Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
Stanford University seniors Isabel Wang and Margot Bellot created the non-profit organization "Bridging Tech," which provides refurbished computers to students affected by homelessness and vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, young entrepreneurs seek to close the digital gap between children and youth, after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic forced education to be provided via the Internet. Young people and children have found it difficult to keep up with academics due to limited or no access to computers.
"In response to COVID-19, we created Bridging Tech, so that children affected by homelessness can have equal opportunities to learn," said Isabel Wang.
It should be noted that since April, Wang and her Stanford senior Margot Bellon have been busy taking their charity to scale, as they have assembled a large network of volunteers, partnered with other organizations and donated hundreds of pieces of equipment to students in shelters.
Also, in these months, Bridging Tech has expanded its services beyond the Bay Area and is now operating in numerous states. As the Christmas season approaches, they hope to double their donations before the end of the year.
"Our ultimate goal is to help bridge the educational gap and ensure that all of these students have an equal opportunity to go to school, succeed and get jobs," Bellon said.
Shortly after schools in the United States changed the type of instruction from face-to-face to online courses, Bellon and Wang were frustrated with how the change was affecting students who did not have access to computers outside their schools.
"What we learned when we created Bridging Tech is that there are 11 million children in the United States alone who do not have their own laptop, desktop, or a suitable device for learning at home," Wang said.
Similarly, this digital divide has been exacerbated by the pandemic and could have long-term adverse effects on students, since not having access to a device prevented them from going to school at all, which was almost a guarantee that they would be delayed a grade.
Bellon and Wang focused their services on K-12 students, who are generally the most disadvantaged and most likely not to have a computer, so they devised a process for acquiring laptops and delivering them.
After identifying donors, willing to give up their old computers, volunteers retrieve the devices, then hand them over refurbished to students personally at a local shelter, who can keep them permanently.
To date, Bridging Tech has donated 437 computers to students in numerous cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York, and is expected to deliver another 400 by the end of 2020. In the coming months, they also hope to expand the organization beyond large urban centers.
"You need to have a laptop to learn, especially at this particular time because of the pandemic," Wang said. "If you don't have access to technology from the beginning, you won't be able to catch up, which is why it's so important that we provide these tools.
For more information, donations, involvement in the project and how to become a beneficiary of the foundation, you can go to www.bridgingtech.org.
