DIGITAL INDEPENDENCE, INC. PEPSI REFRESH PROJECT PRESS RELEASE

Project Refurb – Provide underresourced families free computers and
tech-solutions!

Contact Bandhan Zishanuzzaman/617 575 9262

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cambridge, MA/September 3rd, 2011

Digital Independence, a Cambridge based youth-led organization is running for $10,000 in the Pepsi Refresh Grant contest. The organization is working on a project titled “Project Refurb” with a goal to narrow the digital divide in the Greater Boston area. The organization accepts donated computers, refurbishes them and then
sends them back out to the community. Funding for this project is a necessity to ensure that the process can be sustained.

The Pepsi Refresh Project offers grants on a monthly basis to applicants hoping to impact their respective communities to make the world a better place. Digital Independence is a local non-profit with a mission to ensure that resources to technology and that free technology literacy courses are available to everyone.

Please vote for us by visiting http://refresheverything.com/projectrefurb. You can create a Pepsi account or login via your Facebook account. You can also vote for us
by texting 108405 to Pepsi (73774).

About Digital Independence-

Digital Independence is a youth led non-profit computer education and services organization started in 2009 by three students at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. With a mission to bring technological education to the community, Digital Independence launched Project Refurb to benefit those in our community without proper access to the technological education resources necessary to learn about the technology which drives society.

###

Contact Digital Independence, Inc:
Bandhan Zishanuzzaman, Co-Founder and Co-Director
617 575 9262
bandhan@mydigitalindependence.com
http://mydigitalindependence.com
http://refresheverything.com/projectrefurb
http://facebook.com/DigitalIndependence | http://twitter.com/letfreedombeep

What: Digital Independence Community Computer Drive

When: Friday July 29th, 2011, 10am to 4pm

Where: Joan Lorenz Park, The green in front of the Cambridge Main Library located on 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138

What’s happening: Donate your old computers and technologies. We’ll refurbish them and pass them along to families with low-income who may not have the resources for their own technologies. We’re also giving away two computers in a free raffle.

In his State of the Union address, President Barrack Obama stressed America’s leadership in technology and research as of the utmost importance in our great nation’s success. Yet looking around the community one can see many people who are less than well-versed in the field of high technology. That’s the playing field onto which three Cambridge Rindge and Latin students stepped during the winter of 2009. Noting the nationwide community’s lack of technical proficiency, Arjun Agarwala, Bandhan Zishanuzzaman, and Tom Barrasso started Digital Independence to alleviate the endemic lack of understanding. One and half years later, Digital Independence now has office space both in the Cambridge Innovation Center and the Main Branch of the Cambridge Public Library, and employs a team of nine interns funded by the city of Cambridge.

While Mr. Obama may have been speaking to those members of the national community already highly invested in technology, Digital Independence sees the greatest investment in the future of America in the children who will one day grow up to run its government and industries. Yet many of these children, the ones who will need to lead America one day, who will need to be the most technology savvy individuals in the world if America is to truly succeed, lack the basic technology on which to learn. In response to this problem, and to a general lack of access to technology by many Americans, Digital Independence started “Project Refurb” during the summer of 2010. Taking donated computers, refurbishing them, and donating them back into the community, “Project Refurb” aims to bring technology to those who wouldn’t normally have such access. To support this program, Digital Independence is holding a computer drive on July 29th from 10am-4pm so that enough computer donations may be secured to successfully meet the needs of our community. This drive aims to bring in enough donations to help build a computer lab for the Boston Public Schools, as well as to be able to donate refurbished computers to several less fortunate families in the Greater Boston Area.

(Written by Henry Eccles, Project Refurb Supervisor)

Digital Independence, Inc. is sponsoring Project Refurb:

The purpose?
Project Refurb will provide families with low income, or new-immigrant status whom have not been exposed to computer technology their own refurbished computers at no cost.

Why refurbished?
The computers we will build are going to be just like the ones you can get in stores. Obviously they may not meet the same technical specifications, but realize that this project is only a gateway into the technological realm.

How does this project work?
Digital Independence will host this project with many other partner organizations. The goal is to have connections with larger organizations who will donate their computer(s) waste to us when say perhaps they receive computer upgrades throughout the organization. Digital Independence will take the donation(s), refurbish them, and then pass it along to another community partner organization . The community partner organization can be schools, or other organizations that are in contact with families with low income, or new-immigrant status. Donations will also be given directly to families or individuals.

How much will this project cost?
As you may already know, Digital Independence, Inc. is a non-profit organization and hence, money is necessary for sustainability. Any donations towards Project Refurb will help Digital Independence continue to provide service to our community, whether in the form of volunteer support, cash, or computer hardware.

How can I help?
Project Refurb is not as simple as it sounds. To build refurbished computers, we are going to need used computer parts! And lots of them! If you have an old computer lying around, even if it doesn’t work, shoot us an email or call us and we can schedule a meeting. All donations will help us out tremendously in making this project a success. Better yet, if you are part of a larger organization, any word that you can pass throughout your organization will be greatly appreciated.

We are hoping that Project Refurb will be a success, and your help is greatly appreciated!

PS. Keep your eyes open for an upcoming blog post. We plan on having a public computer refurbishing drive event soon!
Illustration by Mino Thongsavatdy

As many of you may be aware, this summer Digital Independence will be working with a number of youth, giving them the necessary skills to develop mobile applications. This course will cover all of the fundamentals of programming to get them off the ground and running. Many of these youth own or have used the technology that they will be programming for, giving them a sense of familiarity with their environment. It also helps that their head instructor belongs to the same high school CRLS and has been the captain of some of them on the Track & Field team.

This project is and will remain fairly broad until the end of the summer. No decisions have been made as to what platform they will be learning, nor what types of apps they will be developing. The program will be democratic, allowing each participant to voice his opinions. Any questions about the program can be sent to Tom, and as always, happy deving!

Dear Community,

So much has been going on around us: new technology is invented on a daily basis.

This influx of technology is scary: how do we use this technology? When can I find time to learn how to use it? What happened to the good old days where all I had to do was flick a switch?

Those days are gone. Our life is beginning to depend upon technology; we need technology to help us move further in life. It is what makes our lives easier and simpler to manage, sustain and live.

We recognize that not everyone is able to keep up with rapid advancements in technology but we also realize that if people begin to fall behind with modern technology, how will we progress in life to make even more advanced technology?

We’re here to solve the problem. This summer Digital Independence will offer discounted computer consultation sessions. For one hour a day, one day a week, over a period of 5 weeks- Digital Independence will offer affordable basic computer training. An application for this program can be downloaded by clicking here. This program is open to anyone who wants to catch up on modern technology.

We ask, regardless of your age, gender or race, that you do not fear technology and will help us progress our society.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
Again, the application can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Thanks,
Digital Independence :)

Today, we would like to take a moment to congratulate the talented students we have selected for our 2011 Summer Internship Program.

This is our second summer hosting an internship program. This summer interns will be working on either of two assigned Projects: Project Refurb or Project Code.

Project Refurb will be run by co-founder Bandhan Zishanuzzaman. Interns will assist Bandhan in a project with a developed idea to provide technology to families who may be under-resourced.

Project Code will be run by co-founder Thomas Barrasso. Interns will work with Tom and learn how to program within the first couple of weeks. They will spend the remainder of the summer developing their own mobile application with guidance from Tom.

In addition, Digital Independence will re-open its in-office services throughout the summer. Although services will continue to be by appointment only, with longer hours we look forward to serving many more customers.

This years interns by name and grade are:

Mustafa Abbas - Rising Senior
Henry Eccles - Rising Junior
Filmon Elias - Rising Senior
Istiak Gani - Rising Freshman (Cornell University)
Alexander Ugorji - Rising Junior
Liam O’Connor - Rising Freshman
Santiago Reina - Rising Senior
Sammy Tung - Rising Senior
Kevin Yang - Rising Junior

July 5th will mark our first day. We’re looking forward to an exciting summer!