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.