Spring 2007, Volume 10 Newsletter:
ReStore Program Partners with The Bridge Program to Pilot
The Harvard ReStore, led by Travis Good ’04 and Allison Rogers ’04, partnered with the Harvard University Bridge to Learning and Literacy Program to run a pilot program this fall, delivering seven fully refurbished computers to Bridge students. The mission of the ReStore is to refurbish the outgoing computers from the University (which would normally be recycled), to promote reuse of items, reduce the environmental impact of the outgoing computers, and to help bridge the digital divide. The ReStore is partnered closely with Harvard Recycling and began as a project during Good’s and Rogers’ senior years in collaboration with Rob Gogan, Director of Harvard Recycling. The goal is to provide the computers at low or no cost to Harvard employees who would benefit from having a computer at home.
The ReStore partnered with the Bridge program to run a pilot delivery this fall to seven recipients, to trial the length of the process of refurbishment and delivery, to assess what issues arose, and to document the benefits. The aim of the pilot study was also to assess the feasibility/costs associated with providing computers, software, and Internet Access to members of the Harvard community who do not have computers. The Bridge Program is a worker education program open to all hourly employees at Harvard, offering English literacy, computer literacy and other adult education courses.
With the help and support of Kris Locke, Meghan Gaffny, and Carol Kolenik of the Bridge, this October the team delivered and set up seven computers and monitors (generously provided by Harvard Recycling) for Harvard employees enrolled in technology training classes.
The partnership between the Harvard ReStore, Harvard Bridge, and Harvard Recycling has been a wonderful success, and the team hopes the program will continue to grow. Feedback from the students has included their happiness with having a computer at home, their ability to do homework on their own computer, and the great benefit of having access to the internet.
“The pilot program has been extremely successful, and we’re really hoping to run a second pilot, and grow the program even more. The collaboration between the Bridge Program, Harvard Recycling, Harvard Green Campus Initiative, undergraduate student leaders, and the ReStore has been amazing. This is an amazing opportunity for the University to reduce its ecological footprint, for completely useable computers to be used instead of recycled right away, and for us as a community and University to address the digital divide that exists. We hope the program will continue to expand,” says Rogers ’04, also the FAS Resource Efficiency Program Coordinator.
“The Restore Program is an amazing collaboration at Harvard. I remember seeing these same students who were once intimidated by technology now using the Internet and Microsoft Programs on their own personal computer at home. I feel so lucky to be part of the planning, delivery and follow up processes”, says Meghan Gaffny, Math and Computer Instructor for the Bridge Program.
For more information, please contact:
Harvard ReStore: Travis Good, travis_good@harvard.edu, Allison Rogers, allison_rogers@harvard.edu
Bridge Program: http://employment.harvard.edu/benefits/learndevelop/bridge.shtml
Harvard Bridge: Kris Locke, kris_locke@harvard.edu, Meghan Gaffny, meghan_gaffny@harvard.edu, Carol Kolenik, carol_kolenik@harvard.edu
Harvard Recycling: http://www.uos.harvard.edu/information/dep_fac_sol.shtml