How Estella’s Brilliant Bus is bridging the digital divide + Bridget’s Birthday

one school. Now, while teaching, she saw that many of her kids couldn't always do their assignments because they didn't have access to a computer or reliable internet at home. So she created a Stella's a Brilliant Bus to bring the computers to them. My name is Stello and the creator and founder of Stella's Brilliant Bus. The Stella's Brilliant Bus is a mobile learning center where we provide education and technology for underserved community to children and underserved communities,

and that's what we've been doing since we started. But realizing that the children have other siblings and other relatives, let me own service, we have expanded our service to include not just children, but adults in unserved communities. That's what the breed much is all about. It's not just the tech center, it's the learning center, but we use above to provide the technology to accomplish the mission that

we set out to do in the communities. After retiring in her seventies, Mrs Stella spent her life savings on a bus that she turned into a mobile learning center to help bridge the digital divide and help bring technology to the communities who meet it most. Knowing that I was getting older and I was pretty much I would say we all over seven through one, I knew that if I was going to doing anything other than work at the school, I needed to look at what that

option might be. And when the hurricane devastated other people in all means in other places, it's shopping. My ideal about going out into communities and doing something that I thought would be worth while. I had the idea of creating something to think out in the community, but put it on hold because I wasn't really sure what I was gonna do. But after that hurricane and I thought

about this is it. According to Pew, a quarter of lower income teams don't have access to a home computer, and one quarter of black youth that they often or sometimes can't do their homework assignments because they don't have reliable internet access or a computer. Compare that to just white youth. This is sometimes called the digital divide and it presents a big barrier to kids in all communities

being able to succeed. I figured if I could create a project that I could take and didn't the community, because we knew that this was age of technology, and I knew from working with Type one schools and there was that did you do divide? So I wanted to keep that going because I know if as out community is a concern that we served the children that and the Tide one school was missing at home the technology.

Mrs Stella was relentless and she also dreamed big. Her first thought was to use her old minivan and she even told her with the idea of trying to get her hands on a semi truck to turn that into a mobile computer lab. So, in putting my ideas together, the first thing I asked myself how can I provide technology to these undeserved communities? And I stop thinking about it a while. I knew that the band that I had would not be enough because it was just not

big enough. Sird more than or five children at one time? If that meaning? So I decided, after thinking about it, what is it that I would be comfortable with? Knowing that I didn't have a lot of money, But how can I make it work? Because I was of the failure, it's not an option mindset, so I knew what I was gonna do had to be successful because flee you was not an option. So I thought about the band

and I ruled that out. I thought about it, say my truck and I said, I can't drive that I'm on the back went out during my lifetime, and then the bus came up. I said that I use a bus. I have a lot more space, and of course I can drive a bus because I learned to drive a bus through my childhood because my dad had no boys and six girls and I was the only girl that was brave enough learn how to drive the truck and the bus. So I thinkured I could save some money if I got if I used a bus, because that

was something that I could drive when I needed. So I grabbed some paper and pilsu gets started drawing figured out what I wanted to do and started working on it. And it was an idea that I together on a pool and then I was successful in lifting that idea of the paper and put it into reality. I didn't know that you actually drive the busy yourself. My goodness, you really drive the bus. And when we first got started,

I drove the bus. And most of those videos that's on the website on YouTube, they didn't believe I could drive the bus either. It all made me drive the bus. You'll see me driving up driving the bus, but I have someone to help me drive the bus. The producers didn't want that. They wanted need to drive the bus. That gets to prove that in my age, that I could drive that bus. Do you mind me asking how old you are? You don't have to say if you

don't want to, no, I'm eighty four. It was Mrs Sella's father who instilled in her the importance of helping others and sharing with your community, even if you didn't have a lot. My father was a mid contract though, and we traveled from Florida to New York for nineteen years. The harvest produced thinking beings, worn potatoes and things of that sort, and my dad was a very kind hearted man who really enjoyed giving and helping people, even though

he was a poor man. And he would travel up north, leaving Florida during the month of May mid May and sometimes come we will come back in October. Because if you don't have any skills, then you have to do unskilled laboring jobs. And that was what was going on with my parents, needing one of them ever finished elementary school, so they didn't have skills, but they were very smart and are working people. Growing up poor in a government

housing project. Mr Stella knew that not much was expected of her, but the power of community helped her subvert as a lot of expectations. We lived in a government project. Uh. And if you have seen the documentary obvious of shame but able our moral when they predicted that we probably would ever get out of that project, you just stuck there for life. And that less than thirty percent of

us but ever get out of there. Uh. And the smaller percentage of us would probably not make it to college because you would be stuck in at rut and that government project. But I'm proud to say that many of us who went to school out there, graduating from my school with the college and obtain advanced degrees. Now, in the project where I lived, it was the ideal

of takes the village to raise a child. And all of us are poor all about most of our parents world, working far away from the in the in the fields, but there was always someone home in that project during that day, and they would look out for each other, and we got longer doing the day. We could go to that neighbor's house and they'll give us some bread and cheese, or bread and mayonnaise, or bread and peanut butter.

So it's one of those things where a village actually helped raise a child, and we learned to share whatever we had, but every resources that we had, so we just grew open that mentality. Do you feel that that's why you're inspired to give back to the kids in your community with the bus to make sure that they have the same kind of village that helped raise you

and your sisters. I'm sure and they had something to do with that experience is a thing would brand for me into the birds of who I am today, giving and sharing with other people who need of the most. Now, summers can worsen the divide between low income kids and

kids whose families can afford things like summer camp. The learning loss that students sometimes experience when they're out for summer break is sometimes called the summer slide, and a John Hopkins study found that by ninth grade, the summer slide makes up for two thirds of the reading achievement gap between low income kids and middle income kids. To combat this, Mrs Stella spent her summers taking kids on

educational trips in her bus. She self financed them, looking for deals on hotels and me else so the trips wouldn't cost the families a time. But then COVID head and now her bus is in park. We would go pack the bus and go into communities. We have worked with churches, community centers, schools, and county organizations and we would just schedule our activities and we would go out in the community and make things happen. There was no

problem when COVID came along. Everybody was afraid of everybody, so business was shutting down. People were afraid of their children and other family members, and of course you know, they were dying. So we adhere to what the community

was doing when they shut down business. Since we parked the bus and now we have two buses now and we would take these kids across the country to travel the Freedom Trail and also get more exposure to technology, education and technology, and we would get on the road for ten or twelve days with one hundred teenagers going across country. Don't get more exposure because many of the kids who living those roots in communities, they don't get to go to a town. So they speak because sometimes

their parents can't afford to take them. Many of them are working, or they just can't afford the other expense that going along with it. So three years in a row, I was very successful in taking the kids across the country for ten or twelve days, giving them exposure and not having to charge them one set and then we were able to expose them to technoledging and address the summer slide. But this pass do not We did not because we were right, I'm going into involved with COVID.

So again we didn't want to be responsible or exposing kids to COVID because they're just learning a little bit more about it, but they didn't know anything about it. They didn't know very much I would say about it. So we just decided we'll just stay in close up like other businesses until they signed out more how to keep people and I'm talking about adults and their children say from the lunavirus, COVID has only shown how important it is for all kids to have access to technology.

If low income kids didn't have computers are reliable internet at home before, how are they supposed to keep up with remote learning during COVID. P actually found that one in five parents with kids at home because of COVID say it is very or somewhat likely that their kids won't be able to complete schoolwork because they don't have

access to a computer or internet. It's so important to support community leaders like miss A Stella, who won't let a generation of kids get left behind because of their economic circumstances. In miss A Stella's community, they looked after little ones like a village, sharing what little they had with one another. She's a living legend and her work and legacy is a testament to the fact that anyone can make a lasting difference. Ms Stella, what a life

you have lived? What a what an inspiration? What do you want to say if somebody is out there and they think, gosh, I want to make a difference, but I don't know what I can do. What's your message to them? Because you've made your one woman and you've made such a big difference on your community. What is your message to other people who might be listening, who want to do what you're doing and make a difference in their communities? No, mid age up there with your dreams.

One thing and the other thing is if you can believe it and willing to work, you can achieve it. I so appreciate it. I appreciate you. I appreciate all that you do. Miss Stella. You are an icon friend of Oprah Winfrey, the board in my book, Oh my good, have a book out there. Let's go the legacy of a humble Black woman from fear to back to it to a brilliant bus. It's a web for my birthday.

I hope you'll consider supporting Ms O Stella's vision for the future by making a donation to A. Stella's Brilliant Bus. If you're able, go to Tangoti dot com slash bus to donate. That's Tangoti t A n G O t I dot com slash bus. If you're moved by Mrs Sella's story and want to donate but aren't in a position to do so right now, hit me up at Hello at tangoi dot com and we'll donate in your honor. We keep us safe and we keep us strong, So let's all keep striving to be the change we want

for our communities. Just like miss O Stella, you are a living legend that such an inspiration to to me personally. When I saw your Super Bowl ad, I cried before we spoke. Today I watched it again and I had the same feeling. There's just something so beautiful about what you've done for your community. So I'm so I'm so very grateful for you and then here doing everything that I could do, make doing it down, then down here.

Got a story about an interesting thing in tech, or just want to say hi, You can reach us at Hello at tangodi dot com. You can also find transcripts today's episode at tangodi dot com. There Are No Girls on the Internet was created by me Bridgetad. It's a production of I Heart Radio and Unboss creative Jonathan Strickland as our executive producer. Terry Harrison is our producer and sound engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm your

host bridgetad. If you want to help us grow, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, check out the i heeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. H