Digital Literacy Family & Bilingual Support

Digital Literacy Family & Bilingual Support program was developed in the summer of 2020 in response to the need of parents from the Canal who wanted to learn how to navigate their computers to support their children. The program opened new opportunities for parents in the Canal and allowed Dominican students to connect their lived experiences with their education. Through the program, bilingual, Spanish-speaking Dominican students got the opportunity to use their linguistics and cultural wealth.Along with our community partner, Parent Services Project Executive Director, Balandra Fregoso, and Andrew Raphael, Family Engagement Coordinator, Service-Learning program staff, Emily Wu and Julia van der Ryn, and the San Rafael City Schools designed a unique way to support parents in navigating Google Classroom and other web-based skills, leveraging the cultural knowledge and linguistic skills of Dominican students. In September 2020, the SL program was able to bring on another part-time staff person, Jocelyn Gómez, to coordinate the student cohort and work with parents. The Marin Independent Journal wrote a story in its’ early development in Fall ’20 when 26 bilingual Spanish-speaking students began building and implementing the Digital Literacy Family Support Program (renamed Impacto Tecnológico).