NYC immigrants want safer, better-paying work. A major hurdle: building digital skills.

Inside a small house in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx, seven Bangladeshi women sat around a large table earlier this month, trying to figure out how to mute themselves on Zoom. It was the first time many were using the video conferencing software. “ We should always stay mute until our turn to talk,” instructor Sakib Shikder told the class. He switched between Bengali and English as he went through the lesson. Sapna NYC, a nonprofit aimed at empowering South Asian immigrant women, offers classes on how to use Zoom, set up a Gmail account, attach a document to an email and use calendar reminders. Some students say they’re using spreadsheet formulas to organize their catering business. Others are using Zoom to communicate with their families. Advocates say learning digital skills can help immigrants find higher paid and safer work, apply for benefits online such as low-cost Metro Cards or better communicate with their kids’ schools. But they say despite demand, there are few programs in the city that teach digital literacy to immigrant communities, where residents face language barriers and often work in the informal economy.