Palacio Podcast
Connecting Our Children to The Future: The Laptop Giveaway
Connecting to the internet became an even greater challenge for Long Beach parents and students with the Covid-19 pandemic and the move to remote education. Families faced difficult choices: access technology to help bridge the digital divide or watch their children fall behind. The Long Beach Center for Economic Inclusion (LBCEI) took on the challenge of a world of remote education. As they describe on their website, “The Long Beach community, especially those most vulnerable, will fall behind without access to technology.” The consequences are that this will result in an even greater divide in “…the inequitable distribution of resources across the city.”
LBCEI rushed in to help.
They partnered with Long Beach-based human-I-T to distribute refurbished laptops to families and students in North, Central, and West Long Beach. The laptops went to students of the YMCA’s Early Childhood Education and Youth Institute programs, Long Beach City College students and families served by local nonprofits, including United Cambodian Community and Long Beach Day Nursery.
PalacioMagazine.com partnered with the Long Beach Center for Economic Inclusion to document the impact on the YMCA’s Early Childhood Education and Youth Institute program and the students they serve.
Long Beach City College also took part in the distribution and documented it.
On Long Beach Center for Economic Inclusion
LBCEI is a community development corporation that expands inclusive economic opportunities to build and sustain wealth for all communities in Long Beach.
- Bringing Everyone In
- An Economy For All
- Access To Capital
- Inclusive Opportunity
You can find out more HERE.
On the YMCA Youth Institute
Youth Institute (www.lbymcayi.org ) is a year-round program that uses technology as an integral mechanism for promoting positive youth development and developing pathways to post-secondary education and career readiness of low-income, culturally diverse urban high school youth.
The goals of the Youth Institute are:
- To improve academic achievement and stimulate interest in post-secondary education among low-income, culturally diverse, urban high school youth.
- To improve the technology, career, leadership, and decision-making skills of these youth to promote readiness for post-secondary education or career entry after graduation.
- To promote bonding to pro-social adults and community attachment among urban youth to ensure that they remain engaged in their schools and communities.
You can find out more HERE
On YMCA’s Early Childhood Education
Their programs develop children’s school readiness skills through activities that emerge from their interest and abilities. They promote children’s literacy, language and social development by providing consistent interactions with children and support group learning in safe and loving environments.
Find out more HERE
