Partnerships
The Bridge the Digital Divide initiative is possible because of our partnership and collaboration with non-profit organisations, education institutions, corporations and individuals working together towards this cause. We are always looking for partners and collaborators to work with us on the project.
Our partners include:
Non-profit organisations that have a need for the laptops for their own use (staff, interns, volunteers or programmes) or who are able to redirect the laptops to individuals who have a need and can benefit from receiving donated laptops;
Corporations and SMEs that contribute in the form of working condition laptop donation, software donations, in-kind goods or services, monetary contributions to defray running costs, industry advocacy support, etc.
Education institutions (e.g. polytechnics, universities) can engage their student body to take on volunteer work or internships with us. We welcome the opportunity to participate in and support research work about digital divide and digital inclusion;
Individuals who wish to contribute and be an advocate for the cause
SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS
Aidha
Aidha is an award-winning Singapore charity that offers courses in financial literacy, computer literacy and entrepreneurship to migrant domestic workers and low-income Singaporean women to help them achieve economic independence. With over 300 students currently enrolled in their programmes, they need laptops for use in their Sunday ‘Essential Computer Skills’ classes.
Beautiful people
Beautiful People is a volunteer movement that provides a platform for building mentoring relationships that changes lives. They reach out to girls in residential homes, schools, and behind prison bars to connect them with a mentoring network to support them in making a better life for themselves. Beautiful People work with around 200 mentees a year. Each year, they have mothers among their mentees returning to school while looking after their families. The donated laptops enable the recipients to complete school assignments, help them look for jobs, secure remote working opportunities, or even build home businesses allowing them to stay at home with their children.
Daughters of tomorrow
Daughters of Tomorrow (DOT) run IT literacy courses to equip low income women who are seeking employment with IT skills in Microsoft Excel and Word to enhance their employability. Aside from laptops required for the IT literacy classes, some of their candidates take on home-based jobs in the AI industry or data entry jobs, and may approach DOT to loan a laptop indefinitely on good will for their employment needs in order to work from home. These are women who either have health conditions that do not allow them to work out of home or women with special needs family members that require their presence and care.
Transient Workers Count Too
Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) promotes fair treatment for migrant workers, envisioning a society that recognizes and values the important contribution they make to our households, economy, and country. It extends assistance to workers in need to ensure that they have fair resolution of their cases, dignity in work and living conditions, access to medical care, and protection of their rightful autonomy. Mobile phones are the lifeline for migrant workers, connecting them to families, and the outside world. Smartphones also help them to stay safe by using the government apps for contact tracing. Donated laptops will allow them to engage in e-learning and get familiar with basic computer skills that are essential in today’s digital society. Some laptops might also be taken home and used for the education of their children or younger siblings.
aware
Founded in 1985, AWARE (the Association of Women for Action and Research) is Singapore’s leading women’s rights and gender-equality advocacy group. It works to identify and eliminate gender-based barriers through research, advocacy, education, training and support services. AWARE embraces diversity, respects the individual and the choices she makes in life, and supports her when needed.
Beyond SOCIAL SERVICES
Beyond Social Services is a voluntary welfare organisation dedicated to helping children and youths from less privileged backgrounds break away from the poverty cycle. They provide care and resources that enable families and communities to keep their young people in school and out of trouble. Donated laptops will be given to young people, their care-givers and others in their community to facilitate schoolwork, job search and remote working opportunities.
Singapore Association for the Deaf
Singapore Association for the Deaf aims to be the leading organisation in advocating equal opportunity, in all aspects, for the Deaf and supporting the Deaf to reach their full potential. Their programmes assist the Deaf to achieve a better quality of life and to enable them to integrate and contribute to society. As more learning now takes place beyond the classroom, providing the needy deaf/hard-of-hearing community with functioning laptops help ensure their accessibility to online content and remain socially connected via remote communications.
APSN
APSN is a social service agency that provides special education, vocational training and employment support services for individuals with mild intellectual disability (IQ 50-70). It operates four Special Education (SPED) Schools (APSN Chaoyang School, APSN Katong School, APSN Tanglin School and APSN Delta Senior School) for students between the ages of 7 and 21, an APSN Student Care Centre for children from 7 to 18 years old and an APSN Centre for Adults for persons from 18 years and older. It adopts a holistic approach in its curriculum, comprising academic, vocational and social skills, which are important for open employment and lifelong learning.
Currently, APSN cares for more than 6,000 beneficiaries, comprising students, trainees and alumni. It seeks to enable persons with special needs to be active contributors to the society, and is committed to inspire and develop capabilities of its partners and community to build an inclusive society.
PARTICIPATING BUSINESSES
XPOINTO MEDIA
Xpointo Media started the Bridge the Digital Divide initiative as a social responsibility project. Our mission is simple: to take working condition laptops from corporate donors, refurbish them, then donate them to those in need. We believe this is a sustainable cause that can have positive impact by creating more digital inclusion in our society. Xpointo is a digital marketing company headquartered in Singapore that combines the art and science of marketing to help brands achieve customer success. We believe in an inclusive society and that all businesses can be a force for good.
PC Dreams Group
PC Dreams Group believes in a zero e-waste world. Backed by over a decade of repair and sales data, PC Dreams Group offers fair value for both consumers and recyclers of consumer electronics. Each of its subsidiaries, PC Dreams, Digital Hospital, Laptop Factory Outlet, and PC Dreams Outlet, serve a unique function in the sustainability ecosystem; to repair, redistribute and recycle electronics. PC Dreams is currently Singapore’s largest reseller of premium pre-owned consumer electronics such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops. PC Dreams is the laptop repairs and refurbishment partner for Bridge the Digital Divide, donating repair services and parts replacement at cost.