Google employees team up with the African Advocacy Network to teach computer literacy class
On Thursday, April 24, 2014, Google employees and African Advocacy Network (AAN) employees led a computer literacy class for clients at Dolores Street Community Services.
The nonprofit at 20th and Valencia in San Francisco's Mission District helps the Bay Area’s African immigrant and refugee community adjust to life in the Bay Area and empowers them by giving them tools to manage their immigration paperwork online. The AAN works to close the digital divide in San Francisco by giving immigrants access to technology and training through computer literacy classes.
The workshop leaders stressed how computer skills are necessary to find employment and housing in San Francisco. They tutored attendees on how to do things such as checking email for housing, job, and immigration forms online, to finding work and housing using Craigslist, and using Google search and Maps to navigate their new neighborhoods.
The second part of the class was led by Matt Werner and Joe Sadusky, technical writers at Google who focus on Google Apps and Chromebooks. They focused on how to use Chromebooks and PCs to do essential tasks, such as formatting a resume using Google Docs, to using Google Search, Gmail, and Google Translate. Matt also gave tips on how to use Craigslist to find housing and employment, and answered questions from class participants ranging from advanced spreadsheet functions to more simple questions like "What is Facebook?"
At the end of the workshop, Matt Werner shared with participants how to use Google Glass and Chromebooks. This workshop was made possible due to laptops provided by two grants from Google: a Home, Sweet Home community grant and Google Goodware laptop donation. The laptops are available at the African Advocacy Network for clients to use for free.
For more photos from the class, see the photo album.
