Grants: YEF Grant

YEF Grant Content

• Mission Statement
  • We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to provide free computers and free and open source software to disadvantaged kids and schools open to the public. Our mission is to set up computer labs in schools around the world where kids have no other access to technology. We use donated, used computers, open source software and volunteers.
    
    We bring in computers, set them up, provide training and work with local volunteers to provide long term support. We encourage schools to work with the broader community in order to sustain the lab for the future. We ask schools to work with parents in supporting their children's education and ask that they solicit donations from local businesses.
    
    Our computers come from individuals, other nonprofit organizations, as well as companies such as banks and computer companies. Our volunteers come from many different places, all professionals interested in bringing technology, open source software and education to children. Our schools are very poor schools but have very engaged teachers and parents willing to work with us to give their kids opportunities.

• Brief History of Organization
  • Kids on Computers was started in 2008 with the goal of setting up one computer lab a year in schools or areas where kids do not have access to technology. Thanks to our dedicated volunteers and donors, we have far surpassed this goal. In the last year and a half alone, we have set up six computer labs in schools in Mexico and Argentina.
    
    These labs have been successful beyond our expectations.
    The schools, teachers, parents and students have really taken advantage of the opportunity of having technology at hand.
    18 de Marzo, a school we set up in June 2009, in Mexico, collects money from parents to pay a computer teacher. Santo Domingo, a girls' school works with local businesses to get internet.
    Another school, CAM, a school for kids with disabilities, has internet donated by a parent of a former student, and enables the parents to come in during the evenings to research their kids' disabilities and assistance available.
    
    We have also worked with organizations such as FedEx, Partimus, System76 and Caja Popular Mexicana to coordinate computer donations and logistics.
    This year we are working with our existing schools while setting up new labs in Mexico, Zambia, and India.

• Champion Statement of Support
  • Kids on Computers is a nonprofit organization which strives to give children in developing countries an opportunity to break out of the poverty of their surroundings. The organization has proven itself successful in creating labs in developing countries and not only inspiring the students, but also the communities of these students.
    By establishing computer labs with internet in remote developing regions, students, their parents, and their communities are given access to the outside world so they may educate themselves and realize new dreams.
    
    Members take time outside of their day jobs to set up labs and coordinate logistics in remote countries.
    I am very inspired by the work they do.

Project Information

• 1. Please indicate which focus area is most associated with your project.
  • Education & Youth
  • Community Building & Families

• 2. How much money are you requesting? (Up to $5,000)
  • 5000.00

• 3. What project are you requesting funding for?
  • Expansion of KOC into India

• 4. What is this project's budget?
  • 17,500

• 5. What is the organization's budget?
  • 2000

• 6. How many people will be impacted by YEF funding of this project?
  • 1000

• 7. What will this impact look like? (200 word limit)
  • The labs we've set up are making a huge impact on the community.
    
    At the 18 de Marzo school, the lab has made a huge difference. Because of the lab, the local community also built a library, a room to house gym equipment, and hired a school psychologist. The school has gone from being one of the poorest to one where everyone wants to send their kids. There are now plans for a high school nearby so that kids can continue their education.
    
    At CAM, a nearby school for kids with disabilities, we set up a lab that impacted the whole community. Parents also come in to research their kids' disabilities and government aid programs.
    
    With money from the YEF grant, we would be able to impact three additional schools and their respective communities in the rural areas of the Huajuapan District. One of these schools, Escuela Primaria Manuel Gonzalez Gatica, is a one room school in a small rural town. Most of the town doesn't have electricity, phone lines, internet, or any modern conveniences. The other two schools are in similar situations.
    
    Each school serves approximately 50-300 kids plus their parents and extended community.

• 8. What geographic area will be served by this project?
  • Huajuapan, Oaxaca, Mexico

• 9. Specifically, for what would YEF funding be used in this project? (200 word limit)
  • YEF funding would be used to go towards shipping used computers to the new schools and buying monitors to set up the three new labs. The money would also be used to send replacement parts to existing labs, tables, chairs, locking equipment, and any tools necessary to set up the new labs or maintain the existing ones.

• 10. What specific community need are you addressing, and how does the project address it? (Be specific - 400 word limit)
  • Many of the kids in this region get very little education. They have no access to technology in elementary school and many do not continue studying after elementary school. At most, 47 out of 100 students finish primary school while only 23% partly attend high school. We hope to help the kids (and their parents!) acquire more skills for learning, for jobs, and perhaps even inspire some to continue their education through high school.
    
    Our goal in setting up these labs is to give disadvantaged kids with no access to technology and their communities a true opportunity at a modern education. The labs would be in schools and if at all possible, they would be open to parents and communities in the evenings.

• 11. If there is a selection process for the people who benefit from your services, what is that process? In other words, what determines who is served? (200 word limit)
  • In order for a school to be selected for a lab, there must be someone local willing to handle the logistics for setting up the lab.
    
    We need someone local to coordinate volunteers, supplies, schedules, research options for internet, and infrastructure. The school, the principal and the parents must also be heavily engaged. In addition, we have technical requirements including, but not limited to, a room that locks and stays cool enough to have a room of computers.

• 12. What are your main goals, metrics for measuring each of the goals and how will you determine if you have succeeded in meeting those goals? If possible, please provide data on how you have performed against those goals in the past. (200 word limit)
  • Our goals are to:
    • Set up three computer labs in the Huajuapan district. The five schools we have set up in the past have met our basic goal of a lab.
    • Provide training for the students. At several schools we've set up, training is provided for the students by volunteers.
    • Get internet access for all of the schools. Three of the five schools we've set up have internet now, one is about to, and one doesn't.
    • Another goal is to get parents and the community involved. We've been successful in different ways with this goal. In one school, parents chip in to pay for a computer teacher. In another, a local business provides the internet.
    • A final goal is sustainability. We do this by building out the local technical volunteers and keeping in contact with them.

• 13. What other sources of funding are you pursuing for this project, and for other projects you are involved with? (200 word limit)
  • We look to several sources for funding and support:
    • Monetary donations from individuals.
    • Donated computers from individuals with help from computer companies.
    • Donations from US companies and companies local to the schools where we are building the labs.
    • Our volunteers donate their time and pay for their own travel.
    • Other grants. For example, we received a grant from Fed Ex in 2009 to ship computers to one school.

• 14. How do you create long-term benefits that go beyond the immediate provision of services, for instance through enabling self-sufficiency of those served when possible? (200 word limit)
  • We strive to make the communities self-sufficient. We work very closely with local open source and technical experts, school principals, teachers, and local companies. We have local linux experts who volunteer their time to maintain the labs. We've gotten donations of computers from local businesses, such as the Caja Popular Mexicana bank as well as computer repair services from other businesses. All of our schools are self-sufficient now. We continue to try to build on that and enable them to do more to further their students' education.

• 15. Regarding this specific project in the proposal, what other organizations are working on projects related to yours? Will you be collaborating with them? Why or why not? (200 word limit)
  • We've collaborated with several other organizations and nonprofits such as Partimus, System 76, and Zareason. Partimus helps set up labs in the United States, but not in developing countries. We've worked with them on receiving and fixing donated equipment, installing software, and sharing best practice for setting up labs.