Project HOME's ALWD hosts: Digital Skills and Bicycle Thrills
Project HOME recently hosted the seventh cohort of Digital Skills and Bicycle Thrills (DSBT). The four-week course is "a citywide initiative that connects Philadelphia's adults with digital literacy training in the context of learning and enjoying bike share throughout neighborhoods." DSBT is a partnership between the Philadelphia Office of Adult Education (OAE), the Philadelphia Office of Transportation & Infrastructure Systems (OTIS), the Better Bike Share Partnership, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Indego, and KEYSPOT.
Project HOME's Adult Learning and Workforce Development program worked with DSBT, hosting the course at Project HOME's Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs (HLCCTL). The HLCCTL is an education hub in North Philadelphia, providing free and low-cost education and training services for adults and children. The center also has a free open computer for lab for adults. (The computer lab is open Monday through Friday and is a member of the KEYSPOT network.)
There was an orientation/sign-up event at the HLCCTL on June 28, 2018. Those who signed up received free helmets and a free one-month Indego (the blue bikes) subscription. Coursework included completing online modules and participation in group rides. Participants learned bike safety and some basic digital literacy. A facilitator was made available to participants and worked with them, once or twice weekly, in the HLCCTL's computer labs. Thirteen people completed the course, and a total of 50 bike rides were taken over the four weeks. Project HOME employee Sungbin Kim completed the most trips - fourteen.
We celebrated the participants' hard work on July 24, at a graduation ceremony in the community room of Project HOME's JBJ Soul Homes. The thirteen graduates and their friends and family were in attendance, as well as Philadelphia Mayor, Jim Kenny; Deputy Managing Director of OTIS, Mike Carol; Executive Director of OAE, Diane Inverso; DSBT partners; twelve graduates of previous cohorts; and members of the Project HOME community. It was joyous celebration. And, the graduates' hard work was rewarded with a free one-year Indego subscription. Graduates testified to the positive health benefits of participation in the program. One couple said that completing the course brought them closer together.
