Looking Back on Twitter NeighborNest’s First Year

We opened the Twitter NeighborNest with the vision of becoming a diverse community creating new possibilities for our neighbors, through a love for learning and technology. Twitter is committed to empowering our neighbors to reach their full potential and partnered with various community organizations such as Compass Family Services and Community Technology Network to increase access to technology and training.

In 2014, we conducted a six-month listening tour to explore the community’s needs around digital access and what role the NeighborNest can play to fill this gap. We spoke to neighborhood residents, social service orgs and their clients, nonprofit leaders, Twitter employees and city officials to really understand the needs of the community. Based of these findings, we uncovered an important fact - one of the greatest barriers for low-income parents to access technology is actually childcare. We officially launched in 2015 surrounded by a cross-section of the community and eager to partner with residents in creating a brighter future for them.

As we reflect on the past year, we are delighted to see our mission of learning, connecting and growing together come to life: nonprofit staff members and clients alike receiving various online training, Twitter employees co-facilitating digital citizenship workshops or providing one-on-one support to clients during computer lab hours; families and volunteers enjoying monthly movie nights over pizza and popcorn. Various nonprofits are learning from our volunteers how to use the Twitter platform better to advance their work, while also increasing their awareness and engagement with the various issues the organizations tackle everyday.

Since 2015, we’ve had the pleasure of welcoming neighbors who accessed programing ranging from housing and job search workshops, coding for kids and family-oriented activities such as story hour and parenting groups. This wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration across teams at Twitter, the commitment and energy of Twitter volunteers, and especially our partnerships with community organizations. We know the challenges our neighborhood faces are complex and we’ve found that effectively serving its residents entails teaming up with those who are on the ground daily working with them.We see the NeighborNest as a constant work in progress and we are continuing to listen and take feedback from our partners, clients, and volunteers to refine and strengthen our programs to meet the community’s needs.

Some of our highlights from the past year include:

Introducing friends from @CatholicCSF and @BGCSF to coding

Collaborating with @UP4Life to work youth and parents on creating positive online experiences.

Adding life to our space with the help of @muralmusicarts.

Welcoming guests, from @HospitalityHous artists behind the artwork at NeighborNest and foreign ministers.

As we turn a year old, we are grateful to have had the opportunity to celebrate in the company of all those who continue to make our work possible. We were joined by @mayoredlee, Twitter COO @adambain and friends from across the neighborhood.

It was also memorable hearing from the community and our volunteers on what the NeighborNest means to them and how we’re doing.

Looking ahead, we’re eager to expand the digital literacy program we piloted in the spring starting with basic computer & Internet workshop series. With the support of @CTNBayArea instructor and Twitter volunteers, adult students learned the foundations of using computers and navigating the internet.

We will be conducting the same workshop in Spanish and work closely with graduates to continue their learning at their own pace. We’ll also continue to refine our existing programming and strengthen our partnerships to ensure that we are listening to the needs of the community and responding accordingly.

This is just the beginning, there is a lot to do and we remain committed to being part of our neighbors’ journey to creating new opportunities and a brighter future for themselves.