Team4Tech Skilled Volunteering Programs
Autodesk is excited to be working with Team4Tech and Build Change again, this time in Colombia, where we will build upon our previous partnership to help Build Change scale their ability to retrofit homes and positively impact communities.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (PRWEB) April 20, 2018
Today, Team4Tech, a non-profit that works to advance the quality of education for underserved students through technology volunteers and solutions, announced that seven employees from Autodesk will take part in an immersive, two-week service learning project in Colombia from April 22 - May 5, 2018. The employees will spend one week in Medellín and one week in Bogotá where they will volunteer with Build Change, an international non-profit social enterprise that designs disaster-resistant houses and schools, and trains builders, homeowners, engineers, and government officials to build them.
The team of Autodesk employees will deliver a series of technology and design innovation workshops for Build Change staff, including training in Autodesk software and helping Build Change staff streamline the retrofitting process of Colombian houses. Autodesk employee volunteers will help Build Change staff to identify and implement appropriate software to survey homes for structural vulnerabilities, model potential solutions in construction and engineering software, and efficiently provide a retrofit solution to the homeowners. In addition, Autodesk volunteers will help Build Change staff to expand their community outreach programs to educate and engage local stakeholders and communities on the benefits of seismic retrofitting and safe construction practices.
“Autodesk is excited to be working with Team4Tech and Build Change again, this time in Colombia, where we will build upon our previous partnership to help Build Change scale their ability to retrofit homes and positively impact communities,” said Kellan Hays, Employee Impact Manager, Autodesk. “These efforts, and our collaboration with Team4Tech, also allow us to provide our employees the opportunity to gain experience and uphold our vision to imagine, design and create a better world.”
This is Autodesk’s seventh international pro bono volunteering program with Team4Tech and it’s second Team4Tech collaboration with Build Change. In June 2017, Team4Tech led Autodesk volunteers to Nepal to work with Build Change to understand their method of retrofitting. The volunteer team created a rapid-prototyping approach which reduced the retrofit needs-assessment process from three to four days to three to four hours. Volunteers worked in the field at an active construction site, delivered multiple human-centered design workshops with technical stakeholders, and facilitated a community information session to understand their ability to adopt a new retrofitting process.
“Supporting organizations like Build Change through capacity-building projects supplemented by technology volunteers provides a positive ripple impact into the world,” said Julie Clugage, executive director, Team4Tech. “During this volunteer project, Autodesk employee volunteers will help Build Change identify learning needs, and increase the organization’s ability to implement housing retrofits in emerging nations at scale. They’ll also improve critical thinking and situational fluency while developing creating problem solving skills in an unfamiliar context.”
In coming years, Build Change will work to empower 10 million people in Haiti, Colombia, Guatemala The Philippines, Indonesia, and Nepal to live and learn in safer homes and schools by retrofitting structures before natural disasters occur.
About Team4Tech
Team4Tech provides technology professionals with immersive, short-term service learning projects that leverage their technology skills to improve education for underserved students, while also cultivating volunteers’ leadership skills and supporting corporate social responsibility goals. Team4Tech programs provide benefits to three distinct audiences: students and teachers gain access to improved teaching and learning through technology, volunteers gain 21st century leadership skills, and companies gain more engaged employees to lead customer-driven innovation. http://www.team4tech.org