(upbeat music) - We're now joined by Dylan Zajac, who's founder and director of Computers 4 People.

Good to see you, Dylan.

- Honored to be here, Steve, thanks for having me.

- Well, it's an honor for us to have you.

We'll put up the website.

Computers 4 People is what, and how the heck did you start it at 15 years of age in 2019?

- Yeah, well, yeah.

Back when I was a sophomore in high school, my friends and I used to go around New York City and New Jersey with our skateboards.

We would ride our skateboards, go on the subway, go to old thrift shops, buy old electronics, like bargain for a deal, and then put them back on our skateboards.

We would stack them up on our skateboards, bring them back to our house, and we would fix them up, refurbish them, and then sell them on e-commerce sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, sometimes Craigslist, and yeah, we had a really good business going for us.

But one day I noticed that all of these, all these companies didn't know how to get rid of their old e-waste, and that's why they would end up at these thrift stores, and it turns out now that 80% of e-waste actually ends up in the landfill, getting burned, and leaking toxic chemicals into the water, soil, and air.

That was by the UN.

And so I noticed this need, and I was talking to my stepmother one day who worked at a nonprofit in Brooklyn.

She told me how dozens of her clients don't have access to computers, so this was my light bulb moment of like, oh, I could take all these computers, refurbish them, and donate them to people in need, and at 15, I learned how to build a nonprofit, how to incorporate, how to build a board, and now we've grown it up to donate almost 3000 computers to people in need.

And we have two offices, one in Hoboken, New Jersey, one in Waltham, Massachusetts, and you know, this is just the beginning.

- Talk about leadership and making a difference instead of complaining about things.

It's very impressive on a lot of levels.

Dylan, let me ask you this.

Who gets access to these computers?

And what's the criteria you use to determine that?

- Yeah, we partner with over 400 non-profits now in New Jersey, New York City, and Massachusetts, and those nonprofits serve a variety of clients, but they know their communities the best, so we connect with them, we create a partnership, they nominate individuals in need, whether they're students, senior citizens, formerly incarcerated, refugees, a wide range of people in need.

They apply for a computer, get a recommendation from one of these nonprofits, we have an application committee that goes through, approves those applications, and when they're approved, we drop off the computer for free to the client, and we've seen some really great success stories.

We actually just had our fifth anniversary fundraiser last week where we raised over $30,000, which was amazing.

But we had a former recipient of a computer come to the event and talk about his experience, and he was incarcerated for over 35 years, and he received a laptop when he got out in partnership with the Fortune Society in New York City, and because of that laptop, he was able to get an education, learn about AI.

Now he is doing an internship because he got the laptop and looking for a job now, so that's just like the impact of one device.

Think about multiplying that by a million.

- Dylan, let me ask you something.

Growing up as a kid, where'd you grow up?

- I grew up in Hoboken, born and raised.

- Did you ever think, how old are you right now?

- I'm 21.

- Did you ever think at 21 this is what you would be doing?

- It's interesting because when I was younger I was really into filmmaking and video editing and all of that, so I thought I was gonna be a filmmaker, like as a freshman in high school.

But once I started Computers 4 People, my vision goes way beyond where it is right now, and I knew that since the beginning, so I just know how far this can go and how many people it can- - Hold on one second.

I wanna talk to you about computer literacy in a second 'cause I keep thinking about that.

But also, what do you mean your vision for where does this go?

- I mean, the need is not just here in the United States, it's global.

Like there's so many people around the world that need access to not only computers, but like you said, computer literacy and internet and whatever, you know, digital inclusion, digital equity brings next.

With AI, like who knows what challenges that will bring?

And I know that Computers 4 People can be on the forefront of that.

- We'll put up the website again right now.

How can people, well, I promise I'll come back to computer literacy, but people can donate their computers?

A and B, how the heck would they do it?

- We make it extremely easy for anyone to donate their computers, whether it's an individual or a company.

So they could just go to our website, Computers4People.org, submit to donate their computer.

We can pick it up or they can drop it off to one of our drop off locations, and we're also looking, if people can't support us with a computer donation, we also, you know, need financial donations to help us run the whole process, so we appreciate those as well.

- As someone who's had to raise money for more than a few years, how much are you learning about fundraising?

- A lot, I have learned a lot about grant writing and about talking with people.

I actually dislike writing immensely, but I write multiple grants a week, so I'm learning a lot.

Yeah.

- Computer literacy.

What does it mean and how do people get access to this literacy initiative?

- Definitely, computer literacy is essential.

If we just donate someone a device and they don't know how to use that computer, it's just a brick to them, right?

So we want to go beyond that and also provide basic skills.

So this is teaching someone how to turn on the computer, how to create an email address, how to write a resume, how to use Google Docs, how to, you know, all of the basics so that they can use that device to actually do something really useful and reach opportunities in their life, like applying for a job or going to school.

We actually teach two in-person computer literacy classes every single day, and that's only expanding from here.

We're working with tons of different nonprofits, libraries, schools.

- Before I let you go, the impact of the pandemic on your work.

- It's only made it like skyrocket in terms of need.

We have so many people applying for computers.

I actually, it's interesting 'cause we just started before the pandemic, we realized the need for computers before the pandemic, but when the pandemic came, the need for computers, digital literacy just skyrocketed, so.

And it's consistent with today, we still need, you know, a lot of support in order to address that need.

- Dylan, I've said this before to other young leaders, you're 21 years of age, you started this organization at 15 years of age in 2019.

I say this rarely, but I mean it sincerely.

I'm a student of leadership.

I recognize leaders who are exceptional, and they're hard to come by.

You're an exceptional leader, and you're making a difference, and I'm sure those who work with you are proud of your work and the impact that you're having.

Keep doing what you're doing and keep us posted so we can continue to help tell the story of what you're doing and the people you're serving.

Thank you, Dylan.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- You got it.

I'm Steve Adubato, that's Dylan Zajac.

Great stuff, we'll see you next time.

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