Bridging the digital divide in 140 characters or less

The rapid growth of the Mid-Market district confronts longtime residents of the Tenderloin with a series of challenges and opportunities. While low-income San Franciscans grapple with sky-rocketing rent, an increasingly competitive job market, and a growing socio-economic divide, a unique consortium of organizations have joined forces to ensure low-income women benefit from the rising tide of prosperity. A group of Twitter engineers, who organized a workshop titled Women and Technology, spent an afternoon last month at St. Anthony’s teaching online marketing skills to low-income women. Over 30 women from the Tenderloin and Mission districts attended the workshop.

Tech lab student Elizabeth Missamore spent the afternoon working one-on-one with an engineer from Twitter. For Elizabeth, it opened up a new set of windows to the world. While trying to absorb the breakneck speed of a Twitter news feed, she began discovering the perks of a world neatly tied up in 140 characters or less, including travel photos from places she hopes to visit someday and hot-off-the-press updates from Betty White, one of her favorite celebrities.

The launch of Women and Technology began the process of building a bridge between newcomers to Mid-Market and longtime residents of the Tenderloin. For decades, residents and nonprofits have forged an uphill battle to bring resources to this often overlooked parcel in the heart of the city. If, as many people presume, we can change the world one tweet at a time, we got a little closer last month by bringing together (almost 140) characters into the next chapter of Mid-Market development.

The Women and Technology workshop was a collaboration between Twitter, St. Anthony’s, the Women’s Building, and San Francisco Network Ministries.