Twitter NeighborNest Marks One Year of Providing Low-income Families With Access to Technology

SAN FRANCISCO, May 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Mayor Edwin M. Lee, San Francisco's nonprofit leaders, and residents of the Mid-Market area joined Twitter COO Adam Bain and its employees to celebrate the Twitter NeighborNest's first birthday. Located across the street from Twitter HQ in San Francisco, the NeighborNest is a family-friendly center where Twitter's partner organizations and their clients can access technology, classes, and resources to help them on their path to a bright, hopeful future.

In its first year, the NeighborNest has hosted over 3,500 visits from local residents, conducted over 920 programming hours, and provided over 800 hours of free childcare to some of the area's most in-need families. The NeighborNest's programing and design were informed by the findings of a six-month listening tour that Twitter conducted prior to the launch with low-income and homeless families, and over 15 local nonprofit partners and their clients.

"Our platform empowers anybody anywhere to be heard and share their perspective, and we witness the power of community on Twitter every day," says Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey. "It's equally important to focus on empowering our neighbors to reach their full potential."

"We need to make sure our City remains successful, and to do that we need to make sure all our residents share in that success," says Mayor Ed Lee. "I applaud Twitter's game-changing investment in opening this warm, welcoming community space where some of our most in-need can come to learn, connect, and grow together."

NeighborNest Programming

Today Twitter also announced the NeighborNest's new digital literacy program, which will be led by Twitter employees and Community Technology Network. The team recently completed the first round of Basic Computer & Internet workshops in English and is eager to pilot the workshop in Spanish this summer. Graduates of the digital literacy program will be offered the opportunity to create a personalized learning plan with NeighborNest volunteers to help them gain technology skills at their own pace.

Since the Grand Opening, Twitter employees have led classes on Coding for Kids, Internet Safety/Digital Citizenship, and Twitter for Nonprofits in partnership with Catholic Charities and United Playaz. The NeighborNest has also hosted programming led by its anchor partner Compass Family Services. These offerings range from Affordable Housing to Job Search, Music and Movement, Story Hour, and Movie Nights, as well as free childcare and case management.

"What has made our partnership with Twitter a success is that they take the time to learn what our clients' needs are and have built programs to address those needs," says Erica Kisch, Executive Director of Compass Family Services. "We're constantly learning from each other and we provide feedback so they can keep improving."

Twitter will continue to work with its community partners and local neighborhood residents to ensure the NeighborNest provides relevant services and programming to meet the evolving needs of low-income families and their access to technology.

About Twitter, Inc.
Twitter TWTR is a global platform for public self-expression and conversation in real time. By developing a fundamentally new way for people to consume, create, distribute, and discover content, Twitter enables any voice to echo around the world instantly and unfiltered. The service can be accessed at Twitter.com, on a variety of mobile devices, and via SMS. Available in more than 40 languages, Twitter reported 310 million monthly active users as of the quarter ended March 31, 2016. For more information, visit about.twitter.com or follow @twitter.

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SOURCE Twitter, Inc.