Computers 4 People’s is to collect, refurbish, and donate computers to individuals and organizations in under-resourced communities to promote equity and access to opportunity. I came up with a plan, recruited a diverse and talented board of directors, incorporated, got 501c3 status, filed all State and Federal applications, built a website, and developed a system, in the Summer of 2019. Then we started accepting donations and connecting with local non-profits to find people who truly needed computers. When Covid hit the need for computers skyrocketed and our services became essential for many individuals. This past Summer I have worked full-time from 9am-6:30pm solely on Computers 4 People. The job consists of phone calls, emails, picking up computers, refurbishing computers, donating computers, financials, raising funds, marketing, managing volunteers, and more. To date, we have donated over 170 computers to a range of individuals and organizations in need (students, seniors, formerly incarcerated individuals, homeless individuals, small non-profits, and more). I now work an average of 4 hours a day because school limits my time. Two months ago we moved into our first office space in Hoboken. We use this office as a storage space for our inventory, workspace to refurbish computers, and office for meetings. We will be working in the space during the senior project, as we have a 6 month lease currently. We are now working with dozens of non-profits to help hundreds of clients with access to computers. My goal before going to college is to make Computers 4 People fully sustainable. This means raising money, building an automated system to manage donations and volunteers, and eventually hiring a full/part-time employee to run Computers 4 People. During Senior Project I will be working full-time (volunteering) for Computers 4 People to accomplish the following:

1. Settle into Computers 4 People Office (Jan 23)
2. Work full-time managing and growing Computers 4 People
3. Collect, refurbish, and donate more computers (planning to donate 250 in 2021)
4. Get more regular volunteers (goal of 10 volunteers to drive/refurbish) and manage them effectively and efficiently
5. Fundraise (be able to hire an employee before I go to college)
6. Make more partnerships with companies and organizations (dozens right now, many in the works constantly)
7. Finish CRM system (Jan 30)

Ethan and I will be working from 9:30am-4:00pm every day at the office, we will probably stay longer than that at the office.  We will have plenty of work to do and will be very busy so no need to worry about that.

Ethan will document the process on his blog and we will post updates and achievements on social media.

Any questions: www.computers4people.org/faq

Thanks, Dylan