Microsoft Community Affairs 2008 Unlimited Potential Program Recipients

United States and Canada

Microsoft congratulates the following Unlimited Potential (UP) grant recipients. We are proud to support their work.

United States

Arizona

Goodwill of Central Arizona

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will allow Goodwill to provide technology skills training at four computer training centers for low-income unemployed and underemployed adults. The classes will help this population gain the skills necessary to obtain employment that pays higher wages. The ultimate goal is to improve participants' self-sufficiency by increasing their wage earning potential.

California

Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC)

With Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding, APALC will provide training in technology-use and career essentials—including résumé preparation—for parents who are interested in changing careers, advancing their existing careers, or improving their employment opportunities.

Catholic Charities of Santa Clara

This project will provide computer literacy training and job search, job placement, and job retention services to new immigrants, refugees, single mothers and other low-income young adults. Building on existing support from Microsoft and others, the project will be able to double its training capacity with Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding.

Center for Employment Training

With support from a Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant, this program offers students training in IT skills that are related to their interest in a particular industry, such as the medical, financial, automotive, or multi-media industries. The students can customize these technology skills to meet specific job skill needs and to solve personal and business problems.

Goodwill of SF/San Mateo/Marin

The Career Learning Center (CLC), with seven training sites throughout Goodwill's tri-county service area, prepares participants for permanent jobs with sustainable wages and potential for career advancement. The CLC provides customized training and educational services to program participants who are referred for services and to Goodwill employees (35 percent of whom are former participants).

Goodwill Southern California

Goodwill Southern California (GSC) workforce development programs equip clients with the education and skills they need to successfully transition to competitive employment in their local communities. Goodwill operates three WorkSource Centers in Southern California. With support from a Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant, the centers offer services to help unemployed and under-employed individuals receive the training necessary to obtain gainful employment.

Opportunities Industrialization Center West (OICW)

Microsoft Unlimited Potential support will help fund five separate Opportunities Industrialization Center West (OICW) courses. These courses will focus on building technology skills ranging from the most basic computer skills to creating projects using digital multimedia.

Puente Learning Center

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will provide support for instructor salaries, instructional materials, and workshop-related expenses related to the Job Training program at Puente. This program emphasizes training in Microsoft Office applications. It is offered as a stand-alone course and as part of the Job Training and Computer Support Specialist programs.

Shih Yu Lang YMCA

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will help provide staff training (train-the-trainer) to all Shih Yu Lang YMCA staff and volunteers in the youth and senior departments, and IT skills training to youth, seniors, and other users. Additionally, the program will enable the YMCA to integrate technology into all programming efforts, including the health and fitness programs, teaching non-violent communications, and more.

SmartRiverside

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will expand the number of technology instructors at the city's 10 community centers. This will help the centers offer Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum to more community members, which will enable participants to operate computers and wireless access devices.

Street Tech

Street Tech will use Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding to support general operating expenses for its IT skills training program. Grant funds will support Street Tech's organizational operating efficiency and provide students with tools to help them succeed in their new careers in information technology.

TransAccess

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will support the TransAccess Access Technology and Basic Computer Literacy Skills Training services that are offered as part of school-to-career services. Additionally, this grant will provide access to technology and computer skills training from the Web site.

District of Columbia

America Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will help support the America Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) Federal IT Internship program. The Federal IT Internship program provides competitive, paid summer internships that allow college students with disabilities to work in the IT areas of federal agencies in Washington, D.C.

Operation Hope

This grant will establish Microsoft as Operation Hope's National Digital Empowerment partner. With Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding, Operation Hope will provide weekly computer literacy programs and Internet access to clients in the inner cities. In addition, Microsoft software will update the technology infrastructure of Operation Hope Centers across the country.

Year UP, Washington, D.C.

The project will ensure that Year Up students have hands-on experience with the latest Microsoft technologies to remain competitive as they graduate and enter the technical job market. Support from the Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will provide software and training for Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and other products.

Colorado

Center for Work Education and Employment (CWEE)

The Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will support salaries and maintenance expenses in the lab where computer training is conducted as part of a larger job readiness program at CWEE. The program uses the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Community Learning curriculum to challenge participants with higher reading skills.

Florida

Computer Mentors Group

The Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will facilitate the expansion of the project-based computer training curriculum for the Computer Mentors Kids Program (for children ages 7 through 13) and for the existing Microsoft Unlimited Potential program (for adults). Funding from this grant will help expand and continue the existing Computer Mentors Group "digital divide" program into additional communities within the metropolitan Tampa Bay area.

Miami Dade College Foundation

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will help provide information technology instructors, student interns, and multi-lingual training materials for E-Parks and e-Seniors digital literacy classes. These classes are offered to students age 18 and older to help increase the basic computer literacy skills of Miami's work force, seniors, and small business owners. Donated software will be used to upgrade the technology infrastructure of computer labs in E-Parks sites and participating senior centers throughout Miami. As the program grows, it is anticipated that each year, more than 15,000 residents will benefit from increased digital literacy and workforce readiness skills.

Per Scholas Miami

The Per Scholas Computer Technician Training Program empowers residents by helping them acquire technical skills that provide new job opportunities. The program trains individuals who have been laid off and those who aspire to earn more than a minimum wage salary. The program also trains people to become computer technicians and has an 80 percent success rate with job placement.

Idaho

Boys & Girls Clubs of America of Ada County

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will provide the organizational supplies, basic training, and equipment to improve the process and efficiency of a Microsoft Authorized Refurbishing Center. This center, which is operated at the club, provides young people the opportunity to learn about computer disassembly and rebuilding.

Illinois

Chicago Urban League

The Chicago Urban League Workforce Diversity Program will launch a virtual career center and will update and enhance its existing computer training center, using Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding. The League's Entrepreneurship Center will provide computer and technology training to African American small businesses, and the Parental Engagement Program will help families develop skills, including résumé and letter writing, spreadsheet creation, and conducting Internet job searches.

Lumity

With Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding, Lumity will expand IT skills training and certification programs in underserved communities by developing collaborations with the Chicago Public Library and local community technology centers.

YWCA of Chicago

Technology is integrated across the Model YWCA program, in which members will identify goals and priorities, participate in online learning, and support communities through a custom-built Empowerment Portal. They will also acquire advanced technology skills and job skills while working with a YWCA Empowerment Coach.

Massachusetts

Academy for Career Development

The Academy for Career Development provides educational opportunities for disabled, disadvantaged, and displaced children, youth, and adults. Through work internships and apprenticeship programs, it creates optimized learning environments in which students progress from classroom-based assisted learning, to self-directed learning, to a final demonstration of their ability to function competently in a contemporary workplace setting. Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will weave technology skills training into the existing program.

Salem CyberSpace

Salem CyberSpace helps low-income and unemployed people—as well as the staff of the organizations that serve them—learn new computer skills to effect positive change for themselves, their families and their communities. Building on prior support to the program, Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will help the program reach more unemployed people.

Michigan

Focus Hope

The Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will create the Microsoft Scholars fund for students in the Information Technologies Center programs. Low-income students will be able to apply for these scholarships, which will be granted to students based on their academic performance, attendance, and attitude. This funding will help underemployed and unemployed students make the transition to true careers.

Minnesota

Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota

The goal of the Lutheran Social Services Training and Employment Center is to provide more opportunities for computer and technology training, increase digital literacy, and create work-force training programs to help individuals find employment in local businesses or entry-level technology positions. Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will be used to establish a train-the-trainer program for use in the technology center. Microsoft will also donate software to this project when the new technology center opens in November 2008.

Nebraska

Hamilton Learning Center

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will help the Aurora Technology Center increase its service to the underserved populations in the Hamilton County region with critical IT skills training. The Hamilton County area is experiencing a fundamental change as the rapidly expanding ethanol industry has brought several new companies to the area, which has increased the need for technologically competent employees. Through a community survey, companies have clearly indicated a high demand for IT-savvy employees. The Community Technology Learning Center exists to serve that need and continues to grow to meet the training demands.

New York

Boys & Girls Clubs of the South Bronx

Helping to bridge the digital divide, the Madison Square Boys & Girls Clubs in the Bronx features a technology center equipped with up-to-date computers, printers, high-speed Internet access, and educational and business-standard software. Participating youth receive scheduled instruction, conduct Internet research, and use valuable online educational learning tools.

Henry Street Settlement

The Attain Lab at Henry Street Settlement serves the community by providing the necessary resources for all program areas, as well as for community residents who seek access to new technology. For many adults, the Attain Lab provides a primary access point for computer and Internet use. The lab also provides training using the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Community Learning curriculum. This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant builds upon a lasting relationship with Henry Street.

National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)

Through entrepreneurship education, NFTE helps young people from low-income communities build skills and unlock their entrepreneurial creativity. The entrepreneurship program connects young people from low-income communities to the school, the community, and the workplace. Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will help the program serve more young people.

NPower New York

The Technology Service Corps (TSC) program, run by NPower New York, creates opportunities for young people to use their IT skills in staff positions at local nonprofits. Through this program, NPower New York is working to train and support the next generation of nonprofit technologists. This program supports innovative young New Yorkers who can train for promising careers in technology and provides local nonprofits with highly skilled and enthusiastic talent.

NPower Network

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will help NPower unify the NPower affiliates into a more cohesive and cooperative national network, with a well-developed and shared understanding of our common mission, vision, and plans. This will allow NPower to better serve the technology needs of the nonprofit organizations across the country.

New Jersey

Boy & Girls Clubs of Newark

Through the Club Tech program at Boys & Girls of Newark, club members and staff gain basic computer skills; are introduced to digital movie making, music making, photography, and graphic design; and learn Web development skills. This program emphasizes community mobilization and family involvement as strategies that Clubs can use to better serve more young people and broaden the impact of all Club programs.

Easter Seals of Newark – Senior Community Services Employment Program (SCSEP)

The Easter Seals program, with funding from Microsoft Unlimited Potential, provides training and employment services to low-income senior citizens age 55 and older throughout the state of New Jersey. SCSEP's goal is to help seniors overcome the many challenges they may face on the road to becoming employable, including work experience, technology training, education, transportation, self-esteem, language, health, and other barriers related to age.

North Carolina

Lifebuilder Ministries

Lifebuilder Ministries runs a Cyber Campus at a Kannapolis High School that focuses on teaching displaced adult workers computer literacy and IT skills to help them re-enter the job market or improve their position. Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding and software donations support the Cyber Campus' essential retooling and retraining so people can start new careers and regain stability in their lives.

North Dakota

YWCA of Cass Clay

The Empowerment Through Technology project will further the mission of the YWCA of Cass Clay by creating social and economic empowerment opportunities for women. With Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding, program participants will have access to computers, Microsoft software, training courses, and supportive services offered through the YWCA with the additional support of Microsoft volunteers. The goal is to prepare these women for the journey to self-sufficiency and steady employment.

Ohio

ISpace

A Microsoft Unlimited Potential software grant will be used for iSPACE STEM programs offered at The Challenger Learning Center of Cincinnati. This center uses hands-on and minds-on interactive learning experiences that will promote leadership, communication, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. These learning experiences are aligned with local state and national standards.

Oregon

Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland

Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will support a pilot program to strengthen the focus and offerings of technology centers serving a diverse audience. The project will also create and share best practices with other local clubs, create a girls-only program to encourage young women to participate in IT skills training programs, provide skills training for club staff, and offer long-term in-depth job skills training programs.

Texas

Central Dallas Food Pantry – WorkPaths

The WorkPaths program will provide pre-employment education and IT skills training for chronically unemployed and underemployed people who live in Dallas, Texas. With Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding, the program will aim to equip participants with the hard and soft job skills they will need to secure long-term, living-wage jobs. The intent is that these jobs will enable participants to become independent members of society—capable of supporting themselves and their families—and will improve the community's economic development.

Technology for All

As an extension of the Community Technology 2.0 project to help people gain the knowledge and skills they need to earn a livable wage, Technology for All has been developing plans for a pilot program that will eventually serve all Community Technology 2.0 sites. Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will support the pilot program, which has been tentatively called "Houston Clicks at Home."

Virginia

Girls Incorporated – Girls At Work

Girls At Work is an expansion program that builds upon the economic literacy program currently provided to high school girls and which offers essential life and job skills such as banking, balancing checkbooks, financial investing, and résumé writing. Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding supports a program to offer basic IT skills training to students in business and technology tracks, and uses the Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum as a training tool.

Hill House Association

The Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will support the expansion of a workforce development program that provides technology skills training to individuals and families. The goal is to support people in obtaining more substantial employment and career advancement opportunities. Specifically, the program will enhance its technology capabilities by offering Microsoft Office Specialist Training Certifications during non-traditional hours or on weekends.

Mission W. Virginia

The Build It, Keep It, Share It (BIKISI) program will build a two-track system for educating youth and adults in the fundamentals of computer building and repair, and the software skills necessary for entry-level jobs in the workplace. Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding will support the instructors, evaluators, and data collection work needed to ensure that this program is successful.

Northern Virginia Family Services

The Northern Virginia Family Services' job readiness program, called Training Futures, will include evening courses, weekly job club coaching, graduate networking events, and computer skills reviews. The program will provide administrative computer training for low-income students, help participants receive college credits, and help program graduates use their updated skills to gain employment or pursue advanced technology offerings.

Washington

Workforce Development Council – Seattle-King County

Workforce Development Council (WDC) projects connect businesses and job seekers by providing the necessary resources and tools for successful employment, lifelong learning, and business development. Microsoft Unlimited Potential funding supports WDC projects in their technology implementation and training efforts across the state to ensure a strong and vital economy.

Canada

Ontario

YMCA of Greater Toronto

The Pro Tech Media Center at the YMCA of Greater Toronto has had incredible success since it began. It is now considered a best practice and is used as a program template on which to base new programs in additional underserved areas that will benefit from this program. Microsoft Canada—together with a coalition of partners including the City of Toronto, Humber College, the Humber Students' Federation, Toronto Community Housing, and the YMCA of Greater Toronto—launched the Rexdale Pro Tech Media Center to bring technology into underserved communities in Toronto.