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The Foundation

The Boston Digital Bridge Foundation (BDBF) is a non-profit corporation providing technology training and computer equipment to underserved Boston communities. The Foundation encourages life-changing attitudes in parents and students in the Boston Public Schools using technology education programs as a vehicle for cultural change.

In his 1996 State of the City speech, Mayor Thomas M. Menino identified a gap between the Boston Public School's technology infrastructure and existing technological developments in the business world. The Boston Digital Bridge Foundation (BDBF) formed from this challenge. We believe that forging stronger technological ties between school and the home forms a key step towards further closing the educational gap.

The BDBF achieved its first goal by raising $225 million to network each of the Boston Public School's 135 school buildings and 26 public libraries, making Boston the nation's first fully networked urban school system. Within two years virtually all teachers in the BPS had received 50 hours of technology training, and the student-to-computer ratio was reduced to 1:4 from 1:70.

In 1999, the BDBF launched the Technology Goes Home program in six communities by partnering with 65 community organizations across the city, with the goal of training young people and their families to use technology. In 2002, this intergenerational program branched into the Boston Public Schools. The program continues to bring students and their families into the schools for technology training with BPS teachers.

Technology Goes Home is the only structured program within the BPS that deals specifically with encouraging and expanding parental involvement in the education of their children. This program creates a venue for parents to become involved in their children's education, thereby improving student performance while adults simultaneously gain life-changing skills. Once parents become involved in their children's schoolwork, they also engage with the workings of the school, and the entire school system benefits.

To date, Technology Goes Home has trained a total of 3,500 families.


Since its inception in 2000, the BDBF has created or supported:
  • The School Networking Project, which raised funds to fully network all Boston Public Schools buildings.
  • Technology Goes Home, which offers introductory computer training to inner-city students and their families in the Boston Public Schools.
  • Evening On The Bridge, a unique multi-cultural event which brought more than 1,000 people to Franklin Park to celebrate student and family successes.
  • TechBoston Academy, an acclaimed pilot high school with an integrated technology curriculum, prepares students for college and careers.
  • Hub On Wheels, a citywide bike ride and festival that yearly brings together more than 3,000 people to ride through Boston.
  • The Boston Wireless Initiative, closing the digital divide by providing low-cost wireless Internet access across the city.
  • Project Refresh, an program to recycle donated used computers (Pentium 4 and above) from the private sector for use in the BPS.
  • The Global Citizenship Project, which sets up student exchanges with Boston's Chinese sister-city, Hangchou, to broaden student horizons and promote global understanding among both young people and adults.








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  © 2008 Boston Digital Bridge Foundation.