"It really is people over profits for me."
That's how Trish Lopez described her work with Teeniors, an Albuquerque-based startup she founded in 2015 that hires teens and young adults to coach older generations on how to use technology.
Teeniors received national recognition two weeks ago when the company was included among 40 startups in the inaugural American Inno national Startups to Watch list. The recognition comes as Teeniors expands training programs in the cities of Las Vegas and Deming in New Mexico while hiring seven new "coaches" that train older adults in how to use technology.
The hiring and program expansion comes off the back of a grant from the NextFifty Initiative, a Denver-based foundation that gives money to organizations focused on improving the lives of older generations. It's the largest grant Teeniors has received, Lopez said, and it's set to run until the spring of next year. The company, which created a nonprofit arm in 2017 to provide service to people that couldn't afford it otherwise, has landed grants from Verizon and the Santa Fe Community Foundation as well.
Pilot programs in Deming and Las Vegas have Teeniors coaches work in person in senior centers. Lopez hopes to expand that model into Valencia and Santa Fe counties next year. She also wants to create a new partnership with the City of Albuquerque. Teeniors has worked with the city before, but Lopez wants to ramp up that work through new hires and connecting with more older adults in an in-person setting.
At the core of Teeniors' work is helping both younger and older generations — not just the elderly, Lopez said.
"Our goal is to empower older adults to connect with their loved ones [and engage] with their communities and the world through technology while providing paid and meaningful jobs for teens and young adults in New Mexico," Lopez said. "That's the key for me, to empower both generations."
Her work is inspired by her own experience growing up in New Mexico. It's need-driven work, Lopez said.
"We are addressing documented needs in our society," she said. "Everything from social isolation and youth unemployment to intergenerational connections."
Even with large grants and national recognition, Lopez wants to make sure that Teeniors' growth is "careful and considerate."
"I'm not like 'we need to grow as fast as we can and hire as much as we can', that's not my goal," Lopez said. "My goal is how many people we can help in the same high-quality way that we help everyone here in Albuquerque."
