YWCA’s Youth Learning Centers provide after-school and summer session literacy support to students K-5 in Mecklenburg and Union Counties. Due to COVID-19 our Centers are temporarily closed, but over 200 YWCA students and families continue to be supported.
Coordinators are staying connected with families by way of i-Ready and remind.com. Coordinators and Assistant Coordinators are also checking in on families through calls and texts to assist them with technology questions. But some of the families YWCA works with don’t have access to the technology needed to stay connected.
Some students could not be issued a Chromebook from CMS due to various reasons: a student broke a Chromebook earlier in the year and still has to pay for another one; a student lost a Chromebook and the family needs to pay for the lost item; etc.
YWCA’s Community Support Coordinator, Wendy Hernandez, contacted our partner, Read Charlotte, to find out which agencies had free or low cost laptops. That’s how YWCA was able to connect our students and their families to E2D! E2D is on a mission to ensure that all students have affordable access to essential at-home technology and digital literacy training to support academic success and prepare students for college, careers, and beyond. E2D promised to assist Wendy with getting our families used/refurbished laptops.
To date 20 laptops have been put in the hands of Youth Program families, thanks to E2D and Wendy’s commitment to our mission.
One YWCA Youth Program parent reached out to YWCA to say, “Thank you so much! The computer works great. And the technological support from E2D were great. My family is thankful for the YWCA family.”
More students and their families in Monroe/Union County are scheduled to receive technology next week as well.
