Tech Allies Archives - Community Tech Network https://communitytechnetwork.org/blog/category/tech-allies/ Transforming lives through digital equity. Wed, 30 Mar 2022 14:15:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 191098424 Tech Allies — Connecting Seniors Across the Digital Divide https://communitytechnetwork.org/blog/ctn-partners-little-brothers-friends-elderly-deliver-tech-allies/ Wed, 19 Jul 2017 00:37:36 +0000 http://ctnbayarea.org/?p=7974 We are excited to share a guest post by Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly (LBFE) program coordinator Debbie Uchida, pictured here with Emil. Her story illustrates the positive power of the Tech Allies program, partially funded by Metta Fund, which utilizes technology to curb isolation and address the digital divide for older San Franciscans. Together LBFE and CTN are delivering Tech Allies, a new program that aims to connect elders, many whom are homebound, to the Internet. We provide them with a device as well as the digital skill training they need in order to learn how to access the Internet independently. By doing so, we expect that filling in the digital divide between older generations and newer generations will help to relieve the elder’s feelings of loneliness, isolation, and exclusion from society, as well as provide an endless amount of online resources and services. With CTN’s digital training experience and LBFE’s matched volunteer program, we are very hopeful that this program will be a success! Two of our elder friends in the Tech Allies program have recently been introduced to the wonderful world of YouTube after a couple weeks of learning how to utilize their iPads, and I […]

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]]> 7974 Tech Allies: Home Help for Seniors https://communitytechnetwork.org/blog/tech-allies-home-help-seniors/ Tue, 13 Dec 2016 17:02:23 +0000 http://ctnbayarea.org/?p=7552 CTN recently received a $100,000 grant from Metta Fund to support a vital new program for seniors in San Francisco. Can you help us raise match funding? Tech Allies is a partnership with Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly (LBFE), an organization whose mission is to provide companionship and support to isolated seniors. Volunteers visit and befriend some of LBFE’s seniors (85 percent of whom live alone) who do not or cannot get out much. CTN will train those volunteers to help their new elderly friends not only to explore the wonders of the internet from home but also to get a broadband connection. By 2020, seniors will be nearly 23 percent of our city’s population, and the need for such programs will grow as their numbers grow. Isolated adults report 65 percent more depression than other older adults, and therefore Tech Allies is designed to reduce the sense of loneliness many seniors feel. During the two-year Tech Allies program, 75 seniors will benefit from the tutelage of the volunteers and will learn some or all the following skills. Using online conference tools, such as Skype and Hangouts, to connect with friends and family Internet searching to find news, health […]

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