The #techmums revolution starts here...
#techmums is all about giving mums the opportunity to take part in the digital revolution. In 10 hours of intensive, hands on workshops we take mums, who can be disempowered around technology, from being scared of the keyboard to being tech savvy.
Our pilot has shown that we can make a dramatic difference to women's self esteem and confidence with tech, affecting not just them but their whole family. This campaign seeks funding to give 140 mums in the poorest area of the UK the chance to become a #techmum.
What's the problem?
If you are comfortable with computers and tech savvy there are many opportunities for you to take that further. You could set up your own business, take a course online, you can interact with the world in whatever way you choose.
But, what if you are afraid of the keyboard? What if you believe that Facebook ruins your kids' lives and you don't know how to stop it? What if you need to send emails at work, but you don't know how to, and are embarrassed to tell anyone?
Why do we care?
25 years ago our Founder Dr Sue Black was a single parent with 3 children living in poverty. Through tech education Sue was able to bring her family out of poverty, earn a decent living and create a better future for them all. She knows first hand what a difference education and confidence with technology can make and now wants to give that opportunity to other mums.
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We are Savvify: Emma, Sue and Clare. Three mums with nine kids between us who think mums sometimes get left behind when it comes to tech. We have created #techmums to change that.
What is #techmums?
#techmums is a short, hands on course that introduces mums to app design, social media, Python coding on Raspberry Pi's and much more. We believe that confidence with technology can change lives for the better. Mums are the cornerstone of the family, so if we can change mums' confidence we can change the whole families' outlook and prospects. We want to give everyone the opportunity they deserve to take part in the digital revolution.
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We recently ran a very successful #techmums pilot. In just 10 hours we took mums from being afraid of the keyboard and scared of what their kids are doing on Facebook to being confident with tech. Through intensive hands on workshops we worked with mums to give them confidence and help them to see and understand the opportunities that are out there for themselves and their families.
Does #techmums work?
Dr Lela Koulouri, a researcher from Brunel University measured our #techmums attitude towards technology throughout our pilot, the results are below. Just look at that massive increase in confidence with technology over the 5 weeks. Lela also found that mums' overall confidence in themselves increased too. This was backed up by Nick Soar, the Headmaster at Bishop Challoner where we held our pilot. He said that not only did the mums' confidence improve, but he also saw a difference in their children too. Great stuff!!
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What's next?
Here's where you come in. What we really want to do next is to run #techmums across several schools in Tower Hamlets. We chose Tower Hamlets because it is the most deprived borough in the UK, it has the highest percentage of free school meals in Great Britain.
We really hope that you will contribute to our campaign so that we can help 100s of mums in Tower Hamlets get tech savvy. Then once this stage of the campaign gets going we will be working hard to get #techmums rolled out across the UK and then the world!
What #techmums needs & what you get
To take #techmums to seven other secondary schools in Tower Hamlets we need your help. It costs approximately £140 to turn an everyday mum into a #techmum and £2800 enables a full class of 20 mums to become #techmums. That may sound like a lot, but just think about how many people are actually being impacted. For each mum we turn into a #techmum we also positively affect that mum's family, friends and community.
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So what do you get if you help fund #techmums. We we have lots of lovely stuff on offer from tshirts and wristbands to the opportunity to sponsor a real live #techmum. We also offer personal thank you Vines from the #techmums, thank you tweets and the chance to chat about #techmums and women in tech with our resident expert Dr Sue Black. For corporates we have put together several levels of sponsorship which include having your logo on our website or on our teaching materials. There's also the chance to have a #techmums style immersion day for you and your colleagues. The #techmums teaching team will come to your workplace and take you through a one day techsavviness workshop, leaving you all excited about the opportunities on offer.
If we don't manage to reach our goal we will use whatever funds are raised towards taking #techmums as far across Tower Hamlets as we can.
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#techmums impact
#techmums has already made an impact, as you can tell in our video above. Ahmina is no longer scared of the keyboard, Chyna has got over her fears of tech and is really enjoying it, several of our #techmums were really worried about staying safe online, they are no longer afraid. Knowledge is power.
#techmums is important to individuals, but it is also important to society, to business and the economy. The more people that are tech savvy, that understand the opportunities that are available both to them and to their families, the more our society as a whole will start to embrace and take part in the digital revolution. The UK was instrumental in the industrial revolution due to our great innovation, invention and creativity. Let's make sure that we are instrumental in the digital revolution too. #techmums is just the start....
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Helping #techmums
If you don't have money to contribute, there are other ways that you can help us. Please tell everyone that you think could be interested in #techmums about us. We plan to take #techmums across the UK and then the world, but we can only do that with your help.
We want mums, schools and volunteers who are interested in taking part to sign up on the #techmums site so that we can see where there is interest and start putting together a plan and the infrastructure to make the UK and then the world #techmum friendly.
Today Tower Hamlets, tomorrow the world..... Go #team #techmums!!
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