In 2021, Community Tech Network partnered with HumanGood Piedmont Gardens, a housing community for older adults in Oakland, California. Our goal was to provide at least eight hours of training to 80 learners over the course of two and a half years.
We are currently more than halfway through the program, which is funded by the California Public Utilities Commission’s CASF Fund, and are extremely proud of our accomplishments so far.
When the program launched in April 2021, CTN hosted its classes virtually due to the pandemic. In-person group training began that summer, but we quickly realized that our typical basic skills curriculum did not meet the residents’ needs.
After discussing the issue with Reena Gonzales, the director of resident services, and the representatives from the Piedmont Gardens Residents’ Council, CTN decided to discontinue group classes and initiated a workshop format.
Since fall 2021, CTN has been conducting in-person workshops on different topics every other week. Residents are free to choose which workshops they want to attend, and they can suggest topics for future workshops.
To date, we have completed more than 20 workshops, and over 80 unique residents have attended at least one workshop. Some of the topics that we have covered include email management, common scams, troubleshooting, password management, clickbait and misinformation, and device storage. We also offered a series of workshops regarding Cubigo, Piedmont Gardens’ resident portal, and we dedicated one workshop to assist residents as they completed their annual customer satisfaction survey, which was only available online.
At the end of each workshop, we allow time for a Q&A session. We also invite walk-ins from residents seeking tech support. For the remaining few months of the program, we will continue to conduct the workshops based on the residents’ interests and requests.
Says CTN’s Sabrina Tam, “We look forward to finishing the program strong.”
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