Digital Doorways

I started a program called Digital Doorways to attempt to close the gap in digital literacy through supporting underserved communities in the Houston area. As an avid programmer at St. John’s, I frequently taught Python to younger kids as a humble side gig to earn some money; however, I always looked for ways to reach a greater audience and create a larger impact. As such, when Dr. Nancy Kwan, a parent who hired me to tutor, mentioned a need for classes at the St. Austin Center, my ears perked up. 

The St. Austin Center is a community center in Houston’s East End that aims to provide the local, primarily immigrant, community with tools and skills. Though the local library previously gave computer literacy classes, they stopped giving them when their funding dried up months prior. I immediately told Dr. Kwan that I could start a computer literacy education program at the St. Austin Center, and thus founded the first location for Digital Doorways. Over the next three months, I wrote letters to friends, family, community members, and the technology team at St. John’s to raise money and material donations for a computer lab at the St. Austin Center. I also wrote the course curriculum, assembled a group of volunteers, and handed out fliers at the St. Austin Center’s Saturday food drives. Thanks to the unbelievable generosity of our donors, we assembled a complete computer lab at the St. Austin Center, outfitted with 15 computers, printing equipment, and a projector. 

To date, Digital Doorways has taught 34 classes to over 45 students. The classes are taught in Spanish and present important topics such as maintaining a budget in a spreadsheet, creating a resume in an online document, and properly conducting online research. We continue to raise money and materials to expand operations and, excitingly, are working with BakerRipley to install another computer lab at the Denver Harbor Multi-Service Center. This summer, we are working with Mission Milby, another community center in the East End, bringing computers and coding instructors to teach their summer campers how to code in Python. I am hugely proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to what we will do in the future.

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