More about OTX West

I've been talking for awhile now, even before I got here about the amazing place I'm working at now. It's called Oakland Technology Exchange West, OTX, or OTX West for short. I'm now part of a great force helping to eliminate the digital divide and reduce technological waste.

Since 1999 OTX-West has provided over:

• 10,000 computers to Oakland Public School families free of charge
• 10,000 computers to Oakland Public School classrooms and community access labs across Oakland
• Diverted over 700 tons of electronic waste from landfills for productive use or responsible recycling

Isn't that awesome!? There are two ways that it works. For Oakland students 6th -12th they can enroll in a 3 hour class to learn about the computer they will recieve and then on Distribution Day they recieve a refurbished and fantastic computer with Windows XP and a bevy of open source software (OpenOffice, Gimp, Audacity, Kompozer, etc.).

The other way is by volunteering, there are certain days a week or in a month where you can volunteer. For every hour you volunteer you get a service buck, once you've collected enough service bucks you can get all sorts of neat things. Here's an example, a family of four can volunteer for 5 hours and they will have 20 service bucks, enough to get a free basic computer. A person can volunteer 2-10 hours and get a printer. They have lots of neat things.

If you read this and your in the Oakland or surrounding areas and you have computer equipment, tv's, printers, etc. I highly encourage you to donate them to OTX, it's tax deductible and no cost to you. A lot of computer recycling places charge you to recyle your computer! And then it just goes to a landfield.

Oakland Technology Exchange West is located at:
1680 14th Street
Oakland, CA 94607
For more information please visit the website: http://otxwest.org