Student Success
Crossing the digital divide
May 9, 2023
Did you know 92% of jobs today require at least one digital skill?
CORE’s student stories are case studies on the importance of helping members of our community succeed in today’s increasingly technical world. By teaching computer skills—and providing equipment and tech support—students are successfully crossing the digital divide into jobs that offer competitive pay and opportunities for advancement.
- One digital skill can increase wages 23%
- Two digital skills can increase wages 43%*
But crossing the digital divide is no easy task for those with few resources! You might ask, “Does teaching basic computer skills really still make a difference today?” To answer that question, we’d like to introduce you to a few of Computer CORE’s recent stars:
➤ Hamdalatu gets a promotion: Through basic skill training at CORE, she gained the confidence and Excel skills to ask for and receive a promotion from a 17-yr shift worker position to an HR department lead at Home Depot. [Read more about Hamdalatu’s journey]
➤ Jorge gets hired: Recently laid off when he began CORE classes, Jorge learned computer skills and renewed dormant accounting skills—his increased confidence has just landed him a new job.
➤ Ana develops successful interview skills: Surrounded by her four children, Ana practiced virtual interviewing in her CORE class to get a part-time position at Northern Virginia Community College.
➤ Dee gains tech skills to step up her career: Taking Python coding classes at CORE helped Dee pass the technical interview to become an AWS instructor (a step up from driving with Uber).
➤ Nagia gains a career and goes for a degree: At CORE, Nagia learned the skills to join our staff and now leads women like herself along the pathway to computer literacy. Widowed by COVID at age 55, she is readjusting to her own new path, and has entered George Mason University as a junior pursuing a BA in nonprofit management and a Masters in conflict resolution.
Nagia is excited to be able to finally complete her college degree as she always dreamed, after a lifetime of helping others reach theirs. And Ana, after taking classes at CORE, told us “I have a different perspective on my life now.” This perspective that Ana describes and the new found confidence that comes with growth are just as important to our student’s successes as the tech skills they learn.
Computer CORE’s adult students have spent their lives putting others first.
They have been the caregivers to children and parents. Their low wages at one or more jobs supports whole families. They never thought about their own path. They thought tech was not for them.
As women, immigrants, or adults in their 40s and 50s they thought jobs with technological skills were out of their reach. But where does that leave them in a world where 92% of jobs require digital skills?*
Then they found Computer CORE.
Once at CORE, students develop basic technical skills but also the confidence to proclaim, “It’s My Turn!”
Computer CORE provides a place where they can feel smart and strong and finally take their place in the digital world. CORE students are jobseekers, but are also looking for their path to opportunity.
CORE is that bridge to help people cross the digital divide and gain access to opportunity by giving them the technical skills, computers, and especially the confidence they need to find, and follow their path.
Donate today!
You can help these hardworking and often overlooked members of our community build digital skills to achieve their goals. Businesses locally and nationally report the need for a more skilled technical workforce — with your help CORE grads can fill that skills gap while realizing their own dreams.
*Stats from National Skills Coalition: https://nationalskillscoalition.org