The Initiative

It wasn’t until advent of COVID-19 that we figured out a non-profit such as this was needed. This is because when the world went into quarantine for the first time in any of our lifetimes, it became clear that IT workers are essential workers. Many of us thought we would be sent home on furlough, while a few got to work from home. Turns out that wasn’t the case. Not only did we need our IT workers to keep critical digital infrastructure working for those who were quarantined, we also needed our mom and pop computer stores and repair shops open. During a time when financial resources were scarce for a lot of people, more were turning to having existing items repaired as opposed to buying new ones.

One of the most difficult parts of working in a computer shop during the pandemic was tending to clients who needed computer work specifically to stay connected to the world, only to find that they were unable to afford it. While this occurred with every demographic, more often than not it was people from our elderly community, a lot of whom were on fixed incomes. There were very few exceptions where the supervisor would have us repair equipment regardless. There are also a few times a co-worker and I, admittedly, contacted clients who didn’t have the funds to pay the full repair costs so we could find time to repair their equipment for free.

During the times we worked with our elderly clients both in and out of the shop we heard a plethora of stories regarding that community and how incredibly important it was for them to stay connected and online accessible. For many seniors that rely on social, economic, or medical programs accessibility is often the difference between needing to travel to do something online access would allow them to do from home. Having access also means seniors and greater society have the information they need at their fingertips, which saves literal hours from having to call DHS, or Social Security, or Medical Offices, etc to find out information that is readily available online. Not only that but when one must apply or re-apply for programs and you have the choice between snail mail and filing digitally, online filing submits documents right away and you normally receive confirmation via email that your filing was, indeed, received.

The concept of The Digital Divide was borne from all of the stories we heard from seniors, as well as others, about the importance of access. Part of those stories were things that for some became nightmare scenarios that having a connection would’ve pre-empted. For that reason, we pulled together some of the most knowledgeable folks we could in IT, administration, and business to guide us in creating a non-profit in which we could focus solely on the digital divide as it pertains to Oregon’s senior population in an effort to make sure that we never hear stories like those from the pandemic and beyond again.