The Digital Divide:
There’s no doubt technology is continuously advancing and spreading around the world. Computers were once big and inconvenient to carry around, but now a majority of the population has smaller, portable devices. The whole internet is at our fingertips. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all parts around the world are developing at an equal pace in regards to technological advancement and accessibility.
Get to Know the Initiative
What started from a simple idea has now grown into a fully operating organization. Sarvika Saravanan is the 16 years old executive of the new organization TecBridge. Through selling products and raising awareness, this initiative addresses the issue concerning the idea of the “digital divide” in society. The “digital divide” refers to the gradually increasing gap between the groups of people who have access to digital technology and information as compared to those who don’t have the same access or any access at all.
“The money we raise through selling products such as tote bags and jewelry will go into [the] organizations that we work with [who] will [then] use the money therefore to buy technology for the people that [don’t have access to technology],” states Saravanan.
TecBridge is currently working with three organizations: Prime Trust, India Volunteer Care, and Akshaya Self Help Groups Confederation. However, Saravanan plans to broaden the initiative’s influence by tasking its outreach team with reaching out to other organizations which have similar goals in mind. In addition to an outreach team, the operation consists of a journalism, a marketing, a media, and a creative team.
The journalism team is given the responsibility of producing articles which inform the public more about technology in general. The media team works with podcasts, videos, and various other types of digital media. Lastly, the creative team is in charge of producing the products sold in order to raise money for the previously mentioned organizations. Presently, the two pieces of merchandise the creative team offers are jewelry and tote bags. The tote bags are made from recycled t-shirts donated for the cause.
Why?
While technology has long been an interest of Saravanan, it had recently come to her attention that not everyone was given the same opportunities as she has. There are people who don’t have access to technology, who aren’t given the same career pathway opportunities, who don’t even get the chance to dream of being in technology related fields, and so on. “I was interested in spreading the word that this is an actual problem,” said Saravanan.
The people in India, in particular, contributed a great deal of inspiration to the start of TecBridge. Saravanan is from Chennai, so she had traveled back to India on multiple occasions and witnessed firsthand the discrepancies in technology compared to what was available back in the United States.
“Seeing that I have so much of this [technology] at home, but these people don't get to see the same things that I do; these people don't get the same opportunities that I do,” states Saravanan. “It’s not fair.”
Moreover, the organizations TecBridge has teamed up with on this initiative are based in India as well. In fact, when Saravanan had reached out to the founder of Prime Trust, she learned that he is also from Chennai. “It really hit so close to home and that got me even more motivated to doing this initiative,” said Saravanan. “[The realization] that someone [so close to home] actually needed my help.”
Getting It Started
After establishing which organizations she would partner up with and fundraise for, she soon had to construct a solid foundation to build upon.
“At the beginning it was only an idea that I started with, and I didn't know how to get anywhere there just from the idea,” expresses Saravanan. In the process of arranging the teams, the social media account, and the people, Saravanan was deliberating which products to sell for this project.
“I did want a creative like aspect of this, but I don't have a creative bone in my body,” explained Saravanan. “It was kind of like fate.” Through Instagram, Saravanan was able to connect with Sasha Jog, a fellow high school Junior, and had mentioned she wanted to start a business selling tote bags. Leah Scherer, who is in charge of producing the jewelry being sold, has been a good friend of Saravanan for a long time and recently took up making jewelry.
What the Future Holds
“I know that selling products at first for a business is hard, and it does take some time,” expressed Saravanan. “That wasn’t the first goal that I [had] in mind. The first goal is just raising awareness and making sure people out there know there is a solution to this. And our business does do that.”
However, in the long run, Saravanan’s goal is to get more people involved and more volunteers a part of the growing teams within TecBridge Association. Additionally, she would like to expand the operation to incorporate more divisions and multiple projects that include going out into public events and advertising on her website.
“I think a lot of people are definitely aware of the problem, but they don't really have many resources to help out and volunteer,” stated Saravanan. With such an expansion, she plans to utilize social media which has become a significant influence on many people’s lives.
The prospect of incorporating this growing initiative into the school that Saravanan attends has certainly sparked her interest. She plans to work with the technology career pathways and opportunities the school provides to its students to spread the word, as well as partner with various school organizations in order to help fundraise money and donated shirts for the tote bags. But before that can be accomplished, she believes in establishing a strong foundation for the organization to succeed.
“I hope that we do get to bridge the gap [which is substantially] big right now,” Saravanan stated. “Many things are online that not many people can get access to. It [creates] barriers and borders and limits to what people can achieve and what they can see. I [want to have] an impact on closing those borders, spreading awareness, and raising money for those organizations that we are working with.”
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