Technology for All: Open Schools Reaches Out to Seniors

By Frank Mark Rabena and Julianna Davis

In our fast-paced digital world, many of our senior community members are slower to catch up to technology advancements that can benefit their daily lives. Communicating with grandchildren and other loved ones who have moved away or paying bills online are just two examples. 

This summer Open Schools, which was launched with a founding grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), provided a new free program in collaboration with OTEAcademy, geared to residents 60+ called “Tεχνολογία για Όλους” or “Technology for All”. The program facilitates a learning environment of inclusivity, designed to educate citizens on how to use and take advantage of smart devices. 

Through the Athens Open Schools program 20 schools across the city remain open in the evening and on weekends, offering free activities for all age groups. The City of Athens program, which has had more than 36,000 participants, was launched by the Athens Partnership in collaboration with the Municipality with a founding grant from the SNF and has additional support for activities from the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation.

OTEAcademy representative Dimitra Papageorgopoulou said, “the main point of the program is to eliminate the fear that comes with using a smart device.” She described the anxiety that many elderly have when interacting with technology as a “fear of the unknown” reaction. When asked what she finds most rewarding about leading this program, she answered that she was impressed by the willingness each person had to learn about a device that was invented a generation or two after them. 

Ms. Papageorgopoulou noted the enthusiasm that these senior students brought to the classroom, including a woman who lost her husband, yet still attended every session with a smile. 

When speaking with participants of the program, we were moved by their eagerness to learn and the sense of community in the room.  They specifically wanted to learn how to surf the web, view different pictures, and make payments via online banking. 

Attendees came from Ilisia, Pagkrati, and even as far as Argyroupoli, making a 45-minute commute using public transportation, to join the class for the purpose of learning, building their digital skills and forging new relationships with their peers. When asked how they found out about the Athens Open Schools program, they said they learned about it through newspapers, their local Cosmote shop and the radio. Following this program, they can now find out about more opportunities on the internet (perhaps after a FaceTime call with a favorite grandchild!)

Participants commute up to 45-minutes to get to their Digital Skills class at the Open School site in the neighborhood of Pagkrati.

Julianna Davis and Frank Mark Rabena served as Athens Partnership summer interns through the National Hellenic Society (NHS) Heritage Greece program. The Heritage Greece Program is a two-week cultural and educational immersion odyssey for accomplished Greek American college students who share their experience with a peer group of students from the American College of Greece in Athens. The Program’s goal is to reconnect participants with their heritage, roots, language, history, and traditions.

The U.S. Embassy Supports Open Schools and Maryland’s Teacher of the Year Lends Expertise

Children work on teamwork and civic identity skills as part of the Hellenic Children’s Museum “A Different School” program at the Athens Open School in the Grava neighborhood.

By Julianna Davis and Frank Mark Rabena

The U.S. Embassy in Greece supports the Athens Open Schools program, which was founded with a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, promoting the basic right of education through arts and civic engagement programming in underserved communities.

 “We support this program because it highlights the common values of the United States and Greece, the values of democracy and active citizenship,” said Jennifer Schueler, the U.S. Embassy’s Cultural Attaché. “Through these activities, the children use art to communicate with each other and express how they experience their cities, their communities and their classrooms. We are very proud to be able to have a celebrated Greek-American artist and educator, Sia Kyriakakos, leading these workshops”

Working on a multi-material collage which incorporates the different experiences and backgrounds of all the participants.

 Through the Athens Open Schools program 20 schools across the city remain open in the evening and on weekends, offering free activities for all age groups. The City of Athens program, which has had more than 36,000 participants, was launched by the Athens Partnership in collaboration with the Municipality with a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and has additional support for activities from the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation.

 This summer the U.S. Embassy is supporting two Athens Open Schools offerings. One is bringing the Hellenic Children’s Museum collection and educational program to neighborhoods in Athens and the other is an intensive 3D animation course using Oracle’s Alice Software. The Hellenic Children’s Museum “A Different School” program gives children between the ages of 6 and 12 the opportunity to build collaboration and civic engagement skills through games, activities and art. American arts educator Kyriakakos (the State of Maryland’s 2017 Teacher of the Year) participated in the design and implementation of the final educational program.

Children animate digital character models using Oracle's Alice Software in the intensive 3D animation course.

“We integrate the diversity of the children into the class and this is important,” said Kyriakakos, who is a Fulbright scholar in Arts Education from Baltimore, Maryland. Activities that incorporate diversity include making a multi-material collage of a city, which draws on the different experiences of children, including local children as well as refugees and migrant from various countries. Another creative activity challenged children to create an ocean creature based on their experience, resulting in an artwork that depicted an ocean full of diversity, just like the world they live in.

 During a recent visit by U.S. Embassy staff and two Athens Partnership interns from the National Hellenic Society Heritage Greece program, everyone sat on the floor in a circle before a class began and introduced themselves. Everyone was asked to express how they felt about being at an “Open School” on a scale of 1-10. Going around, the majority of the kids responded with “10 happy”. 

 “I’d also say we are ’10 happy’ being part of this amazing Open Schools program,” said Ms. Schueler as the group concluded their visit.

 The spaces in the “A Different School” activity were filled and the waiting list had 200 children on it—a sign of the demand and value of Open Schools. To help support this program and others like it, please click here.

 Julianna Davis and Frank Mark Rabena served as Athens Partnership summer interns through the National Hellenic Society (NHS) Heritage Greece program. The Heritage Greece Program is a two-week cultural and educational immersion odyssey for accomplished Greek American college students who share their experience with a peer group of students from the American College of Greece in Athens. The Program’s goal is to reconnect participants with their heritage, roots, language, history, and traditions.  

Athens Urban Gallery

2018 Annual Report: Another Year of Impact

The Athens Partnership (AP) released its 2018 Annual Report, detailing the outcomes of its public-private initiatives in Athens, Greece. Since its inception in 2015, AP has directly served more than 150,000 Athenians through its innovative programs in areas including education, community and economic development, social inclusion, technology and culture. AP has engaged over 300 partners in both the public and private sectors to advance projects in coordination with municipal government.

“The Athens Partnership’s programmatic success is thanks to an incredible – and increasing – network of collaborators and supporters,” said Alexandros Kambouroglou, Executive Director  of the Athens Partnership. “These programs are sparking change in municipal government, bringing together cross-sector partners in meaningful ways, and garnering international acclaim.

With lead support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and a growing network of partners, AP has lead more than 14 major initiatives in coordination with the . In 2018, Athens was recognized as the European Capital of Innovation by the European Commission, stemming from a range of innovative efforts that included 13 AP initiatives, more than half of the Athens dossier in consideration for the award.

AP’s 2018 accomplishments include:

• The Athens Open Schools program exceeded 30,000 participants since its launch, both adults and children. Free classes offered ranged from theater for teenagers by the National Theater to Cisco Networking Academy course and accreditation on CCNA Routing & Switching.

• The Designed for Better Learning program launched the City’s first Municipal Maker Space, in collaboration with the Technical University of Crete and with a founding grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. More than 1300 students and teachers were trained in the pilot phase. Over 1.5 million euro in City funding has now been secured for Designed for Better Learning and the Maker Space, ensuring future funding and sustainability under the City’s oversight.

AP and its partners launched the first Municipal Maker Space in Greece, located in central Athens.

• The Commercial Triangle project supported the revitalization of the city’s historic center, where a cumulative 30 million euro of private investments has been realized since the start of the program. Ground floor occupancy increased by 25% and new “smart” apps were piloted in collaboration with the local business community, for smart LED lighting and smart waste disposal.

The Commercial Triangle project is creating new pedestrian streets in the center of Athens, upgrading networks, removing graffiti tags from historic buildings and inviting artists to create works of public art.

• Digital and technology initiatives supported by the Digital Council were launched as part of the City of Athens’ 15 million euro investment plan. Projects launched included initiatives run through the Athens Digital Lab, the Municipal Maker Space, Commercial Triangle project, and Athens Open Schools.

• The Athens Coordination Center for Migrant and Refugee issues (ACCMR)  enhanced the City’s refugee response, with 92 of the leading government and nonprofit organizations active in the field. ACCMR also supported the creation and operation of the first “Cities Network for Integration”, joining 13 Greek Municipalities that host a large number of refugees to exchange know-how and work towards common solutions.

• Building on the success of AP’s Athens Tourism Partnership, a new coalition, known as This & Athens & Partners, was formed between the City of Athens and major tourism enterprises to develop projects that boost economic growth and job creation by attracting investment, businesses, events and visitors. The success of these sustained efforts led to a 10% year-on-year rise in tourist visitation numbers in 2018.

Read the 2018 Annual Report.

New AP initiative to clear the Historic Center from graffiti and tags

A cleaner future awaits the City of Athens under a new AP initiative which will see 20,000 square metres of graffiti tags and illegal posters disappear from the Historic Centre.

The latest anti-tagging initiative is designed and being implemented by the Athens Partnership and aims to boost the City of Athens’ efforts to promote and restore the charm of the capital’s Historic Centre. The program is made possible by the generosity of the A. C. Laskaridis Foundation, Beat, Constantine M. Logothetis, COSMOTE, Ionian Hotel Enterprises S.A. and Lampsa Hellenic Hotels SA. The scheme is an expansion of the city’s campaign to clean up the appearance of the Historic Centre through the “This is Athens & Partners” coalition - a unique public-private partnership that brings together the City and major tourism stakeholders with the mandate of developing, managing and promoting Athens as an attractive year-round destination.

The historic building of Stadiou 15, before and after the first cleanup.

via GIPHY

"Combating visual vandalism has always been a priority for our administration,” stated the Mayor of Athens Giorgos Kaminis. “In this context, 8,300 square meters of facades, some of which are architectural treasures of the city, have already been cleaned from tags and illegal posters in the context of the Commercial Triangle project, and covered with anti-tagging special protection material to ensure that with a little maintenance they will remain clean.”

The Historic Triangle of Athens, surrounded by the emblematic squares of Syntagma, Monastiraki and Omonia, is home to some of the city’s greatest architectural treasures. Buildings designed by Ernst Ziller and Panagiotis Kalkos and many more distinguished architects "unfold" over traditional shops and businesses, visited daily by thousands of Athenians and tourists.

A special crew will remove new tags within 48 hours.

Works will be carried out by a special crew contracted to apply anti-graffiti and hydrophobic paint materials to prevent poster replacement and facilitate the cleaning of new tags. New occurrences will be dealt with within 48 hours, while a team of Municipal officials will be trained to support the project's sustainability.

The programme also aims to revive the city centre through actions and events to be carried out in cooperation with the area’s entrepreneurs, in order to best respond to the specific characteristics and needs of the neighbourhood.

The area of interventions in the Historic Triangle

As part of the programme, more than 100 of the the city’s outdoor telephone line distribution boxes will be transformed into works of art by local artists, with the support of COSMOTE, under the popular "Art on KAFAO" project.

These new initiatives were inspired by the success of the "Revitalization of the Commercial Triangle” programme run by the Municipality of Athens which has organised events attended by more than 20,000 visitors, transformed 37 telephone boxes and cleaned 30 cty blocks from graffiti tags and posters. That programme was made possible thanks to an exclusive donation by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.