Fall 2007/Winter Spring 2008 Graduation Pictures

On Friday May 9th, 2008. The San Francisco Digital Connectors held their program graduation in the community room at Valencia Gardens in the Mission District. About 80 family members, community partner and representing the San Francisco Mayor's Office presenting Certificates of Community Service signed by the Mayor Gavin Newsom were Emy Tseng and Michael MacCarty. Josh Becker was the Guest Speaker for the class.

The San Francisco Digital Connectors Fall 2007/Winter-Spring Class has provided technology services to the Mission and the Vis Valley Neighborhoods of San Francisco since October of 2007. They have installed 3 computer labs, trained over 500 families and provided over 1,000 hours of community service.

Program Graduation - May 9th, 2008

As students around the country are heading onto the summer, the San Francisco Digital Connectors are preparing for their graduation. Over the past 5 years, One Economy has been implementing this program in San Francisco. Please come join us as we celebrate the accomplishments of 16 youth graduating from their Fall 2007/Winter-Spring 2008 Session.

86 youth have participated in the San Francisco Program between three affordable housing properties: Heritage Homes, Britton Courts and Carter Terrace since 2003 and 10 of those youth have come out from our Pilot program in the Mission District; where we have been working since October 2008 providing technology services to the Latino families.

On May 9^th, 2008 we will recognize the youth by having our Program Graduating in the Mission District inside the Community Room of Valencia Gardens.

JAMBOREE!!

Wednesday April 9, we had a jamboree with the mission digital connectors, Vis valley and San Jose. We went to Carter terrace to meet everyone and to have ice breakers so we all could get to know each other. We waited for everyone to get there and then we went outside, where it was hella cold!! We then went back inside to eat and introduce each other. we all ate and were talking and having a good time. Most of us that were there were going to the Giants game at 7:15. I couldn't go so i just went home. Everyone that went to the game told me it was cool and that the giants won! yay!!

-CECILY MARIE ALFARO =]

Birng it California

Tuesday April 8 we had an event called bring it home California. This event started at 3:30 but we had to earlier to prepare everything. When i got there their were many people already there it was a pretty awesome event.What we had to do was give people information about the bee-hive and register them in the website. We showed them many things about the beehive some people were really interested in it others were just doing to enter the raffle because in the raffle we were going to raffle a laptop for the person that had the most luck. Well it was really cool experience because I also learned more stuff about the beehive that didn't know before but know I do. The person that won the raffle was a young guy he seemed pretty intrested in the website and wanted to learn more so that's probably why he won it. Not only did they have a raffle but they also had food lots of food BBQ and lots of salads but I wasn't really hungry so i didn't eat much but cookies and cake. this was a great opportunity for people to learn what we did and to learn about the beehive. Imelda Guzman

BRING IT HOME CALIFORNIA...

ON TUESDAY WE HAD AN EVENT CALLED BRING IT HOME CALIFORNIA. IT WAS A COOL EVENT WE GAVE AWAY A FREE LAPTOP AND WE SIGNED MANY PEOPLE IN TO THE BEEHIVE. EVEN MY DAD AND MOM SIGNED IN. I WAS LIKE WOW AND MY DAD WAS SAYING THINGS AND I DONT KNOW WHAT. BUT OTHER THAN THAT IT WAS FUN AND I MET SOME NEW PEOPLE AND FRIENDS

BRING IT HOME CALIFORNIA

The Event that we had on Tuesday was at Valencia Gardens, there was a lot of different organization's there. The event started at 3:30, but the Digital Connectors had to be here at 2. Most of us were late! i was the second person to arrive. I had to put my Beehive shirt on really fast, set up my laptop, sign in people and go to the table to talk to people about what we do as Digital Connectors. I was overwhelmed with all the stuff that i had to do the minute i walked through the door. The event was a lot to handle with all the people coming in and out, but it was a great experience with being able to talk to a lot of people. We were raffling a FREE laptop but you had to sign up with the Beehive in order to try to win it. There was the president if one economy and staff. They had a BBQ outside and had a lot of people talk about Valencia gardens and the digital connectors!! over all i had a lot of fun and i hope w could do that again!

-CECILY ALFARO =]

SF Giants Game

Hello my name is Juan and I'm a digital connector. we went to the giants game on Wednesday. It was fun as hell like 4realz.
I love the giants, man I was wearing a junior giants jersey; everybody was looking at me like what is his problem but i didn't CARE it was fun
JUAN LEVERMAN JUNIOR [WOOT WOOT]
MISSION DIGITAL CONNECTOR *REPRESENTING!!*

SF Giants Game

On April 9th the digital connectors went to AT&T Park to the Giants game. They were playing the Padres and won by the end of the game. It was really fun, I got a really big bag of cotton candy, it was delicious. I was walking around the entire park with Adrianna and Juan. We hung out with Vis Valley digital connectors, they were cool. A lot of people were throwing cookies at each other at the very very top of the place.
Javier Perea
SF digital connector

Bring it California Event

Yesterday we went to the Bring it on California Event at Valencia Gardens, it was really fun and there was a great turn out, that place was packed. The president of One Economy corporation was there and a lot of other one economy staff. There was food, a lot of food, hot dogs, cake, BBQ chicken, little mini water bottles, man...a lot of stuff!! We registered people on the Beehive and in return we gave them a ticket to be entered in a raffle to win a new laptop. People asked a lot of questions about the Beehive and the digital connectors. Valencia Gardens has really cool animal statues, I sat on the cat shaped one. It was fun..AT&T was there, they gave me a little cool box thingy with a little stapler, pen, and staples. I took it to school today and everybody wished that they went and felt like they missed out. I think that a big amount of people learned about the program and what the digital connectors do in the community and for the community. It was worth going to and for everyone that didn't go, you missed out, GO TO ALL OF OUR EVENTS!!

Javier Perea
SF Digital Connector

Brint IT California Event

On Tuesday April 8th, the San Francisco Digital Connectors participated in the anticipated Bring IT California event @ Valencia Gardens of San Francisco.

The event was the launch of One Economy Corporation’s landmark initiative, Bring IT Home
America, which marshals the resources of government, business, and the nonprofit sector around a
powerful goal: to extend the promise of innovative technology to expand opportunities for those who need them most.

We had a successful turnout and the San Francisco Digital Connectors raffle a laptop that was won by a resident of Valencia Gardens.

Guest Speaker Visit

On Friday March 28th, the Mission Digital Connectors had the pleasure to meet Emy Tseng. Emy Tseng is the Program Manager for the Dep. Of Telecommunications & Information Services for the San Francisco Mayor's Office.

Emy came to talk to the youth about the City's Computer Purchase Program and also offered a conversation about her role in the Digital Inclusion for the undeserved communities of San Francisco.

We would like to thank Emy for sharing her vision and how the Digital Connectors have been helping some of the City's Projects like installing the Computer Lab inside Valencia Gardens.

EA.com Tour

hello,
Today i am going to tell you about EA games my experience was a good experience. It was fun and it was also educational. It talked about a lot of things, like for example they talked about the creators and founders of EA. their original logo was a square, circle, triangle.

It was a fun and good expierience. and a bought a game. haha. it was 50% off. so I only paid 20 bucks plus tax; that was the cool part. it was fun, hope we do it again!!!

Juan Leverman, SF Mission Digital Connector

EA.com Tour

The experience we had when we went to EA games was fun we got to meet new digital connectors from other areas. We also learned what people do there and what they do to make the games. Julie Winn was the women who gave us the tour of the place she took us to different sections of the buildings they even have a game store in there. They also have the games on the walls or pictures i guess you can call it a wall of Each game has a story to it and they get every detail of say a player in the game they get everything to their face and tattoos. There also games based on story's and movies it takes time to make a game and they test dive them before sending it in store. I didn't know there was all this stuff and all this things you had to do for a game or to work in EA games. The thing i liked most about this place was that you can go to school because they have a school in there so you can learn more about using technology. So this was a good experience for me..i just wish we got to play more but it was fun thank you EA games!!

from: SF Mission Digital Connector,
Elizabeth Garcia

EA TOUR

On Tuesday the 25th of march we went to EA games and took a tour it was great because we got to see things that most people don't see and also we got 50% off all the games that they had in their store but it was weak because I didn't have any money so it wasn't all that great.

I had fun in the tour because they let use play a bunch of games with different systems like the x box360, ps3 also the WII. the only thing that was weak was that they didn't let use play games like we thought we were but i got over it. But i had fun it was a great experience and I had a great time.

-Adolfo Garcia, SF Mission Digital Connector

EA tour

Tuesday, March 25Th

The digital connectors from San Francisco and San Jose went to EA. We got a ride by our boss, not all the mission digital connectors could make it, but five of us did. We went to Redwood city to get a tour of the site. We got a tour by Julie Winn, she is the manager for Outreach Corporate Given. When we first got there we had to meet all the digital connectors and introduce our self's. We went inside and we got to go into the store to buy anything we wanted. We were able to purchase games for only $20. After the game store, we learned about all the games that were made, how they did real stunts for the game, about the history of how games were made and the people who made them. We looked at the game rooms they have and they were awesome! What i thought was cool was that they are able to use the game rooms to test out their games. EA also had a little park made, and they had a basketball court made. i thought that the whole experience from EA was cool and very interesting.

Cecily Alfaro, SF Mission Digital Connector

EA tour

On Tuesday the 25Th of March we went to Redwood city to EA.com with the San Jose digital connectors. We learned so much about video games and how they are created. Julie Winn was the person that did the honor to help us know about electronics she showed us around and showed pretty much how things work where she works at being the manager for Outreach Corporate Given. This was a wonderful opportunity for to expand our knowledge in video games. After Julie gave us the tour we got to play some of the video game systems that they had for people visiting. I decided to play the "Wii" it was really fun.Before all of this Julie gave us the opportunity to go to the store and purchase any games of our choice for 50% off discount.This was a great tour for us. I hope to go to more tours.
Imelda Guzman

EA.com Site Visit

On Tuesday March 25th, 2008 the Bay Area Digital Connectors had the opportunity to take a site visit to Electronics Arts Institute (www.ea.com).

Julie Wynn, Manager of Community Relations and Corporate Giving provided a very informative tour about the History and how video games are being made @ ea.com. She also discussed about how ea.com keeps their employees happy and what type of job opportunities ea.com has to offer.

Three Bay Area Digital Connectors were invited to participate on the tour:

San Francisco Mission Digital Connectors
Mission Housing Los Esteros Digital Connectors
Eden Housing Digital Connectors

SF Mission Digital Connectors Computer Lab Damaged

On Monday March 17th, 2008 the Caminos Computer Lab where we have been hosting our Mission Digital Connectors since October 2007 was damaged due to a 4 alarm fire on the building above 1470 Valencia Street.

The program was shutdown earlier on that evening and I was the only person inside the computer lab when it happen, usually on Mondays between the hours of 4-6pm our lab is full of Latino residents learning how to use the Internet and Computer Applications plus 10 Digital Connectors. Thankfully on that evening everybody was gone by the time the fire started. I was the only one inside the lab cleaning up and making copies for our next class.

"All I remember is the popping sound of popcorn but 1,000 times stronger, when I went back to the other side of the computer lab to check on the noise I realize that there was a fire going on the back wall of the computer lab; I got out as fast as I could.

The lab suffered damages from the water, lights and wood that came down from the apartments above.

Caminos organization is our partner in the Mission District of San Francisco and they need a lot of help rebuilding their computer lab. Our Mission Digital Connectors will temporarily work out of another Caminos Computer lab.

Leonardo Sosa
Regional Director, Youth Initiatives
One Economy Corporation

Valencia Gardens Computer Workshops

On Friday March 14th the SF Mission Digital Connectors started to teach @ Valencia Gardens Computer Workshops; the workshops will be offered every Friday afternoon from 4:30-6:30 pm. The classes will be offered by the SF Digital Connectors and Regional Director Leonardo Sosa; the classes will continue until May 2nd, 2008.

The Computer Workshops will offer the following:
Introduction to Computers
Hardware Class
Word
Excel
PowerPoint
Publisher
Internet Safety
Beehive and Zip Road

Valencia Gardens Computer Lab Set Up

On Thursday March 6th, 2008 the SF Mission Digital Connectors set up 24 Dell Refurbished Computers for the Valencia Gardens Mission Housing complex.

The SF Mission Digital Connectors will start providing computer workshops starting on March 14th, 2008. Valencia Gardens Residents will learn basic computer skills; the Beehive, Zip Road and the workshops will go until May 2008

Thanks to the following partners on this collaboration:
Valencia Gardens Tenants Council
San Francisco Goodwill
San Francisco Housing Authority
Xtech
ReliaTech
Mission Housing
John Stewart Corp
Michael MacCarthy
DTIS

Mission HS Parent Internet Safety Workshop

On Tuesday March 4th, 2008 the San Francisco Digital Connectors Provided an Internet Safety Workshop to Mission High School Student's Parents.

The workshop was offered in Spanish and English and attendees were trained on how to use the Internet Safely with the Beehive.

Digital Connectors also raffle software for the attendees. The Beehive Internet Safety Workshops is a collaboration between One Economy's Digital Connectors and the San Francisco Unified School District.

SF Mission Interviews

Digital Connectors going around the Mission asking residents and community members about what would they do if the Mission had Free Internet Access.

SF Digital Connectors Video # 2

SF Digital Connectors Video

My experience teaching my student Javier has been very cool, because he actually lets me explain what he needs to do and he does it right. It may take him a little bit of time but he learns and does it. He is a very good student. He actually puts attention and I know I might not be a good teacher but he makes me feel like I am. He can tell when I look tired or just frustrated he tells me “you know what lets cut it short today because you look tired”. My student is very nice and caring.


The second day that Javier came to the classes he wanted to go use the internet and look for a job. So we went on the internet and we went to a lot of websites, but the website that he really liked was craigslist. He thought of it as his favorite website because it had so many choices to pick from. He is a good student and I have helped him with his e-mail also.

by juan

Computer Classes

So far my experience with my computer student has been really exciting. We have covered so many things. For example, the first day I taught her how to use office word. She was very excited to learn such easy things that a computer has to offer. Now days she knows how to type, indent, etc. a letter or anything she wants to write in word. After getting through with the office process I also taught her about adobe Photoshop. She now knows to open the program and how to put the picture she selected in the window. Once she got that through with she started to add effects on her picture she chose. At the end of the day she was happy to learn two things in one day. She shared with me that after so many years that she tried to figure some simple things she basically knows it.

The second time she came I thought her how to be familiarized with her email she recently had opened. By the second time she came in the lab she practically was doing everything on her own, I just needed to help her with some minor details. She wanted to know what other things her email has to offer. We scrolled around and she discovered that in her email she could save notes or appointments and be reminded the day she indicated. When she went to her homepage she was looking at the news or entertainment that was posted daily in. She was happy to know that if she read a very important article she could share it with her friends and family. The only thing that she needed to do was at the bottom of the article she had finished reading they gave her two choices, in those were to save it so she could read it next time or email it to someone. So she decided to email it to her brother. And something that she desperately wanted to learn for a very long time was how to attach a certain thing to her email that she wanted to sent to someone. So that’s what I did I taught her the steps how to attach a file from her computer to her email, she was happy to know how fast and easy it was to do that. Later after covering that step she went to her draft and she didn’t had any idea what that was used for. I explained to her what it was for, and when we went to her draft she had a whole lot of drafts saved that she never knew herself. After that, she asked what the purpose of the junk mail was. I told her that it was emails that she had erased and they go directly to the junk mail. I also told her that if she sends an email to the junk but she regret it and wants it back, it was simple to do. Click on your junk mail and click on the email you want to restore in your in box again. At the end she was happy to know all about her emails and small details that it implied. She mentioned to me that the next time she was going to bring her digital camera and wants to be taught how to save, sent, and share the pictures she download to her computer.

Adriana Morales, SF Digital Connector

Computer Classes

Hortensia was my trainee; she was so excited to learn I was blown away by all the progress we made after 2 weeks. I taught her how to use MS Excel, Word, how to use the internet proficiently, use her email, compose messages and help her remember her passwords. Hortensia was currently trying to find a better job to secure her future and I only hope that I really helped her succeed and do well on her hotel management interview. While helping Hortensia she also taught me how to personalize my yahoo homepage, and about other websites to find movies, books, and TV shows (mainly in Spanish).

She was persistent on learning and took notes on just about everything I said. I’m very proud to teach someone so anxious to learn and she picked up to everything that she knew more about excel then I did. I’m pretty sure that she aced her job interview with flying colors and that she’ll keep picking up on how to use computers and improve herself one hundred percent.

Javier Perea, SF Digital Connector

Mid Term Graduation

On Thursday January 31st, 2008; the San Francisco Mission Digital Connectors had their Fall 2007/Winter-Spring 2008 Mid Term Graduation.

The youth presented their "Where I'm From" Digital Stories to the guests and families that made it to the Caminos Pathway Computer for the Graduation. Nicol Turner Lee VP of One Economy was among the featured speakers for the evening.

The youth also received their laptop as part of their compensation for working in the Mission District providing computer training to Latino families.

Computer Classes in the Mission District

The San Francisco Digital Connectors have started to teach Community Computer Classes to the Mission District Residents.

The classes are offered in English and Spanish. The courses that are being offered are Computer Basics, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher. The youth are also teaching valuable content websites for the community like The Beehive and Zip Road.

The classes are offered on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4-6pm.