Classnotes Podcast (October 4, 2024). Anavi Prakash speaks with students Carlos and Ashly and youth leader Gabriela Benitez about their experience in the IDRA Digital Ambassadors program. This program supports communities in the Texas Rio Grande Valley through youth-led technology training. Participating students first engaged in comprehensive participatory action research to identify the most pressing technology needs within their community. Then, after a rigorous learning journey to master the identified technology skills, they planned and led a community training event to provide vital technological training to community members.

The program is co-led by ARISE Adelante, an organization that aims to empower immigrants in low-income communities in south Texas. ARISE and IDRA piloted the IDRA Digital Ambassador program in early 2024. The program will continue with additional students during the fall of 2024 with the generous support from Methodist Healthcare Ministries and from Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation.

In this episode, participants discuss the importance of student-driven programs in the community and how the IDRA Digital Ambassadors benefitted communities and the students themselves as leaders. As the students looked to help others, they also gained skills in public speaking and teaching adults with a diverse set of backgrounds and skill levels.

Carlos and Ashly are high school students in South Texas. Gabriela Benitez is a youth leader and community organizer with ARISE Adelante. Anavi Prakash is a student at Northwestern University who served as an IDRA communications intern in the summer of 2024.

Show length: 8:35 min

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Resources

Students Bridge the Digital Divide in Colonias – Highlights from IDRA’s Pilot Student Digital Ambassadorships, by Michelle Vega & Aurelio Manuel Montemayor, M.Ed., IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2024

IDRA Digital Ambassadors Program

Story by Connect Humanity: South Texas colonia students step up as tech connectors – A showcase of the Rio Grande Valley Digital Ambassadors Program

Story by the Rio Grande Guardian: Digital Ambassadors teach computer literacy skills to colonia residents

ARISE Adelante

IDRA Student Research & Activism

IDRA Student Programs

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