MAKING CONNECTIONS
Catholic Charities helps refugee families gain tech access, know-how
The notion that technology access and literacy was a challenge for Albuquerque refugee families didn’t exactly come as a surprise with the advent of COVID-19, according to Sarah Azibo, program coordinator for Catholic Charities of New Mexico’s refugee support.
In fact, digital literacy has been on the nonprofit’s priority list for some time. Earlier this year, Russol Abdelfatah, a Catholic Charities bilingual community liaison with a background in information technology, headed up a tech skills class for a group of refugee women. The 13 participants met in a computer lab at HELP New Mexico to learn computer skills.
But when the pandemic struck and everything went remote, Azibo said, the class went from 13 to about three, “because those were the only three who had internet and a computer to use,” Azibo said.
“We already knew this was a barrier and a challenge for families,” she said. “But our awareness was heightened.”
In response to that need, the nonprofit has launched a broadscale offensive to get Albuquerque’s refugee families computers, internet access and digital know-how.
A major component of that effort has been the Computer Wizards program, launched this summer for high school students. Nearly all of the 60-odd refugee families Catholic Charities works with in Albuquerque have school-aged children who were sent home in midMarch along with the rest of New Mexico’s public school students.
Through Albuquerque Public Schools, many families were able to get Chromebooks on loan after the schools shut down. Around that time, Azibo started the process of riding her bike all over the city dropping off “learning bundles” of school supplies and lesson packets to refugee families whose children had participated in the organization’s International Club program. When she’d ask them where their Chromebooks were, in many cases, the kids told her they didn’t know.
“Somehow they had vanished,” Azibo said. “They were given Chromebooks, but weren’t taught how to use them.”
Abdelfatah and volunteer Sam Tarin, put the Computer Wizards program together to teach high schoolers tech skills via Zoom.
For adults, Azibo’s team has partnered wtih Catholic Charities’ Center for Educational Opportunity and Career Pathways to offer an English language and civics class to the Albuquerque-area families.
Obtaining computers themselves was a challenge too. Through grants and community donations, the organization has purchased Chromebooks it has provided to families. Students who complete digital literacy courses on borrowed APS computers are allowed then keep those Chromebooks.
Catholic Charities of New Mexico is also seeking sponsorship for internet service. Internet Essentials from Comcast has made access available for $9.95 per month for anyone on public assistance programs — but even that low cost can be a hurdle, Azibo said.
“Even if it is $10 a month, that’s $10 a month many of our families don’t have available to them easily,” she said.