PCs for People - St. Paul
Partner Agency: PCs for People
Location(s): 1481 Marshall Ave, St Paul, MN 55104 & 2492 Doswell Ave, St Paul, MN 55108
Site Supervisor: Phoebe Pederson, National Retail and Internet Manager
CTEP Program Description:
The AmeriCorps Community Technology Empowerment Project (CTEP) bridges the "digital divide" for new Immigrants and low-income communities in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Join AmeriCorps CTEP and help make the information age accessible to all. CTEP is a project of Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN).
Site History and Mission:
PCs for People is one of the driving forces in the Upper Midwest attempting to improve digital inclusion by eliminating the number of individuals without a computer or access to internet in the home. As a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, our mission is to create new opportunities by providing affordable personal computers, computer repairs, internet service, and education to people with limited technological experience due to social, physical, or economic circumstances.
Preferred Site Schedule for Member:
Generally the schedule would include 10 hours for direct service preparations and capacity building, 1 hour per week meeting with Supervisor, 2 hours volunteer mobilization, 3 hours job placement development, 4 hours CTEP project, training and development hours, 15 hours direct service. We are still working on the lab times but believe that direct service would happen in the afternoon and early evening. Scheduled service offerings are being considered Monday through Saturday. We hope to have this determined in the near future.
In addition, members attend professional development days with their fellow CTEP members to enhance service-readiness skills, personal attributes at the service site, and citizenship skills. These Corps days take place once per month, and these trainings are mandatory. Members also attend statewide AmeriCorps events, such as the Martin Luther King Day celebration, and/or serve on the statewide InterCorps Council.
Member's Specific Programming Responsibilities:
This new full time position’s responsibilities and projects will be divided generally into three parts. Each responsibility will help us to further develop the educational portion of our mission in the communities we serve. First, the CTEP member will be working to further improve the processes we use to train community-based workgroups (e.g. TSE and Midwest Special Services) as well as incoming volunteers and interns. The goal is to offer the best opportunities for the individuals involved and improve their knowledge of, and skills within, the technology that we work with. This will include working with our staff to streamline our current technology training materials and procedures to ensure that each individual coming in receives a similar training process and deeper understanding of the technology that they are working with on both a hardware and software level.
The CTEP member will be responsible for developing two types of digital literacy materials. The first type of materials will consist of basic “how-to’s” for troubleshooting and getting the most out of the software that is installed on their PCs for People computer. The second type of material will be created on demand based on the requests of PCs for People customers. If strong demand for these materials exists, we offer them via interactive webinar.
PCS for People is seeking a candidate with computer hardware and software experience, a strong analytical thinker, ability to lift 50+ pounds repetitively, has a passion for computers and technology, and is able to estimate and meet deadlines.
Site Environment:
PCs for People is a growing non-profit with a fun, casual work environment. We pride ourselves on having a staff of hardworking individuals with a passion for our mission interested in continuously learning and improving the organization; a mentality that we believe aligns with CTEP's. The passion that our staff has helps to ensure that our work place remains an environment that staff enjoy being at.
A portion of the position deals with refurbishing computers, both desktops and laptops, which comes with a physical demand of having to lift and move these computers around on a regular basis. Our office is a warehouse space, with portions of our building that are not wheelchair accessible.
How to Apply:
Apply online at my.americorps.gov and click on “Apply to Serve” (be sure to search for the “Community Technology Empowerment Project” or “CTEP” when asked to indicate what program you would like to send your application to). Contact: Tess Hackbarth, hackbarth@spnn.org, 651.298.8910
Literacy Minnesota fosters an organizational culture that is welcoming and inclusive to all. We strongly encourage applications from people of color, indigenous peoples, immigrants and refugees, LGBTQ+ individuals and people with disabilities.
Reasonable accommodations will be made upon request. Alternative formats of this document are also available.