462S 

Research Paper 
 

Holly Stephens, Roland Bernard, Said Barez 

Department of Computer Science 

California State University Monterey Bay 

 
 

Introduction 

Technology is becoming an ever pervasive and necessary tool in daily life. Upon 

conferring about the needs of each of our service-learning partners, we found a recurring 

theme. From a deficiency in online program attendance to an inability to access the 

learning materials, we recognized that a lack of technology was at the heart of these 

issues for our partners. Moreover, we found this to be more ubiquitous in low-income 

communities, where non-profit organizations are often focusing their efforts. In light of 

this common theme, our paper will attempt to examine the impact of the lack of 

technology on communities and the sites that serve them. 

Literature Review 

Services offered by non-profit organizations generally are under the notion that 

the minimum required technological specifications are met by the end user. In certain 

cases, a non-profit service may be offered and a willing individual is simply unable to 

access the desired target.  

A considerable factor limiting individual access to online services is a lack of 

access to broadband internet. According to Pew Research Center, more than 40 percent 

of households with incomes below $30,000 do not have home internet access or access 

to a traditional computer. (Anderson, 2019). This was further confirmed in a 2019 Federal 

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Communication Commission report, which showed that over 21 million Americans, many 

from rural areas, lacked access to reliable broadband internet (Patrick, 2020). This 

underscores how internet access remains an exclusive privilege to those who can afford 

it and those who live in urban locations.  

To illustrate one of the possible outcomes of the aforementioned statistics: a 

recent survey by Common Sense Media found that 4 in 10 teens said they haven’t 

participated in online learning since schools closed — 47 percent of public school 

students polled said they have not attended a single online class, compared with 11 

percent of private school students (Kennedy, 2020). Furthermore, school districts located 

in low-income communities had not met the state and federal educational objectives 

proportionate compared to the districts located in more economic neighborhoods prior 

to COVID. Now, the difficulties are far greater to reach those objectives. (Meyer, 2020). 

It is clear that technological divides have consequences, and with the 

unprecedented transition to remote environments this year, this trend will likely continue. 

Research Question 

How do gaps in technology impact communities and their ability to access services from 

non-profit organizations? 

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Research Design 

Interviews to be conducted via e-mail format and are to be shared by the end of Week 5. 

1. How has this year’s transition to conducting business remotely affected your 

organization and the community it serves?  

2. What are the most salient technological challenges that your organization is facing 

to provide remote services to your community? 

3. How does remote participation compare to in-person participation for your 

programs? 

4. How have gaps in technology affected your organization’s relationship with the 

community it serves? 

5. If all issues with technology were to disappear, what outcomes would you expect 

for your organization and the community it serves? 

6. What lasting impact do you think a technological divide in an increasingly virtual 

environment might have on the community your organization resides in? 

Service Organizations 

  NAMI Santa Cruz County is a non-profit organisation associated with NAMI 

National, which is a national umbrella organization. NAMI stands for National Alliance on 

Mental Illness and its mission is to “provide advocacy, education, support and public 

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awareness so that all individuals and families affected by mental illness can build better 

lives”. As its name suggests, NAMISCC is located in Santa Cruz, CA. The service learning 

project for this organization involves hosting training and writing documentation for its 

employees, so that they can better report on their donation data and track their metrics. 

This site’s mission relates to our research question because as much of their programs 

have had to be held remotely this year, a gap in technology has posed complications to 

both its employees and its program participants. 

Score is a non profit organization that works with small businesses across the 

nation to provide different types of training, mentoring, courses on demand, live webinar, 

business plan services, and many different types of workshops in both English and 

spanish to the community. Score works with volunteers to provide its services, and it has 

more than 250 different local chapters including one in Modesto, CA and nationwide. 

The organization's mission is to foster small business communities through education 

and mentorship. The current situation has forced the organization to provide its services 

remotely via emails, phone calls and video conferencing. The gap in technology has 

made it very difficult for the organization to continue helping the community in the best 

way possible.  

Tarbiya Institute is a non-profit organization located in Roseville, CA which helps 

to educate Muslim-Americans through the lens of Islamic Knowledge to address 

challenges and help to foster an American-Muslim identity. Educational opportunities are 

provided to students of all ages which are robust and comprehensive in nature. Religious 

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services such as lectures, daily prayers, and Friday Congregational prayers are offered. 

Tarbiya provides social services to families within the community to provide them with 

knowledge, leadership and direction in order to aid them. The site's state relates to the 

research question quite well as a transition to remote learning and remote services has 

been initiated. Usage of calls, video conferences, and other remote tools have hindered 

operations and revealed a technological divide within the community which affects many. 

Conducting Research 

Our interview questions were sent to Anastasia Baboulevitch and Noeli Perez at 

NAMI. Both of these women have been the primary contacts for this service learning 

partner, and each has been vital to driving the direction of the service learning project. 

Additionally, both Anastasia and Noeli are heavily involved in organizing and hosting 

NAMISCC’s online programs, therefore having first hand insight to a number of the 

interview questions our team has drafted. 

Interview questions were also sent to Rahima Ziyarmal and Maryam Azizi from 

Tarbiya Institute. These contacts are a few of the individuals worked with throughout the 

course of the service learning project. Due to the fact that they are in a client facing role 

and work with a large number of people in the community of different age groups they 

were chosen for the interview. Maryam and Rahima's primary involvement in coordinating 

Tarbiya Institutes services and online programs has given them great exposure to be 

able to provide relevant feedback regarding our research. 

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Peter Fong and Kristina Gonzalez at Score also received our interview questions. 

Peter has been the director of multiple Score chapters for more than 15 years. He is the 

primary key of contact for the organization in the Central Valley. He provides training 

and workshops to new volunteers, he is the head of the marketing team that works hand 

and hand with the community, and he oversees the whole operation of Score. Krisitna is 

the Administrative/Marketing Assistant for the central valley Score. She is responsible for 

working with all volunteers and clients of the organization. She follows up with every 

party whenever it is necessary, and she is also the one who currently prepares many 

different types of reports for Peter prior to meetings. Overall, those two individuals are 

the most qualified people who can provide us with the most relevant information about 

the organization.  

Findings 

As one might speculate, our first interview question, regarding the transition to 

conducting business remotely, was unanimously relevant. Every single one of our service 

learning partners had a story to share. The tone of this story, however, had some 

variation. For some, this was a success story: Kristina Gonzales at Score reported shifting 

to online webinars as a boon to both rural participation and accessing archived 

information. Anastasia Baboulevitch from NAMISCC reported some successes similar to 

those previously mentioned, such as further reaching participation and connectivity. 

However, Anastasia also highlighted a darker side “...many of our participants are no 

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longer able to join our programs because of poor internet connection, security concerns, 

lack of privacy in the home, lack of access to the needed technology, and/or frustration 

with learning new technology” (Appendix). Maryam Azizi from Tarbiya Institute reported 

similar complications with a minority of users. A crucial thing to note, is how each of 

these organizations differ. Score, the one non profit organization that did not report 

difficulty serving users online, focuses on assisting small businesses. Whereas both NAMI 

and Tarbiya, serve individuals, who may be more susceptible to be left behind 

technologically. Ultimately, the majority of our interviewees indicated that a subset of 

users are being left behind in the online transition necessitated by the 2020 pandemic. 

Moreover, all of the interviewees that acknowledged this problem indicated this is a 

problem they are still working to solve. 

Our second question was designed to learn about the most common 

technological issues that our service-learning partners are facing during the pandemic. 

Training users on how to use technology, the lack of reliable internet connection, as well 

as a lack of enough electronic devices for multiple users to use concurrently in 

households are the top concerns that our service-learning partners are facing. In some 

cases, some of the service-learning partners have been hit by more than one of the 

issues mentioned above at the time. For example, according to Anastasia Baboulevitch 

from NAMISCC, due to a lack of tech support within their organization, their staff 

members had to learn how to use communication tools on the fly. She also mentioned 

how some of the volunteers are trying to learn how to use Zoom for the first time 

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(appendix). Maryam Azizi from the Tarbiya Institute went further to add that the lack of 

enough electronic devices in households affect the students in order for them to perform 

their online assignments in a timely manner (appendix). Those items are the keys to a 

successful online learning experience during the pandemic. Given that the majority of 

users from our learning partners are struggling to access them, they need to be looked at 

deeper in order to come up with some improvement plans. 

The responses to our third interview question, asking how remote program 

participation has compared to in-person participation, exactly mirrored the pattern 

discovered in the responses to our first interview question. Interviewees from Score, the 

non-profit focusing on small businesses, reported increases in the participation of their 

online programs in contrast with their in person programs. On the other hand, while 

Anastasia from NAMISCC reported an increase of 40 percent for their peer-to-peer 

support programs, this success was shadowed by a decline of more than 60 percent in 

their family support programs (Appendix). Each of these programs serve broadly different 

demographics. Maryam from Tarbiya Institute also reported tribulations with running 

online programs as opposed to in person programs, indicating that it was much harder to 

maintain student’s attention and ensure they are engaged and participating. The 

responses to this question reinforce the correlation between different demographics 

struggling more with online participation than others, thus indicating that the efficacy of 

online programs is not unanimously equitable. 

Knowing that there are gaps in technology that affect our service learning partners 

and the community they serve, question number four was designed for our interviewees 

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to share with us in which capacity that the relationship between the SLP and its 

community is affected. In the case of Score, a larger gap between the community was 

observed and correlated with the fact that the population they serve is in an older age 

group. However, they have experienced a more positive outcome that narrows the gap 

because the younger generation has been involved in using the technology that Score 

has in place. Furthermore, the relationship between NAMISCC and its community has 

changed positively as well according to Anastasia (appendix). Noeli Perez goes further to 

say that NAMISCC has improved their outreach effort to the community as well as 

helping out with some technology needs like providing chrome books (appendix). On the 

other hand, Tarbiya Institute was affected by the different level of knowledge that their 

users have in using technology, according to Maryam Azizi (appendix). Overall, most of 

our service learning partners have seen positive changes in their relationship with the 

community they serve. Those changes include an increase in the number of participants, 

creating a new effort to serve more participants from the underserved community. 

Whereas things can be a little bit better for a different organization like Tarbiya Institute, 

which can be a bigger challenge based on the community they serve.  

Taking a look at our responses for our fifth interview question, which asks 

interviewees to describe how they think their served communities might be impacted if 

all issues with technology were to disappear, we received responses of a similar tone, 

being that it would be much more easier both on the community they serve as well as 

staff if technology issues would disappear. Interviewee Noeli Perez from NAMISCC 

stated the outcome they would see if technology issues disappeared would help their 

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participants in their programs that were reaching a technology dilemmas since many 

weren’t so used to using phones or technology since they are worn out and may not 

want to learn new ways. Maryam Azizi from Tarbiya institute additionally stated that it 

would help many parents facing new found difficulties who aren't used to technology for 

both themselves and their children, as well as it would provide efficient communication 

between staff. Kristina Gonzalez from Score reported the same outcomes, being that 

they would be able to provide more resources and reach out to much more clients. 

Overall, interviewees reported how if technology issues were to disappear, they would 

be able to serve people much more efficiently for both the growth of the organization, 

staff, and their community.   

Our sixth interview question was regarding an apparent technological divide and 

its lasting impact on the community. The answers to this question varied a bit between 

our organization NAMISCC, which works with businesses and those organizations which 

face individuals like Score and Tarbiya institute. Peter from Score stated that this virtual 

environment is the new norm and Kristina from Score had a similar answer (Appendix). 

According to the interviewee’s who work with businesses a new norm is in place for 

conducting activities in an online format. The answers from our non-profits which work 

with individuals shed light on challenges that individuals may face with technology. Noeli 

from NAMISCC stated that “We need more free tech support sites to help those 

struggling to access this new virtual environment” which ties in with what Anastasia from 

NAMISCC stated about less resources available to those who are already underserved 

(Appendix). Maryam from Tarbiya Institute noted that there are frustrations, and people 

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from different backgrounds who may not have the same technological exposure which 

poses a challenge in shifting operations. Ultimately, the data suggests that a new norm is 

in the making in lieu of recent global events, coupling that with data regarding those who 

are underserved without full technological exposure reveals a seismic shift with certain 

societal groups needing assistance. 

Conclusions 

This year has wrought unprecedented change to the way we live our lives and conduct 

our affairs. This, in turn, has brought the issue of technological inequality to light in an 

unprecedented way as well. While many of the organizations and individuals that 

comprise a community have been able to adapt to these changes and even thrive in 

them, our research has led us to conclude that there is, indeed, a minority that has been 

left outside of this growing virtual fray(appendix). Much of this impact is still speculative, 

as the long term consequences of this current calamity will likely extend far beyond any 

trends we can currently observe today.  

We expected our interview question centered around virtual participation 

compared to in-person participation would be the most useful in aiding us to illustrate the 

current divide and the issues caused by it. (Research design) It did indeed do this- we 

confirmed that those without technology were simply left behind in programs that shifted 

from in-person to online, unable to access resources. (appendix) Moreover, we found that 

no organization we had interviewed facing this issue, has been able to resolve it as of 

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yet. Additionally, our interviewees reported that they were seeing increased participation 

from demographics on the other end of the divide; those with broadband and computer 

access, along with the benefit of workspace privacy, have been able to seize the 

opportunity of a virtualized environment, potentially minimizing the plight of those left 

behind. (appendix) 

All this being said, there were also other contributing factors to the 

aforementioned dilemmas, underscoring separate issues and questions from our initial 

topic that would be negligent to not address: it is worth noting that our service partner in 

the educational sector, Tarbiya Institute, struggled considerably with not only young 

community members being unable to acquire the technology to effectively participate 

online, but also in maintaining the attention of those who ​did​ have the necessary 

technology to participate, suggesting that perhaps there is a deeper question underlying 

our original research question: even if all individuals in a community had equal and 

sufficient access to technology, what issues would they still have to face with an 

ever-virtualizing society?  

Recommendations 

Considering that a lack of resources appears to be a prevalent theme for 

individuals within communities, this should be the first in line to be addressed. Focusing 

on collecting data at the individual level as opposed to relying on organizations for 

information, could provide a more comprehensive picture for the needs at hand. There is 

no better way than relying on first hand experience to understand the needs of those left 

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on the far side of the technological gap due to their immigration status, income, or 

education concerning their access to technology and how they believe the impact of 

their technological situation affects them. Non-Profit organizations could have their 

community members interviewed at a much larger scale for data collection and 

identification of trends occurring within target groups nationwide. Such data could 

potentially prove to be valuable in influencing policy change at the federal level to fund a 

narrowing of the technological divide present within many groups. Moreover, this would 

likely prompt change within the non-profits themselves. A broadened effort would likely 

bring about the largest impact. 

Also, as education is one of the most important aspects of the country, different 

grants could be available to education providers that include normal school patterns as 

well nonprofit training centers to be able to apply for. Furthermore, as the use of 

technologies is centered in education systems, nonprofit training centers and 

businesses, the same type of partnership that exists between businesses and the 

technology providers could be the same for non-profit organizations and schools to 

some extent. The resources could be more accessible to those nonprofit organizations 

located within low income communities in order to support the beneficiaries of the 

services provided. Greater partnership can help closing the gaps in technology.  

Engagement in services has taken a toll in a virtual setting and may be increased 

through access to further resources. Slower internet speed, or a slower computer may be 

the difference between individuals being more involved in online services or less 

involved. Sites could provide further resources for those without access to the hardware, 

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and internet speeds needed to access services. This accommodation to individuals 

needs would play a role in acquiring more user involvement. At the city level, more 

programs could be further funded or created to be available to individuals who do not 

have access to necessary technological resources. Perhaps, for those earning lower than 

a certain amount per year, a free internet service and a hardware borrowing program 

could be created within communities, which would allow individuals from affected groups 

to partake in more services, especially post COVID-19. The federal government may 

assist in providing funding to the cities most in need through coordination between state 

and federal elected officials. 

As mentioned in our literature review, a lack of broadband access is clearly 

correlated with a lower income. As this is vital to the use of most contemporary 

technology, perhaps treating this like a municipal utility, such as water or electricity, could 

help to level the playing field. It seems it might make the most sense to coordinate this at 

a local level, with local taxes supporting both the hardware and infrastructure to support 

this. It would also need to be worked out on a local level, what the minimum level of 

acceptable coverage is. These are often sold as financially tiered support plans. This 

business model would likely not couple well with this new approach, and perhaps the 

entire business model of ISPs would need to be reimagined to better suit the current 

needs of society. 

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References 

Anderson, M. (2019, Say 07). Digital divide persists even as lower-income Americans 

make gains in tech adoption. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from 

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/07/digital-divide-persists-even-a

s-lower-income-americans-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/ 

Kennedy, K. (2020, July 8). Lack of technology is just the latest barrier to education 

for low-income students. Retrieved September 22, 2020, from 

http://laschoolreport.com/kennedy-lack-of-technology-is-just-the-latest-barrier-

to-education-for-low-income-students-time-for-philanthropy-to-step-up-and-hel

p/ 

Meyer, J. (2020, May 29). Challenges affecting low-income communities' ability  

to deliver and sustain virtual education during the COVID-19 crisis. 

Retrieved October 20, 2020, from  

​https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/25066/ 

Patrick, A. (2020, June 10). How the COVID-19 Pandemic Shed Light on the Digital 

Divide. Retrieved September 22, 2020, from 

https://www.govtech.com/network/How-the-COVID-19-Pandemic-Shed-Light-o

n-the-Digital-Divide.html 

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Appendix 

Email template 

Hello, 

While assisting your organization over the past few weeks, I have been working 

alongside a team of students to write a research paper attempting to answer how 

gaps in technology impact communities and their ability to access services from 

non-profit organizations.  

Your input is incredibly vital to this cause, and because of this, my team and I have 

drafted a series of questions to send to each of our service learning partners. If 

you have time this week to answer the following questions, that would be 

fantastic. 

1. How has this year’s transition to conducting business remotely affected 

your organization and the community it serves?  

2. What are the most salient technological challenges that your organization is 

facing to provide remote services to your community? 

3. How does remote participation compare to in-person participation for your 

programs? 

4. How have gaps in technology affected your organization’s relationship with 

the community it serves? 

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5. If all issues with technology were to disappear, what outcomes would you 

expect for your organization and the community it serves? 

6. What lasting impact do you think a technological divide in an increasingly 

virtual environment might have on the community your organization 

resides in? 

Kindest Regards, 

__________ 

Interview Responses 

Peter Fong 

1. How has this year’s transition to conducting business remotely affected your 

organization and the community it serves? ​The immediate need for us to 

transform more technology and virtual meetings, webinars and mentoring 

sessions. 

2. What are the most salient technological challenges that your organization is facing 

to provide remote services to your community? ​Training and learning virtual best 

practices and proficiency.  

3. How does remote participation compare to in-person participation for your 

programs? ​More convenient for mentors, clients, and rural areas increase of 

services. 

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4. How have gaps in technology affected your organization’s relationship with the 

community it serves? ​The technology was available, it was challenging for the 

organization to integrate due to the age and need for younger members.  

5. If all issues with technology were to disappear, what outcomes would you expect 

for your organization and the community it serves? ​Any organization to remain 

relevant, if anything is in technology and growth of technology yet to come. 

6. What lasting impact do you think a technological divide in an increasingly virtual 

environment might have on the community your organization resides in? ​It’s the 

beginning of the new-norm of doing business. Many organizations will flourish 

because of technical advances.  

Kristina Gonzalez 

1. How has this year’s transition to conducting business remotely affected your 

organization and the community it serves? ​I believe the immediate need to 

transition to technology (virtual meetings, webinars and mentoring sessions) 

has made a huge impact, we are now able to serve more people in remote 

areas and can record webinars so the clients can watch at their own time.  

2. What are the most salient technological challenges that your organization is facing 

to provide remote services to your community? ​Training our volunteers how to 

use Zoom.   

3. How does remote participation compare to in-person participation for your 

programs? ​We are able to serve more clients and clients in rural areas, we have 

seen a huge increase in our webinar attendance vs. in-person workshops.  

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4. How have gaps in technology affected your organization’s relationship with the 

community it serves? ​The technology has been available but just like Peter 

mentioned, we were limited with using it because of the age group of our 

volunteers. 

5. If all issues with technology were to disappear, what outcomes would you expect 

for your organization and the community it serves?​ If we were able to use 

technology without any issues, we would be able to serve a lot more clients 

and host more webinars.  

6. What lasting impact do you think a technological divide in an increasingly virtual 

environment might have on the community your organization resides in? ​A lot 

more people will be advanced with using technology, new normal for doing 

business.  

Anastasia Baboulevitch 

1. How has this year’s transition to conducting business remotely affected your 

organization and the community it serves? ​We have had to move everything to 

Zoom. Events, staff & volunteer meetings, presentations, support groups, 

classes. It has been a difficult and incomplete transition - many of our 

participants are no longer able to join our programs because of poor internet 

connection, security concerns, lack of privacy in the home, lack of access to the 

needed technology, and/or frustration with learning new technology. There is 

an upside - we have people joining us all across the country now, and many 

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who were not able to make it to our programs because of travel time are now 

active participants. Those who show up are showing up more regularly. 

2. What are the most salient technological challenges that your organization is facing 

to provide remote services to your community? ​We currently have no dedicated 

tech support in our organization, so all of the staff is trying to learn how to use, 

and maximize using, new technology on the fly. There is a big learning curve 

for many of our volunteers who are using Zoom for the first time, and they all 

must be trained in order to run our programs. There is also a big discrepancy in 

everyone's internet speed and connection, and we're still figuring out how to 

solve that issue, at the very least, for our program leaders. If their internet is 

unstable, they might cut out of the classes or groups they are trying to 

facilitate, which leads to a decrease in quality and makes it exponentially more 

challenging to create a culture of connection between people, which is vital to 

our mission and programs. 

3. How does remote participation compare to in-person participation for your 

programs? ​For our Family Support Groups, participation has decreased 

significantly. We went from an average of 8 people per group to 3. Our peer 

support group participation, on the other hand, has increased significantly, 

from an average of 6 to an average of 10. Our events (bi-monthly speaker 

meetings open to the public) have stayed about the same. 

4. How have gaps in technology affected your organization’s relationship with the 

community it serves? ​On the one hand, it has kept many of our usual regulars & 

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underserved populations from participating. On the other hand, it has created a 

new community of regulars who attend our programs more actively than we've 

seen before. 

5. If all issues with technology were to disappear, what outcomes would you expect 

for your organization and the community it serves? ​More connections between 

people (increasing wellbeing & community health) & more people gaining 

valuable education and support. Less frustration & stress for staff & 

participants. 

6. What lasting impact do you think a technological divide in an increasingly virtual 

environment might have on the community your organization resides in? ​Less 

resources available for those already underserved - homeless population & all 

those with less access to technology and/or training 

Noeli Perez 

1. How has this year’s transition to conducting business remotely affected your 

organization and the community it serves? ​All of our programs moved to online. 

Not all participants are able to access them. Some of the family members that 

were attending our in-person Spanish Family Support Group are unable to 

attend due to a lack of privacy, lack of internet access, and devices/technical 

difficulties. 

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2. What are the most salient technological challenges that your organization is facing 

to provide remote services to your community?​ Digital divide and technical 

challenges/difficulties 

3. How does remote participation compare to in-person participation for your 

programs? ​Our online support groups have been going great. We have people 

attending regularly. For some groups, participation rates have gone up. 

However, classes have been hard to do. We now need to mail or distribute all 

class materials. It has taken more hours to coordinate a class. We also need to 

have a Zoom Producer for each class to assist with any technical issues that 

arise. The Zoom Producer supports the facilitators by taking the responsibility 

of technical issues of the facilitators.  

4. How have gaps in technology affected your organization’s relationship with the 

community it serves? ​I believe it hasn't affected our relationship with our 

community. We have tried our best to accommodate everyone in our programs. 

We are getting creative with our outreach efforts, have purchased 

Chromebooks for participants, and give participants the option to join our 

programs by dialing in. We are also sending text messages to those that are 

visual learners and prefer this form of communication. 

5. If all issues with technology were to disappear, what outcomes would you expect 

for your organization and the community it serves? ​More people would have 

access to our programs and would feel encouraged to partake in them. Some 

participants have expressed having a hard time figuring out how to use their 

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phones/devices. People in our programs are experiencing crises. They are 

stressed and tired, and some don't have the energy to download and learn how 

to use a new app.  

6. What lasting impact do you think a technological divide in an increasingly virtual 

environment might have on the community your organization resides in? ​Not all 

people have access to or learn about our programs, especially South County 

(Watsonville). We need more free tech support sites to help those struggling to 

access this new virtual environment. 

Rahima Ziyarmal 

1. How has this year’s transition to conducting business remotely affected your 
organization and the community it serves? ​We have shifted many learning and 
services to online.  
2. What are the most salient technological challenges that your organization is facing 
to provide remote services to your community? ​Not everybody is tech-savvy 
enough to participate in our online programs.  
3. How does remote participation compare to in-person participation for your 
programs? ​In person there was more participation, partially due to lack of 
resources, and partially due to students being able to get away with being less 
interactive online. 
4. How have gaps in technology affected your organization’s relationship with the 
community it serves? ​As stated above, less participation due to many people 
who don't know how to use a computer. At the same time technology helped us 
maintain a decent amount of individual participation.   
5. If all issues with technology were to disappear, what outcomes would you expect 
for your organization and the community it serves? ​We would have more 
community involvement.  

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6. What lasting impact do you think a technological divide in an increasingly virtual 

environment might have on the community your organization resides in?​ ​Until 
technology issues are solved, there will be lack of quality of life, and lack of 
opportunities if individuals do not get more access to resources and education. 
For those who are already familiar with technology this would not affect them.  

Maryam Azizi 

1. How has this year’s transition to conducting business remotely affected your 

organization and the community it serves?​ It definitely has been a transition, 

being that we had to work with so many different social class backgrounds. We 

were worried that we had to transition from an in person service to suddenly 

online services and that this would cause a strain with the parents and children 

we work with. Which in a few cases it did, where parents stated they only had 

one laptop in their household and couldn't afford to get it for their other 

children who were also enrolled into our programs. So all in all it did highly 

affect our organization, however we are continuously working on fixing details 

to help cater to our community. 

2. What are the most salient technological challenges that your organization is 

facing to provide remote services to your community? ​Yes as I mentioned before, 

definitely the lack of technology in certain households was hard to work with. 

People could not afford buying a laptop or ipad suddenly inforder for their 

children to continue online classes. Many parents are not so tech savvy and are 

more old school, so they were having difficulty turning in assignments on 

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behalf of their children or responding back to email in a timely order. We would 

have to reach out and call some parents to check on them to see how they 

were doing and they would apologize because they only had one laptop or thier 

printer was broken and couldn't scan the homework to online.  

3. How does remote participation compare to in-person participation for your 

programs? ​Remote participation definitely was more difficult compared to in 

person participation in our programs. For in person participation, teachers can 

easily get the attention and participation of their students, however online, that 

was more difficult. Students were fidgeting not being able to be behind a 

screen for long before some would just completely turn off their cameras and 

you wouldnt know if they were there or not. In person was more engaging and 

you can have that natural sense of communication and connection with your 

students. 

4. How have gaps in technology affected your organization’s relationship with the 

community it serves? ​Gaps in technology have affected us being that we are all 

at different levels of how tech savvy we are. How we are able to get around a 

computer or websites, however many parents and children are still learning so 

it was definitely much more difficult to cater to everyone's needs at once.  

5. If all issues with technology were to disappear, what outcomes would you expect 

for your organization and the community it serves?​ I definitely can say that it 

would become much more efficient and easier of course. Parents wouldn't feel 

as frustrated trying to not only help their children but help themselves learn so 

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many things they aren't used to. As for admin, we would be more efficient 

amongst each other and our community so that we are able to cater to 

everyone and be able to get our messages across with more ease. 

6. What lasting impact do you think a technological divide in an increasingly virtual 

environment might have on the community your organization resides in? ​As I 

stated in my other responses, the lasting effect of a technological divide in an 

increasingly virtual environment is that we have many people who are used to 

doing things the old fashioned way. Mailing things in, faxing, working in 

person, talking in person, all of these things that require face to face 

interactions at times. However now that it is increased to switching to online, 

many in our community can get frustrated because this is something that they 

aren't used to and now just are thrown into it. Within my community there are 

so many social backgrounds so you cannot expect everyone to just hop on this 

new technology train, even though this is becoming the only option.  

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