History

What We Did:

Community Connections began in January 2003 with two students working at Network Ministries, a Tenderloin-based organization that, among other services, provides computer access and training for Tenderloin residents. USF students peformed an audit of the Network Ministries labs and suggested cost-effective upgrades, installed new hardware and software, provided networking support, and redesigned Network Ministries' web site. Since then, we've partnered with Network Ministries to help maintain and upgrade their computers, assist in tutoring sessions, and help maintain an after-school drop-in lab for Tenderloin-area children.

We've also expanded to work with a number of other San Francisco organizations, including St. Anthony's Foundation, where USF students developed an A+ Computer Repair Certification Curriculum and tutored students in the employment program, BayView MAGIC, where USF students helps maintain an after-school computer lab, and Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, where students have helped maintain their computer lab and teach classes on beginning computer use to recent Latina immigrants. Here at USF, Community Connections students helped the MFA program in creative writing establish Switchback, an online literary journal.

In Spring 2004, we incorporated Community Connections into a USF course: CS 480: Computers and Society. In this course, students learn about, write about and discuss the larger societal and ethical issues relating to computation and technology. They also get an opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge through Service Learning with a community partner.

We've also incorporated an international component to Community Connections. Over Spring Break 2004, two CS faculty and nine USF students traveled to Tacna, Peru, where we installed 102 donated computers, networking cables, and equipment in two local schools, Cristo Rey School and Miguel Pro School. This was the culmination of several months of planning, locating and refurbishing computers and installing software. The trip was also organized and sponsored by USF alumni Alberto Yepez (who is also an alumnus of Cristo Rey School in Tacna) and Teresa Win. Since 2004, we've returned to Tacna each year to continue our partnership with the people of Tacna. You can find more information on the Peru website.