The Unearthed Foundation
Digital Inclusion & Technology Division
Digital Literacy & Access Initiative
Access is only the beginning.
Turning access into ability.
Turning ability into opportunity.
Turning opportunity into independence.
Technology has become a gateway to opportunity.
Today, applying for a job, creating a résumé, attending an interview, continuing an education, accessing benefits, finding housing, communicating with employers, learning new skills, and building a career increasingly require access to technology.
But having access to a computer is only the beginning.
Through our Digital Literacy & Access Initiative, The Unearthed Foundation helps people who have been disconnected from technology gain access to computers, develop practical digital skills, prepare for employment, and build pathways toward greater stability and independence.
The Opportunity Gap
The digital divide is an opportunity divide.
Today, many of life's opportunities begin with a screen.
For someone without reliable technology, digital skills, or someone willing to help them navigate today's digital systems, even basic opportunities can become difficult to reach.
We are working to change that.
Our Approach
We don't just provide computers.
We create pathways.
Stage 1
Access
Stage 2
Skills
Stage 3
Confidence
Stage 4
Employment
Stage 5
Stability
Stage 6
Independence
- Résumé
- Application
- Interview
- Employment
- Stability
That is digital inclusion with purpose.
What We Provide
Six ways access becomes ability.
Digital Access
We work to connect participants with donated and refurbished computers and essential technology needed to participate in today's digital world.
Digital Literacy
Practical instruction in computer fundamentals, internet navigation, email, documents, online communication, and everyday technology.
Employment Technology
Helping participants create résumés, search for employment, complete online applications, communicate professionally, and prepare for virtual interviews.
Cybersecurity & Online Safety
Teaching safer online practices, password security, privacy awareness, scam recognition, and protection of personal information.
AI Literacy
Introducing participants to responsible artificial intelligence tools that can support learning, communication, productivity, employment preparation, and professional development.
Workforce Development
Connecting digital skills with education, professional development, certifications, employment preparation, and pathways toward technology-enabled careers.
A computer is a tool.
What someone learns to do with it can change their future.
Technology Opportunity Ladder
From first click to first career.
Digital inclusion should create somewhere to go next.
Level 1
Digital Basics
Computer fundamentals, typing, internet navigation, email, and online communication.
Level 2
Employment Technology
Résumés, applications, job searches, professional email, and virtual interviews.
Level 3
Professional Digital Skills
Documents, spreadsheets, productivity tools, collaboration platforms, and workplace technology.
Level 4
Training & Certifications
Connecting participants with educational opportunities, training programs, and recognized technology credentials.
Level 5
Technology Employment
Creating pathways toward entry-level technology positions and other digitally enabled careers.
Level 6
Leadership
Creating opportunities for successful participants to eventually become peer mentors and Digital Navigators who can help others.
The participant is not simply receiving a computer. They are progressing.
Who We Serve
Technology should create opportunity for everyone.
The Unearthed Foundation intentionally focuses on individuals and communities who can face significant barriers to technology, employment, education, and today's digital economy.
- Justice-involved individuals
- People returning home from incarceration
- Individuals experiencing homelessness
- People experiencing housing instability
- Individuals experiencing unemployment or poverty
- Individuals facing mental health and other life challenges
- People with disrupted educational histories
- Individuals disconnected from today's workforce
- Families and community members experiencing the digital divide
Your past should not determine your access to the future.
Program Philosophy
Start with five.
Build for fifty.
Our Fresno Digital Literacy & Access Initiative begins intentionally.
We are starting with a focused computer pilot designed to demonstrate the model, learn from participants, document outcomes, develop partnerships, and build the infrastructure necessary for responsible growth.
Computers to start
Repeatable model
The capacity we are building toward
We want to prove what works on a manageable scale before expanding.
Our goal is to build a sustainable system capable of responsibly receiving technology, preparing equipment, delivering digital literacy training, supporting participants, developing workforce pathways, measuring outcomes, and expanding as resources become available.
Prove the model with five.
Build the system for fifty.
Create the infrastructure to serve hundreds.
Why This Matters
A donated laptop can become the computer someone uses to build their first résumé.
That résumé can become an application.
That application can become an interview.
That interview can become employment.
Employment can create income.
Income can create stability.
And stability can help change the trajectory of a life.
Partner With Us
Help us close the digital divide.
Building digital opportunity requires partnership.
We welcome businesses, technology companies, financial institutions, healthcare organizations, educational institutions, government agencies, foundations, community organizations, employers, computer-reuse organizations, and individual donors who believe technology should create opportunity.
Donate Technology
Computers, laptops, monitors, accessories, and other usable technology can help expand digital access.
Sponsor Digital Access
Financial support can help provide equipment, instruction, training, software, certifications, and workforce-development opportunities.
Volunteer Your Expertise
Technology professionals and other volunteers can help teach, mentor, provide career guidance, and support workshops.
Create Career Pathways
Employers can help create internships, mentorship, job-shadowing opportunities, interviews, and employment pathways.
Corporate Partnership
Your technology can have a second life.
Someone can have a second chance.
Partnership with the Digital Literacy & Access Initiative is intended to create:
- Measurable community impact
- Responsible technology reuse
- Digital inclusion
- Workforce pipeline development
- Employee volunteer engagement
- Community benefit
- Technology education
- Employment pathways
- Partner recognition
- Documented outcomes
Let's build digital opportunity together.
Our Practice
See the person. Meet the need. Follow through.
See the person.
Understand the individual, their goals, strengths, circumstances, and barriers.
Meet the need.
Connect them with technology, education, training, resources, and opportunities that address the actual barrier.
Follow through.
Continue engagement beyond the first interaction so access has an opportunity to become progress.
We don't believe in simply handing someone a computer and walking away.
We see the person.
We identify the barrier.
We provide access.
We teach the skill.
We connect them to opportunity.
We follow through.
Accountability
How we measure success.
The outcomes we intend to measure as this initiative grows:
- Computers received and refurbished
- Computers distributed
- Participants receiving digital literacy instruction
- Training sessions completed
- Résumés created
- Online applications completed
- Participants connected to education or training
- Certifications pursued or earned
- Employment referrals
- Employment outcomes
- Volunteer participation
- Corporate and community partnerships
As the initiative grows, we will use measurable outcomes to understand what is working, strengthen the program, and demonstrate impact to our community and partners.
Leadership
Kyle Mukai
Co-Founding Director of Digital Inclusion & Technology
Kyle helps lead the development of The Unearthed Foundation's Digital Inclusion & Technology Division, including digital literacy programming, technology partnerships, equipment acquisition and deployment, technology education, workforce-development pathways, and the sustainable growth of the Digital Literacy & Access Initiative.
Planted…Not Buried.
Potential can exist beneath difficult circumstances.
Sometimes people don't need someone else to determine what they can become.
They need access.
They need tools.
They need knowledge.
They need someone willing to teach.
And they need an opportunity to demonstrate what was already there.
Turning access into ability.
Turning ability into opportunity.
Turning opportunity into independence.
Planted…Not Buried
People are not buried by their past.
With the right environment, structure, accountability, opportunity, and support, people can grow beyond the circumstances that once defined them.