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• In most of our communities, it is older people, the generation. Technology has changed so much from back then and everything now is technology-based. So, it's a very good program to bring, especially for our youth that our youth know exactly what they're doing. They've worked all their life to teach older women and older generations because everything's changed. Technologies are too advanced and sometimes people have trouble keeping up. And that's a way we can help people catch up with it.

• ANAVI: Welcome to the IDRA Classnotes podcast. My name is Anavi Prakash, and I am a sophomore at Northwestern University. This summer, I am a communications intern for IDRA. Today, we will be sharing with you insights from those involved in the Digital Ambassadors Program. The program is run by IDRA and ARISE, an organization that aims to empower immigrants in low-income communities in South Texas. The Digital Ambassadors Program helps students provide technology training to their communities after doing extensive research and learning new skills themselves. Before we jump into our discussion, I would like our listeners to get to know you all a little better. Can you tell us a little about yourselves?

• CARLOS: My name is Carlos and I'm from Arise South Town.
  ASHLY: My name is Ashley. I'm from Las Milpas.
  GABRIELA: My name is Gabriella Benitez. I am the leader of the Education and Youth Pilar.

• ANAVI: It's great to have you all here. To start a bit more generally, for Carlos and Ashly, why did you want to become digital ambassadors?

• ASHLY: Well, I wanted to help elderly people understand how to use electronic stuff, like computers, cell phones, and stuff like that.
  CARLOS: I get to help other people who still don't know how to use the Internet that well.

• ANAVI: And for all of you, why is this program so important to have for students?

• ASHLY: Most of our community, since it is older people, the older generation, it's very hard nowadays since so much has changed. Technology has changed so much from back then, and everything now is technology-based. So it's a very good program to bring, especially for our youth that our youth know exactly what they're doing, they've worked them all their life, to teach older women, older generations because everything's changed. Technology's too advanced and sometimes people have trouble keeping up, and that's a way we can help people catch up with it.

• GABRIELA: Well, mainly, I think they also need the skills to talk to people and stuff because there's a lot of high school students that don't like socializing a lot.

• CARLOS: Because if not now, then when? This is an opportunity that you can't give up.

• ANAVI: Wow, yeah. So before teaching the community, you conducted research and surveyed community members on their technological needs. What did you take away from this phase of the program?

• CARLOS: I learned that more people struggle with technology than I thought.

• ASHLY: I have never done a survey before. That was the first time I ever actually created one. So I learned a lot about what goes into making a survey, which also is something I think the youth learned a lot, like demographics base, gathering all the data, and how to read the data in general. You hear it a lot, but once the data's collected, it's all like, "Okay, it's this many people," like that's a lot of people that don't know how to do what we would call something basic, you know? To me, it's just the data that we collected so that they were able to see it with their own eyes, "Okay, this is what we have and this is what we're dealing with."

• ANAVI: After the surveys, the second phase of the program revolved around you mastering the skills your community wanted to learn, then you taught your community these skills, which included how to type and navigate Google Chrome. What were the training sessions like for you?

• GABRIELA: Well, I liked how people were asking me for help, and I was helping them. But it was really fun and it helped me understand people and what they need help with and stuff like that.

• ASHLY: I was very pleased with them, because other youth, sometimes you don't expect patience. That's one thing that you get, patience with the youth is sometimes just not always there, especially sometimes they get distracted very easily. There was a very good leadership role for them to be able to see how much patience it takes, especially with people who didn't know how to turn on the laptops. And it was great because so many of the youth were hands-on. They were going to them. They were telling them, "Okay, like this and like this." They weren't just leaving them hanging. They weren't just leaving them not answering questions. They made sure everything was answered, and it was a really good experience. It was a very, very good core session.

• CARLOS: Hopefully with the knowledge that I've gained, I could help other people who-- when we did the group thingy and help the people out, like if some didn't go, I could teach the ones that didn't went or just other people.

• ANAVI: That's awesome. Now, switching to the other side of these trainings, what has been the impact of these sessions on the community?

• ASHLY: I have ladies right now from the community asking me, "When are we going to have another one? When are we going to have another one? We want to see them again." Because it's something that excites them and something that they can learn because it's not just a skill you can pick up overnight. Most of our communities, we had to teach them how to work a mouse, how to turn on the computer because they don't know how to work any of it. So it's such a big impact, especially now that they know how to log into their Google accounts. They know how to work a computer a bit more easier. Maybe they don't know detail to detail, which of course it takes time, but they can work on the computer easy.

• ANAVI: Yeah, and when teaching these skills to the community, were there any challenges that arose?

• ASHLY: Yeah, the translation a bit since most of our youth are focused more on English because of school. So maybe certain words, but I think it was still really great because obviously our Spanish isn't going to be the same as the older community for the reason that that's their only language, Spanish. So translating everything from English to Spanish, it really gave them like a little eye opening. And they were like, "Oh, we don't know how to say this word in Spanish. We don't know this word in Spanish." And we're like, "It's fine, guys. Relax. We'll help you."

• ANAVI: That's great. To wrap things up, what are you going to take with you from the Digital Ambassadors Program?

• GABRIELA: Okay, this will help me at school because what if other people in the program know more than me? Well, I can learn from them too.

• CARLOS: Right now, I'm looking forward to going into a business career. And that deals with a lot of computer technology-type things. And I'm pretty sure it'll help me understand it more.

• ASHLY: Apart from gaining that leadership, I think it was a huge way for them to have that understanding of things they can do. You don't always get a youth to stand up in front of a crowd of 20, a crowd of 15 to be able to talk. So, it was a very-- I think something like a confidence boost for them because now they know that they can do it. After all, they've done it before. And this is something that they can keep doing. It'll just keep getting better and better as they work on it.

• ANAVI: Well, thank you so much, Carlos, Ashley, and Gabby, for your insights into the Digital Ambassadors Program. It has been incredible hearing about your hard work to bring technology skills to your communities.