A black suit, bright blue sneakers and a cap curled on his head, Shaun Tai is used to talking to journalists. In San Francisco Bay, in Oakland, he visits the Bridgegoo Association’s facilities, housed in a huge fully equipped hangar. Sofas, screens, computers, everything is made to accommodate students who want to enter the technology sector.
“A few weeks ago we were going to have a meeting at the Twitter headquarters that was cancelled,” he slides during the visit.
Because since 2013, Bridgegood has benefited from the Twitter for Good program that provides financial, human and material support to associations. The show was completely cut after twitter takeover by Elon Musk last October and Bridgegood is one of the affected associations.
At the height of the situation, Shaun Tai, the co-founder of the association, arrived. in Teslathe cars imagined by Elon Musk.
Founded in 2009, the association’s mission is to provide young people without access to the technology sector with the skills and resources necessary to obtain jobs in Silicon Valley. To do this, the association organizes, for example, meetings with Twitter employees, including UX designers, to interact with students and give them advice.
Visit canceled at the last minute
It all started in 2013 with Friday for Good, which became Twitter for Good. The idea was that two or three times a year, Twitter employees would participate in association workshops. “Until today we had a very good relationship with Twitter, from board membership to monetary grants and visits to the central office where we brought 20 to 40 students,” recalls Shaun Tai.
But on November 18, not everything goes as planned. “We were excited for our students to come to Twitter to see what it’s like to work at a great tech company. The same week we had an appointment, they emailed us to cancel our meeting, due to what’s happening on Twitter this moment,” laments the co-founder. And for good reason, the entire Twitter for Good team has been laid off.
When he heard that Elon Musk wanted to buy Twitter, he first thought it was a joke, “but when it came true, I think we weren’t sure what to expect and were confused. After the acquisition, I expected the same team that we work with would stay in place, but unfortunately that was not the case.
He immediately put himself in the shoes of the students. The latter never had access to the world of technology and really counted on an association like Bridgegood to bring them to these companies.
“Musk focuses on the product, not the community”
Since the event was canceled in November, the Bridgegood teams no longer have any contact with Twitter. “I even posted a tweet mentioning Elon Musk recently,” Shaun Tai quips. In vain.
For him, “Elon Musk focuses more on the product and not on the community”, especially in the one that surrounds Twitter. “If Elon Musk is a businessman, how do you convince him that giving back to the community, having diverse voices and other perspectives is good for business? That’s my goal with Bridegood.”
Shaun Tai wants to continue this partnership to give students the opportunity to discover tech jobs. The consequence is not so much financial for the association, it points above all to the loss of income for the beneficiaries. “Arguing with employees is better than monetary aid because technology changes every six months. I hope Elon Musk will take the program to his base to make it even better,” concludes Shaun Tai with a touch of hope.
“We never collected the keys to the premises”
The Compass Family Services association experienced the same scenario. Their mission is to help homeless families in San Francisco find a stable situation. The Compass offices are located a stone’s throw from the Twitter headquarters. Abbey Leonard, head of communication for the association, regrets the end of the Twitter for Good program: “He was a really special partner, which makes the loss of him even harder.”
For four years, Twitter has supported Compass through a program called NeighborNest. Through this partnership, Twitter provided a space that included computers, a computer lab, childcare space, and meeting rooms. People could come to take part in computer courses, print documents, access the Internet, but also look for accommodation, a job and benefit from aid.
During the 2020 pandemic, Twitter temporarily shut down the space. “We had just established an agreement to reopen it in November, only we never recovered the keys to the premises and the whole project disappeared,” laments the manager. The alliance was material, human, financial and administrative, since Twitter was represented on the association’s board of directors.
thinking after
On the Twitter side, Karl Robillard, the head of the Twitter for Good program, was also fired. Therefore, the association no longer has any contact with Twitter. “Even the HR department we were talking to left. We wouldn’t even know who to talk to since they all left.”
On November 14, the special Twitter for Good week takes place like every six months. In this context, Twitter organizes activities between its employees and volunteers from associations such as Compass. This issue was a bit special because it was organized by laid-off former Twitter employees.
The end of this society does not mean the end of the association. The first week of December, Compass organized a toy drive for beneficiary families. The number of donations far exceeded the association’s expectations: “we are very grateful, the children will be very happy”, enthuses the manager.
Source: BFM TV
