When 8-year-old Bernardo emigrated from Mexico to the US with his family in 1993, he quickly learned English and became the sole interpreter for his parents. As the youngest member of his family, he saw translating as his way to thank his parents for the sacrifices they made to give their children a better life. At almost 40, he’s still giving back wherever he sees a need in his community. And he married a partner, also from Mexico, with just as strong a sense of obligation, perhaps even more so!
When his wife, Miriam, signed him up for a computer literacy class offered through Sister Carmen’s Bridging Digital Divides program at their sons’ school, Bernardo didn’t want to go. He thought he already knew everything he needed to know about computers. During the first class, he realized how wrong he was.
For the first time, he saw the computer as a powerful tool rather than a toy for social media and entertainment. By the end of the eight-week session, he and Miriam both volunteered to teach the class. They were eager to share what they had learned. Bernardo says his mother taught him, “When you have the resources to help the community—information or knowledge to be shared—and you don’t share it, you’re being selfish.”
“I saw my parents struggle because they didn’t have a lot of help,” says Bernardo. “I don’t want my neighbors, my community, my family, to go through that.”
So much of our lives is online these days—from accessing basic information, to registering for schools, programs and services; to applying for and performing many jobs, to managing medical records, insurance and finances. Those who don’t have access to technology and the knowledge to use it are left behind. This is the digital divide. At Sister Carmen, we were aware of the divide before COVID, but when the world moved completely online during the pandemic, it became more apparent just how critical technology is to function and thrive in today’s digital society.
Bridging Digital Divides (BDD) started in 2018. Back then, our Digital Equity Coordinator, Lara Van Matre, was running the entire program on her own: coordinating with schools and community partners, instructing classes, managing supplies, etc. Bernardo and Miriam took the class in 2019, and they’ve been helping ever since. Like their cleaning business, it’s a family affair. The whole family helps. They have two teenage sons: Marcus, 18, and Andy, 17. Andy teaches classes, and Marcus babysits for the children of parents taking the class. The boys have special needs—Marcus has autism, and Andy has epilepsy—but that doesn’t stop them from contributing. It won’t stop them from achieving their goal of attending college either. “Special parents get special children,” Bernardo says with a smile.
“One of the gems of this line of work is getting to know so many talented, hardworking, big-hearted people who really want the best for their community,” shares Lara. “I love Bernardo and Miriam and their whole family because they involve their whole family.”
The classes start with the basics, like turning on the computer and connecting to the internet. “Some people may be more tech savvy than others, but we treat everyone like they’ve never seen a computer before,” says Bernardo. “We go over email, calendars, Google meetings, documents, drives, uploading and downloading files. Things that to us may seem so simple, but to them it’s a whole new world, especially for our older community whether they’re Hispanic, Latino, Anglo, or anything else. They’re all just human beings united in their struggle with technology. It’s my pleasure to be able to help out. It just takes patience and practice. I love when we get near the end of the class and people say, ‘Thank you! Now I don’t have to depend on my kids or family to help me with these things.’”
The first class they taught at a middle school in Boulder was multilingual and had 42 participants. “We had Spanish speakers, English speakers, people from other parts of the world: Africa, Bosnia, Germany, Russia. Being in a public school, you get a lot of different backgrounds. That day, we had many volunteers—the school’s community liaison, teachers, and students—because we had so many participants. We divided the class: English on one side, Spanish on the other. We taught in ‘Spanglish’ most of the time, repeating what we were saying in English and Spanish. It was really nice.”
Because of the popularity of the program, classes are now offered in separate English and Spanish sessions. Bernardo and Miriam are now paid part-time staff. Bernardo helps oversee the instructors and volunteers, many of whom are high school students he recruited. Miriam and Andy continue to teach classes. Marcus continues to babysit and help where he can.
So far, over 1,400 students have completed the BDD program. We partner with other Family Resource Centers in the area, the Emergency Family Assistance Association (EFAA) in Boulder and OUR Center in Longmont, that don’t offer digital classes to expand our reach in the community. Boulder County and Comcast have been integral partners to the program’s success as well.
“It’s very important for companies like Comcast to help [bridge the digital divide] to shape our future in the best possible way,” says Bernardo.
Participants pay a small fee for Bridging Digital Divides, usually $60, and those who complete all eight sessions get to keep the device they learn to use in class. Dinner and childcare are also provided to make the program more accessible.
Seeing graduates of their classes get jobs and promotions, driver’s licenses, business permits, housing, health care, benefits; register to vote—and helping them connect with loved ones around the globe—has been very gratifying for Bernardo and Miriam.
“Having digital skills in our community is important because they provide a window to the world,” says Bernardo. “We live in a mobile home community where not a lot of people know about their rights.”
By teaching this class, Bernardo and Miriam are empowering members of their community to improve their lives. They also do this through programs other than BDD. They are both Emergency Response Connectors for the city of Boulder. This started during the pandemic, when they became COVID test coordinators for their neighborhood. They continue to raise the concerns of underrepresented members of their community to local government in this role. Bernardo also serves as a Community Connector for Parks and Recreation in Boulder. He’s currently advising the city on a park being constructed in their area. Bernardo and Miriam earn a small stipend from Boulder for these roles. They also volunteer for 9to5 Colorado, a nonprofit that works to pass legislation to improve living and working conditions for Colorado families.
But the BDD program holds a special place in Bernardo’s heart. “Bridging the digital divide is very important to me because I see a younger version of myself—coming to this country and learning English as best I could within a year, having to translate everything for my parents, even major documents from our apartment complex or the doctor. I tried my best. Now I can teach people like my parents that they have a very powerful tool in their computer or smartphone, just by using translate, and managing documents, calendar, and email,” he shares.
“Knowing that I’m part of giving them new knowledge is very fulfilling. It’s my inner child thanking my older self for not forgetting where I came from, the struggles that our family had. To be able to share this opportunity with students at BDD is something really amazing to me.”