Our Mission and Methodology

As dramatic technological innovations transform our society, it is essential that no community be left behind. At Playing2Win (P2W), our goal is to create new economic, social and educational opportunities for our members by combining access to technology with effective educational programs.

Playing2Win understands that the acquisition of skills to meet everyday needs and the love of learning are the keys to overcoming long standing divides such as illiteracy, poverty and discrimination. By integrating technology into quality educational programs, we aim to empower New York City? disenfranchised citizens by providing instructive programs to enhance technology-aided problem solving capabilities. Our technology center promotes community building and community improvement.

At Playing2Win, we strive to create meaningful courses for our members that take advantage of our technological resources while providing learners with skills that are relevant to their lives as a whole. Instead of teaching "technology in a vacuum," we use a project-based curriculum that allows students to learn technology while simultaneously pursuing personal goals.

We have learned that technology is an enabler when students are invested in the learning process and feel what they learn is relevant to their everyday lives. Thus, instead of teaching teens to use a graphic software program in a traditional classroom lecture environment, we create workshops where students learn to use the tool to produce tangible products such as calendars and postcards. As they create these images, they learn teamwork, entrepreneurship skills as well as the technology, which creates a learning environment that makes technology a means rather than an end.