Marvin Venay Takes Tech Home in Boston - Building for Digital Equity Podcast Episode 14

Sean Gonsalves (00:06):
Hey, this is the Building for Digital Equity Podcast where we talk to people working to expand Internet access, address affordability, teach digital skills, or distribute affordable devices. We talk with those working on the front lines of giving everyone everywhere the opportunity to participate fully in the digital world, whether in rural areas or cities. Our guests here are doing the often [00:00:30] unglamorous jobs in places that have been left behind. This show comes to you from the Community Broadband Networks team at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, where we have long produced the Community Broadband Bits podcast and the Connect This Show Building for Digital Equity features. Short interviews from Emma Gautier, Christopher Mitchell, and me, Sean Gonsalves, talking to people at the events we are attending, to highlight the interesting work and inspirational stories to get Internet [00:01:00] access to everyone. Now, let's see who we have today.

(01:08):
Okay, I am here on the third and final day of Net Inclusion 2023, and I'm with Marvin Venay, who actually works and lives not too far from me. I'm on the Cape. Marvin is up in Boston with a great organization that I want to talk to you about. So why don't you introduce yourself and the [00:01:30] organization that you represent.

Marvin Venay (01:32):
Alright, well, Sean, first of all, thank you for having me On. Tech Goes Home is the organization that I work for based in Boston. We're a digital equity nonprofit. We're about, I would say roughly around 7 million organization with 20 employees. We've grown significantly in the last five years. We went from having maybe around eight employees at that time to 21 [00:02:00] at this stage. And so we are seeing some tremendous growth, some real excitement. I mean, we are reaching people at a rapid speed right now, and it'ss excellent because we actually get to meet people where they are and their experience of being on the outside of the digital divide.

Sean Gonsalves (02:20):
So tell me a little bit about the mission of Tech Goes Home, what's the vision? And give us a little bit of a sense of some of the programs and some of the initiatives that you work on.

Marvin Venay (02:30):
[00:02:30] So Tech Goes Home empowers communities to access and use digital skills, digital tools, if you will, to overcome their barriers. We really believe in trying to advance people's lives with that. The way it works is that we have a model where we reach anywhere age. We serve ages three to 96. You ask why it's so wide. The youngest person we've served has been three. The oldest that we've served has been 96. And what we're fortunate to be able to do is to provide them with the three legs [00:03:00] of the stool, if you will. So we're providing with the device that's either an iPad or Chromebook brand new, then we're providing them with digital training. That's about 15 hours of digital training on a curriculum that is based upon their need, not our assessment, and then what we are providing them with Internet access. So we're providing 'em with a year's worth of Internet access at no cost across the board for them. Pre pandemic, we only provided two of those options. We were not providing Internet at that stage, but as you can imagine [00:03:30] with the pandemic, we had no choice but to alleviate that barrier that might exist for those families. And so what we did was we came out and started to address the need by providing the Internet access. And now we are trying to transfer those individuals to the Affordable Connectivity program. As you imagine it exists right now through the federal government in an effort to give them longer standing and stronger Wi-Fi.

Sean Gonsalves (03:57):
Now, how [00:04:00] did Tech Goes Home survive at the end of Btop when a lot of other organizations really folded?

Marvin Venay (04:09):
I think it was our learners, honestly. Our learners were really open to working with us. We had built trust, and that trust afforded us the opportunity to be a continuing partner with many, and including the city of Boston, including the public libraries, [00:04:30] the school systems, the community based organizations. We were friends and we were friends because we literally would sit in the room and help the instructor. We have a train trainer model, so we're partnering with organizations and libraries and so forth, and we're training their staff, so where they're educating their staff on how to develop curriculum, how to execute classroom management, and then we're providing a pre and a post-survey [00:05:00] so that we can evaluate what has been retained. And then we're also doing follow-up work in an effort to make sure that they're growing. And now we're starting to think about what do we do next? And so as we are expanding throughout Massachusetts, we're about to launch in Western Mass in the next month or so.

Sean Gonsalves (05:21):
Now when you say Western Mass, you're talking about out in the Springfield area?

Marvin Venay (05:24):
Springfield, Holyoke. Chicopee, our first partner. There will be Wayfinders. [00:05:30] That was a recent announcement, so you're hearing it some exclusive information. Alright. We are also moving towards Worcester. We've just been fortunate to hire someone to do some advocacy work there in Worcester on the ground. You asked why did we choose Worcester? You asked why did we choose to invest with someone who lives in Worcester is because, number one, it is a city in need for sure. And it is a city that is out for the support to ensure that their [00:06:00] residents actually have access and understand the usage of the computer so that they can create success for their families.

Sean Gonsalves (06:07):
You mentioned, and you talked about you're hiring somebody in Worcester, or you've hired someone in Worcester. Yes. We've hired someone. And I know that you're a Boston guy, right? You born and raised?

Marvin Venay (06:17):
No, no, no, no, no. So I'm originally from Pittsburgh. Oh, really? I've been in Boston for about 25 years at this

Sean Gonsalves (06:23):
Point.

Marvin Venay (06:25):
Some will say you are a Bostonian,

Sean Gonsalves (06:27):
Right? But

Marvin Venay (06:28):
I still claim my home.

Sean Gonsalves (06:29):
Got [00:06:30] you. You're still the same. That's absolutely still strong. Okay, all good. But a lot of your staff, of course too, you're hiring locally. And it just brings me back to, you talked about the relationships and the trust that you've built with organizations in the city, but I would imagine that having people working at your organization and people that you're training, the relationships they have within these communities makes a big difference in terms of your,

Marvin Venay (06:54):
Well, I'm glad you raised that. We are hiring people with lived experience. [00:07:00] We're hiring people that reflect our demographic that we serve. So when a learner comes to a course, they are interacting. If they interact with any of our staff, they're interacting with someone that looks like them, someone that understands their plight, someone that has felt that discomfort and knows what it means to feel like you've been left to the side. And so they take all of that and they're empathetic and they're triaging [00:07:30] problems. I mean, some of our staff are acting as tech advisors to some of our learners at times. They're doing tech support far beyond the scope of their job description. But if Auntie Beth calls and says, Hey, I need some help here. After the classroom has been completed, what are we going to do? We're going to take care of her. And so we have a great staff that is excited [00:08:00] every day to do this work. And so this is our main program that we function in. We also have obviously a development team. We have an advocacy team, and so our program team and our operations team, and we're starting to figure out what else can we do, where else are we needed? And we have a big thing about going into communities, not from the perspective of this is for us to do, but going locations that we are being asked [00:08:30] to come to.

Sean Gonsalves (08:31):
Oh,

Marvin Venay (08:31):
Interesting. So Western Mass reached out and said, we would love to see your programming here.

Sean Gonsalves (08:37):
So how do people know to reach out to you? I mean, clearly you've been around for some time, but how does that come about? Do you guys do marketing or is it just word of mouth?

Marvin Venay (08:46):
You know what, honestly, we've really been blessed with word of mouth. We've really had opportunities that have been simply, I've worked with you, you've worked with X. [00:09:00] X has said, Hey, you're looking for this. I want to connect you with these individuals. Or it is the publicity that is associated with our work. If people are hearing about it, if we're doing podcasts like yours, or we're finding ourselves in a news article, or we're writing an op-ed, which we do often, or we're testifying at a hearing, which we do often in any of those efforts, it affords people the awareness that we exist. We're starting to talk [00:09:30] about marketing, we're starting to talk about and figure out should we take that arm on in an effort to grow the organization more because we want to reach as many people as possible. And like I said, there's a lot more going on. There's a lot of new announcements that are going to be coming out in a few months that are going to be very exciting, and they're going to make a dent in the digital divide in Massachusetts. And we're just happy to be a part of that conversation.

Sean Gonsalves (09:56):
Yeah. Well, first of all, I guess it is a challenge [00:10:00] for any nonprofit organization to do the fundraising piece. And you guys have done that very successfully. You talked about your budget earlier, but what are some of the challenges? Because this work isn't easy. What are some of the challenges that you come across or that you have come across in the work?

Marvin Venay (10:17):
Well, lemme take a step back. We have a hundred plus partners. We've serviced about 22,000 individuals graduates. With that 22,000, there are 14,000 [00:10:30] devices have been given out. But let me underscore the graduate part. Pre pandemic, we were sitting at a 94% graduation rate pre pandemic. During the pandemic, we maintained a 94% graduation rate. Wow. And let me walk you through what that means. That means that you started the course, you completed the course. If there was disruption, it did not impact. You were still able to accomplish your goals. [00:11:00] You did it successfully, and we made it work. Why We started mailing out devices when the pandemic hit, sometimes we hand deliver devices to homes because in order to start our program, typically you would start it at a community center per se. And when you did so you would get the equipment, but you might not take it home.

Sean Gonsalves (11:22):
Right, right. Got you. Right.

Marvin Venay (11:24):
Until the completion of the program. Well, what do you do in a pandemic?

Sean Gonsalves (11:30):
[00:11:30] You're

Marvin Venay (11:30):
In it. So we had to ramp up and we immediately went to distributing and getting 'em into the homes, getting the Internet set up, everything. And people were excited because we were cutting out them having to travel. We were affording them access for telehealth. We were making sure they could connect with their families, they could order their groceries, they could create a budget, they could pay bills. We did everything possible to eliminate a barrier for them during that moment [00:12:00] of time. But you asked about the challenges, so I'm going to talk a little bit about that. The challenge is, is that still today there are some lawmakers who are not familiar with the digital divide.

Sean Gonsalves (12:11):
That's true.

Marvin Venay (12:14):
And some of them did not experience it until the pandemic hit. And they had to understand the complexities of living in a home with family and trying to make it work. I came to Tecos home two years ago. One of the biggest reasons I came is because [00:12:30] I understood what it felt like to be in a home with two adults, two students, and trying to work, do school, and had a bandwidth to do it All right.

Sean Gonsalves (12:43):
Exactly right.

Marvin Venay (12:43):
Yeah. And I saw that immediately. And I said, I'm someone who was in a fortunate position to be able to take care of a Internet bill, but there are many others out there who do not have that resource. And I said, what better way for me [00:13:00] to give I look at this as service to give, is to make sure that they have a platform to be able to be heard, respected, valued, and it underscored that they need to be included.

Sean Gonsalves (13:11):
Exactly.

Marvin Venay (13:12):
So that's number one. Number two is that we have to deal with the root cause of digital divide. So that's a challenge, getting people to understand that. And then the last thing is, is that we have to continue building trust with [00:13:30] our learners. So what TGH is about to do, and this is fresh, what TGH is about to do is we're about to create a cohort of community fellows. Community fellows in which we will bring in, we will train them, we will get them prepared to provide op-eds to write op-eds, to do testimonies, to participate in dialogues and panels, et cetera. And we will compensate them, [00:14:00] and we will make sure that at the end of the fellowship, we are leading them towards some sort of opportunity. We have not fully vetted it out yet, but our goal is to understand the plight of our learner firsthand, not on theory, not on what the data says, but from the voice of those who are most impacted. We want them at the table, and we want them to be our guiding force when we do this work.

Sean Gonsalves (14:30):
[00:14:30] That's terrific. Now I know that didn't come alone. You brought, I think, what, four or five of your

Marvin Venay (14:40):
No, we have more. There's about 10 of us.

Sean Gonsalves (14:42):
Oh, really? Because when we took the picture, we took the picture yesterday, and I was surprised. This is a big contingent here from

Marvin Venay (14:47):
Massachusetts. Our CEO is here. He's been here continuously. He's been here since the start of NDIA. We have our director evaluation, assistant manager of advocacy. We have [00:15:00] our manager, partnership manager. We have our operations coordinator. Our operations manager have, I think we also have one of our lead consultants. I mean, we've brought out the team because we want them to understand this work and to see it beyond what is in front of them.

Sean Gonsalves (15:20):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the values of being in a place like Net Inclusion is a lot of times we are focused on the work in our own communities, [00:15:30] and it's always, I think, valuable to connect with folks that are doing it elsewhere and building on and learning, hearing about some of the things that you may be able to bring back. Speaking of which, I mean, is there anything stand out in your mind that you'll take from Net Inclusion 2023?

Marvin Venay (15:52):
One thing is, I want to say I'm very excited for the staff of NDIA was in Portland last year. My first year, we [00:16:00] didn't have these numbers to see the number of people that are here that are investing in this work. It's a testimony to the NDIA team, but it also is showing that this subject is starting to become a lot more relevant and that in places and spaces that you didn't perceive it would exist and that people want to find solutions. And so if I learned anything, is that there are more people here who want to learn. There are more people here who have information to share. One of [00:16:30] the biggest things that came away from me is that I went to the digital equity coalition building session, and the list of individuals or sectors, I should say, that they felt or suggested should be at the table was unimaginable. Because you wouldn't perceive that. You would think to add an elected official, a county commissioner, or somebody from a hospital network. You wouldn't think [00:17:00] about adding all of them to a coalition. You would think that you are only adding individuals or organizations who are doing the work.

Sean Gonsalves (17:08):
That's true. That's a great point. And of course, connectivity and access to high-speed Internet, it really touches every aspect of modern life.

Marvin Venay (17:21):
Absolutely. I mean, you're talking about your water, you're talking about your alarm system. Maybe we're talking about just being [00:17:30] able to get your medication at times.

Sean Gonsalves (17:31):
Right,

Marvin Venay (17:32):
Right. And if you have to order food or any of the sort right now, it is the plug and play. And we really believe at some point we'll have a large enough voice about this becoming a public utility. But the fight continues. We'll continue to persevere and push through it. But I'm excited about the work. I'm excited about what I've experienced here. I'm excited about what I see you all are doing, and this is a great week.

Sean Gonsalves (18:00):
[00:18:00] Excellent. Excellent. Marvin, thank you for your time. I have to get up to Boston and take a look firsthand at Tech Goes Home,

Marvin Venay (18:08):
We welcome you. Come and join a class. We'll set you up. You can experience it firsthand.

Sean Gonsalves (18:13):
That's it firsthand. Alright. Thank you very much my man.

Marvin Venay (18:16):
Alright, thank you.

Sean Gonsalves (18:18):
We thank you for listening. You can find a bunch of our other podcast at ilsr.org/podcast. Since this is a new show, I'd like to ask a favor. [00:18:30] Please give us a rating wherever you found it, especially at Apple Podcast. Share it with friends. You can even embed episodes on your own site. Please let us know what you think by writing us@podcastatnets.org. Finally, we'd like to thank joseph mckay.com for the song on the Verge.