Technology is revolutionizing the nation. But in Baltimore and elsewhere, many recent Latino immigrants are disconnected from the Internet and do not have computers at home.
That puts immigrant parents and their children at a disadvantage both economically and socially, says Lanaea Featherstone, a 2013 Community Fellow, whose program “Empowering Latinos One ‘Click’ at a Time,” has won awards for its successful efforts to get Latino immigrants plugged in.
Without digital access and know-how, it’s difficult for family members to learn about and apply for good jobs, or help their children with homework. And it also means that children in those households are at a disadvantage in school.
“The goal of this project is economic empowerment and skills building,” Featherstone says. “We want to remove any barriers to their success. I’m very passionate about this work and the Latino community as a whole, and I think that this will improve lives and make a difference in Baltimore.”
On Saturday mornings at Patterson Park Public Charter School, 20 to 25 men and women gather to learn computer basics: What is a mouse? What is a keyboard? Left-click, right-click. Flash drives. Google. OSI-Baltimore Community Fellow Lanaea Featherstone, who speaks fluent Spanish, launched and oversees the free program through her nonprofit, the William & Lanaea C. Featherstone Foundation. She works with an instructor and several volunteers over six-week stretches to teach participants enough to be able to craft a resume, use Microsoft Office, and easily search the Internet, among other things.
Featherstone’s friends call her “Latina de Corazon”—Latina in the heart. After years of traveling in Central and Latin America, Featherstone developed a love for the Latino community. “The participants I work with, they are amazing,” Featherstone says. “They want something better for themselves and their families, and they refuse to give up. This program is about trying to break mental setbacks and give them confidence to let them know they can do it.”
Participants say they are eager to take Featherstone’s computer literacy course because they believe computers are crucial to improving their circumstances. “I want to learn how to use the computer to have a better job and to help my kids,” says Maria Mendoza, (in far background, in red), who has four children—the youngest is 12—and no computer at home. Recognizing that many participants are in similar situations, Featherstone gives each participant a laptop computer at the end of the program.
A survey of Featherstone’s participants found that 70 percent reported annual household incomes of $20,000 or less for a family of five. With two children, ages 13 and 7, Araceli Ortega, 34—originally from Mexico, has worked for low wages for the last nine years in the cleaning/service industry. “I want to learn more about computers so that I can get a better job and also have a broader understanding of what my child is learning,” she says. “And also maybe to have my own cleaning company.”
Maria P. Rodriguez, executive director of the Maryland Hispanic Business Conference, often teaches Featherstone’s class. She plays music and cracks jokes while she explains common terms such as “space bar” and “San Google.” Teaching the computer class is as much about explaining culture as it is about imparting basic skills, Rodriguez says. For example, she had to teach the women in the class to use their husband’s or father’s surname on resumes, not their mother’s, as is the custom in many Spanish-speaking countries. “And I taught them about capitalization, because they all write their names in small letters,” she says.
About 80 percent of the class’ participants are women with children. In order for them to be able to spend three hours on Saturday mornings learning about computers, Featherstone knew she needed to provide child care. So she starts at 8:30 a.m. with free breakfast and pays child care workers to entertain—and educate—her students’ children on site.
Initially, activities for participants’ children were loosely organized, but Featherstone quickly realized she needed more structure. “Their parents are learning. They should be learning too,” she says. Featherstone partnered with 2012 Community Fellow Akil Rahim (pictured) to lead a science class for a group of older children who were able to make “polymer art,” working with pipettes and test tubes to create “sno-cones” out of artificial snow and food dye.
During the class, participants are paired with mentors and hear from guest speakers from the business community. Featherstone also brings in recruiters to meet with participants and coach them on finding better jobs. After taking Featherstone’s computer literacy course in 2014, Gwendolyn DeCoteau, originally from Panama, secured a position as a bilingual administrative assistant at Education Based Latino Outreach, a nonprofit in Baltimore.
Delia Robles moved to the United States from Mexico City in 1999 after her husband died in a car accident. She lives in Annapolis and was waiting tables when she learned about Featherstone’s course during an English class at the local community college. After taking the computer literacy course (traveling from Annapolis to Baltimore every Saturday), Featherstone’s program connected Robles with a mentor from New York Life Insurance Company. As a result, she applied for and got a job there, selling insurance to Spanish-speaking clients.
“I am so grateful to her,” Robles says of Featherstone. “I was so tired of working in restaurants. I wanted to do something else, but I thought, ‘Who’s going to hire me? My English isn’t 100 percent. I don’t have experience.’ I couldn’t do anything without that help. Everything I have now came from that program. She opened the big doors. If I didn’t have that opportunity, I’d just stay at that restaurant working that kind of job forever.”
