifts are, tax deductible. In addition to financial resources, we also are in need of computing resources enable to, community members. During this time, we've seen actually a drop in the level of computers that we see coming through our donation, pipeline and our biggest stream for getting computers into our operation is through partnerships with companies and agencies.

And it's challenging for many companies right now because they're also working with a distributed workforce and trying to repurpose a lot of their technology out to their employees, and some of their own facilities and operations have been, challenged during this time. So long way of saying we're finding ourselves in the very moment where we need more devices, seeing a decrease in the number of devices that are donated.

So that's my biggest plea is, for anybody listening, if they could turn to their employer and, give that gentle nudge to ask, what are we doing with our computers as they come off cycle when I'm an employee and I get a new computer I'm usually giving up, ah two, three, four-year-old computer that, to a family that doesn't have anything, still has a lot of miles in it and it could be gold. And so, the more employers that we have partnering with us, to contribute their devices, the more our program can flourish and continue to reach more families. And we give, full free services to companies to come to their site to pick them up.

Because we're sizable re-furbisher, we have department of defense, wiping techniques that we do on all of the hard drives to make sure that we're keeping, privacy and data, a highest concern. So, all of that is available and our information is on our website for learning more about that and, that same webpage www.donate.tech exchange.org, will also tell you how to get engaged and involved with contributing computers.

 We also welcome individuals to donate their, technology that might be in their closet. So, during this time, as people are sometimes, cleaning up and, taking on those projects, getting to that, mess of technology that's in their back closet.

We'd love to receive that and there's information on our website for drop-off, donation hours, where those can be, transferred to us. And then again, go through our process and we'll get those back out to families that are in need of them

George: Seth, you've been at this for a while, I would love it if you would share with the audience, one of your favorite stories of how a piece of technology and connectivity has helped change a family's life?

Seth: So, our services that we run, are widespread. We have programs that are in senior citizen homes and helping them with ordering groceries to be delivered to home. And then it runs the gamut where a really core focus of ours is with K-12 education. And especially during these times, I think that's where I and our staff have felt that we've had the most impact and large part of that is the partnership with Oakland Undivided.

So, I'm thinking of a particular student and family where their mother reached out, saying how challenged they were because they didn't have internet at home. They didn't have a computer. And they had a fourth-grade child who was starting to need to do, interaction through zoom calls and submissions of homework through online platforms and they were trying to make that work all off the mom's cell phone. So that the student's main way of engaging with school, was during the times the mom wasn't using the cell phone, trying to grab, times where they could use it for their education and that can chew through data plans and just the struggle of a shared small screen for a household.

Like the daily reality of that sets in of how challenging that is. And so, we were just blown back by when we got a note from the mom, had received a hotspot and a Chromebook for her child through the Oakland Undivided Initiative just with the gratitude and how, you know, it made a world of difference in their life and how she was just so thrilled that the child whole demeanor changed they were excited now for school, where they were very hesitant and didn't want to engage before. she said that now that the student is just rocking and rolling and thrilled to be part of class with classmates. And, for her perspective, like just that peace of mind to know that doing right by her child and has what he needs in order to do well in school is kind of what keeps us going. This work comes back in so many forms of the challenges that we have at organization have faced over the last several months have been many. But then when we know the impact that we're making and hear those stories back from the community members, we're serving, that’s what gives you the surge of energy to wake up another day and work hard to serve the next family.

George: Thank you. It's always amazing things that we all take for granted, you know, a phone, some broadband, how it would completely change the trajectory of someone's life, and families, experience in life. So, final question. Here we are, going in what nine plus months in the pandemic. What are some of the positive things that you could see coming out of this crisis that would help address the digital divide?

Seth: First thing that comes to my mind is just awareness around the issue. I mean, it's, been a plague of our communities for many years, like to have 40 or 50% of low-income families that are not connected at home is travesty.

And so, as an organization we've been knocking on doors and really trying to move this issue forward, you know, looked in the mirror at the kind of size of the issue. We became anxious that like, we need this to go faster and we need more people to recognize that this is happening in our backyard in the Bay area.

We're still having 1.5 million people that aren't connected at home. So, the silver lining from our perspective is that, in the matter of a week, as soon as shelter in place happened and this distance learning needed to ramp up, there is now a broad public understanding of the importance of having equitable technology access and the huge gaps that we still need to overcome.

So, if anything, I think that this has exposed, some issues that have been quiet in our community, for far too long and now digital access is now put on a pedestal as one of the things we need to grapple with and we need to, help those in our community as a very, very high issue.

So, we've seen our mission elevated to a whole new level. We are running as fast as we can to respond to the opportunity with it having a greater spotlight on it means more resources means more programs means more, initiatives that we can, begin. And so, we're, trying to really use this the best we can as a moment to make a, large, large, large, impact on the, gap that exists.

And, you know, it's on the back of the pandemic. But if that's the way that we get there, and that helps us accomplish our mission, then, at the end of the day we're gonna rest easy knowing that families are connected and have access to. All the things that being online can bring in in terms of, not only education, but for, families that are now going to be challenged, looking for employment, that's going to be online.

You need to do your resume online, interfacing with public benefits that's done online, managing your finances is done online. So, just making sure that those gaps are closed, I think is what we're feeling most excited about in this moment.

George: Thank you, Seth for sharing, the wonderful work at Tech Exchange today. And we'll make sure that listeners and viewers here have all your contact information websites, social media, so they can follow and support Tech Exchange work and hopefully, get engaged and stay engaged as we get on the other side of, our new, strange normal.

Stay safe out there, give my best to Joel and the rest of the crew, always appreciate what you guys are doing to try to change lives one device at a time.

Seth: Many thanks, George, I appreciate you, giving us the spotlight and sharing our work with the audience. So, great to be with you.

Episode Outro - Show Host George: That’s it for this episode of voices of the community. You have been listening to the voices of Seth Hubbert, the Executive Director of Tech Exchange. To find out more about Tech Exchange and donate your computer go to tech exchange dot org

For more insights into the Digital Divide please listen to our interview with Kami Griffiths of Community Tech Network in Episode 15. To hear more about the origins of Community Tech Network and meet some of its clients, instructors and Kami, please 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 to the extended versions of these interviews and to listen to the entire series. 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. Please subscribe to Voices of the Community on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or where ever you get your podcasts. 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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