“I am confident that our partnership will improve the quality of life for our seniors, both physically and mentally, in this challenging time,” reflects Tina Huang, client advocate at Glide. “I feel honored to be part of this amazing team to help our seniors and expand this opportunity to the community.”
Glide is a nationally recognized center for social justice, dedicated to fighting systemic injustices, creating pathways out of poverty and crisis and transforming lives. It has a rich, near century-long history of serving marginalized communities across the city. Through its comprehensive services, advocacy initiatives, and inclusive community, Glide empowers individuals, families, and children to achieve stability and thrive.
We at CTN have long admired the work Glide does to improve the lives of countless San Francisco residents. One of our senior program managers, Stephen Minor, has volunteered with the organization for years and hoped to collaborate with Glide to get its clients connected online. A longtime dream now made a reality, this partnership came to fruition when Stephen got connected with Glide’s client advocate, Tina Huang. Together the two established Glide as a bountiful referral source for Home Connect. As Tina interviews and recruits Glide clients who might make a good fit for our program, CTN provides each client with one-on-one digital literacy lessons, a preconfigured tablet, and broadband connection.
A passionate proponent of digital inclusion, Tina has recruited and referred upwards of 40 senior learners to the program — the majority of whom speak Mandarin or Cantonese. These learners are quickly working their way through the Home Connect curriculum, and many hope to continue their digital education with a volunteer digital coach. Before participating in the program, few of Glide’s senior clients could participate in their virtual programming or activities. Now, dozens of Glide seniors can join virtual senior socials and weekly Zoom activities.
None of this would be possible without Tina’s dedicated efforts to ensure that referred seniors are enthusiastic and ready to learn. As we chatted with her and longtime Glide advocate Linda Mantel about the current status of the program, both had wonderful things to say about our mutually beneficial partnership.
“Glide’s mission is to create a radically inclusive, just, and loving community mobilized to alleviate suffering and break the cycles of poverty and marginalization. So, we want to make sure our seniors feel included in our society. In that case, it’s a great opportunity to partner with CTN to build this community together. So many seniors feel isolated and left out from society, especially during the pandemic. Now we are able to offer our clients the Home Connect program, which allows them to learn technology skills and have access to tablets. They can connect with their loved ones, search for information, watch movies, and access new resources.”
— Tina Huang
“We at Glide are very grateful to Stephen Minor and his team for including us in the Home Connect program. The program is fantastic and is providing many San Francisco senior citizens with a way to become and stay connected with the outside world, including family members, friends, and healthcare providers. George Bridges and I, Stephen’s initial contacts with Glide, are very thankful for Tina Huang, Glide’s client advocate, who has referred so many Glide seniors to the program and continues to do so on an ongoing basis. She is an effective, enthusiastic, and compassionate advocate who makes sure that every Glide senior has the opportunity to become enrolled in this extraordinary program if they wish to. She is truly one of Glide’s angels.”
— Linda Mantel
Thank you, Glide, for being an excellent ally in our mission to bridge the digital divide!
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