Expanding Tech Access: PCs for People launches, delivering digital access to underserved communities
The Speakers:
Casey Sorensen is the CEO of PCs for People, a national nonprofit organization based in St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN.
Sorensen began his career working in technology automation with Deloitte Consulting. However, his true passion was to help others join the digital world.
He left consulting and went on to incorporate and establish PCs for People. Under his management, the organization has grown to become a leader in digital inclusion connecting over 1 million people across the U.S.
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Darrell Powell Sr. is the enterprise partnerships manager for PCs for People’s Virginia operations.
He is a U.S. Naval veteran and seasoned entrepreneur with over three decades of business development experience.
Following his military service, he founded D.C. Powell and Associates, a multi-disciplinary staffing agency that supplied Medical and IT support to facilities across Virginia.
In this role as a business development professional at PCs for People, he is passionate about helping others and is dedicated to forging new partnerships to advance the mission of closing the digital divide for families living in underserved communities.
Join us for a webinar on October 1 at noon to learn about PCs for People.
PCs for People, the nation’s largest nonprofit computer refurbisher, is fulfilling its mission to close the digital divide to the Richmond-Hampton Roads megaregion.
Learn more about this nonprofit – which provides low-cost computers, internet service, and digital skills training to individuals and families with low incomes – and how to get involved during the free webinar.
PCs for People is now offering qualified individuals and families in the I-64 Corridor megaregion computers plus training and tech support.
The nonprofit recently opened a building on East Pembroke Avenue in the City of Hampton for its intake, data destruction, refurbishing, and distribution center as well as a retail store. Once the 32,000-square-foot building (it had been a former Save A Lot grocery store) is fully operational, it will serve a 120-mile-wide service area – from the Richmond area to Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
The organization collects end of life computers – at no cost to the donating businesses and organizations – and refurbishes them and installs the latest software. It then provides the renewed desktop systems to underserved residents and families for free and sells late-model laptops for up to $150. In addition, PCs for People provides free tech help support and free ongoing computer training.
PCs for People currently operates in 10 other major U.S. markets including Atlanta and Baltimore.
The need for PCs for People is well documented. Over 40% of individuals living in poverty lack access to a computer, according to Pew Research. The average family receiving a computer plus internet connection sees their income go up by 15% in the first year of ownership.
Since its founding in 1998, PCs for People has distributed nationwide more than 450,000 computers, connected 100,000 households to the internet, and recycled/reused 23 million pounds of equipment.
PCs for People so far has raised more than $800,000 as an initial base level start-up funding to go towards buying a building, buying a commercial truck, and hiring and training employees. Donations have come from each market, including $250,000 in funding from Meta (parent company of Facebook), as well as contributions from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation, Cameron Foundation, and the Birdsong Health Literacy Center of Excellence.
Chambers of Commerce across the megaregion and RVA757 Connects helped in introducing PCs for People to the local business communities and potential funders.
Even before opening in Richmond and Hampton Roads, PCs for People has received outdated computers from nearly two dozen companies including Drucker + Falk, Birdsong Peanuts, Kemper Consulting, Hourigan, W.M. Jordan, Zel Technologies, and the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
The PCs for People vision is to end the digital divide. The organization’s model has evolved to be a leader in digital equity supporting all underserved households who need computers, internet, training and support. Today, PCs for People is the largest and most successful national computer reburbisher in the country, partnering with thousands of companies and organizations to close the digital divide.