USF students help install and maintain computer equipment at the Tenderloin Tech Lab.
The University of San
Francisco
and the Tenderloin Technology Laboratory are celebrating a decade of
partnership in their effort to narrow the digital divide by providing computer
access and know-how to homeless and low-income residents of San Francisco’s
Tenderloin district.
The arrangement with the Tenderloin Tech Lab, the largest of
USF’s technology donation partnerships, is in good company with the university
donating about 150 computers each year to Bay Area nonprofits, schools, and
organizations that expand educational opportunities and spread social justice.
What: The Tenderloin Tech Lab will debut its renovated facility
May 12 in ceremony celebrating the lab’s 10-year relationship with USF. Craig
Newmark, founder of Craiglist and a generous supporter of the lab, will speak
along with USF President Stephen A. Privett, S.J.
When: 1:30-3 p.m., May 12
Where: Tenderloin Tech Lab, 150 Golden Gate Ave.
“The Retired Computer Donation Project was established in
response to the USF community’s desire to support local organizations aligned
with the university’s mission,” said Steve Gallagher, vice president of
Information Technology Center.
USF began donating equipment and tech support, separately,
to St. Anthony’s Foundation and San Francisco Network Ministries in 2001. The
two nonprofits were running a vocational job-training center and drop-in
computer lab, each with 10 computers, respectively. When demand for both
programs spiked, a grand plan to collaborate was born. In 2008, the vocational
center and drop-in computer lab joined forces to become the Tenderloin
Technology Lab, jointly operated by St. Anthony’s and Network Ministries, with
USF donating 50 retired computers. USF students, faculty, and staff volunteered
to set up the lab.
The lab’s mission is to provide homeless and low-income
residents of the Tenderloin with skills and resources to improve their ability
to locate work through online job sites, connect with family and friends, and
find resources such as housing, food stamps, health care, and public
transportation.
Ten years later, on May 12, USF, St. Anthony’s, and Network
Ministries will celebrate a milestone in their partnership, as USF continues to
provide upgraded equipment on an ongoing basis and USF students, faculty, and
staff donate time. “USF students teach computer classes, tutored St. Anthony’s
clients, provided tech support to the lab, and developed software for lab use,”
said Chris Brooks, USF associate dean for sciences and associate professor of
computer science.
Karl Robillard, St. Anthony’s communications and outreach
senior manager, said the tech lab wouldn’t have been realized without USF’s
involvement. “It’s service learning at its best,” Robillard said. “I think USF
students are often surprised by how much they learn from working at the tech
lab along side local residents.”
In 2010, USF donated computers and other technology to the
Tenderloin Tech Lab, De Marillac Academy, La Raza Centro Legal, Friends of the
Street Children, and the West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center, among others.
These programs often have an extremely limited budget or no
budget at all for computer purchases and rely on donations. “Computers that no
longer meet the administrative and academic computing needs of the USF
community may still provide years of value for these organizations,” Gallagher
said.
Indeed, Robillard has seen it again and again as Tenderloin
residents at the lab search and find jobs on Craigslist or reconnect with
family and friends that they haven’t spoken to in years on Facebook. “That’s
when you really see a difference at the individual level,” Robillard said.
