Microsoft congratulates the following Unlimited Potential (UP) grant recipients. We are proud to support their work.
Argentina
Fundacion CDI
CDI is an Argentina-based nonprofit with a mission to promote the social inclusion of underserved and disadvantaged communities by using information and communication technologies as tools for building and exercising social responsibility. This project will set up 50 CDI Schools and four Regional Offices to teach IT skill training (including Web and graphic design, computer maintenance, and Internet access). CDI has three key partners/sponsors (Petrobas, Hewlett Packard, and Accenture) that have secured the budget needed for the first three years. The funds from Microsoft will be used to leverage a three-to-one match through the CDI Matching Fund supported by these partners.
Fundación Compañía Social Equidad
Fundación Compañía Social Equidad is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization that identifies champions who are running community-based organizations and schools. These locations are targeted for the installation of community-based technology learning centers (CTLCs), called Centros Equidad (CE). This project will develop the Equidad Community Learning Network (ECLN), a permanent online program that provides content, services development, and training for CTLCs based on a communications and information portal and an e-learning platform. The centers provide rural and aboriginal communities with training in Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, e-mail, and the Internet, and with train-the-trainer programs. Microsoft support will be used for the implementation of the CTLCs. Other partners include HP and Repsol-YPF.
Brazil
Sampa.org
Sampa.org has established a network of 10 telecenters in the poor and overcrowded district of Capão Redondo on the periphery of São Paulo, Brazil. These telecenters are in existing community organizations, including NGOs, churches, and schools. The computers are available free of charge and provide Internet access, and trained instructors help teach the community about computers and the Internet. Microsoft funding will be used to support a training program to create and publish Web-based content and audiovisual cultural content for youth groups; provide support and training for IT community business initiatives; support personnel involved in the project (both coordinators and community personnel); and provide support and maintenance of computers.
Chile
Fundacion Vida Rural
Vida Rural is a nonprofit organization founded in 1952 to reduce poverty and address the needs of those with low socioeconomic status by providing education and training, especially in rural areas. Microsoft will continue support for the National Program of Digital Alphabetization for the School and the Community: Realizing Potential. The program's objectives are to (1) reduce the digital divide in Chile, (2) introduce IT technology as a management tool, (3) provide new IT resources for the learning process, (4) provide synergy between organizations, programs, and infrastructure, and (5) develop a Microsoft community. The program plans to implement a mobile educational program across the country, including four units with 20 PCs each and two branches in Santiago. With support from Microsoft, Vida Rural will visit nine regions in Chile and reach 41,000 people, including teachers, students, and community leaders.
Colombia
Net of Social Solidarity
The Net of Social Solidarity is a presidential initiative designed to meet the urgent needs of the poorest and most vulnerable population sectors of the country and to facilitate their participation in social programs. The Program of Labor Training for Displaced Youth is designed to reintegrate into the work force individuals 17 to 30 years old who have at least an eighth-grade education and who have been expelled from their hometowns because of violence. The program provides training designed to meet the work-force needs of public and private companies.
Costa Rica
LINCOS
LINCOS (Little Intelligent Communities) is a network developed by the Costa Rican Foundation for Sustainable Development that promotes human development in marginal communities through the use of information and communication technologies. Each LINCOS unit serves as a place where community members go to learn technology skills, find innovative solutions to their problems, and delve into subjects of interest to the particular community. This support from Microsoft will build upon previous funding of LINCOS and support the development of new programs for present and future applications, the design and development of new technologies for the LINCOS units, and the creation of new educational materials for the users.
Roblealto Child Care Association
Founded in 1932, the Roblealto Child Care Association is a nongovernmental and social-welfare nonprofit organization addressing the social problems associated with children and the family. Funding from Microsoft will support updating computer equipment and increasing the size of the lab at the Enrique Strachan School, a part of the temporary residence shelter of Roblealto. When the lab is updated, Roblealto will be able to take advantage of the educational software that the Omar Dengo and other foundations have developed. The equipment, software, and training will provide the children with access to technology and IT skills training.
Ecuador
Fundación Derechos del Niños (FDN)
FDN and Programa del Muchacho Trabajador (PMT) are committed to defending and overseeing the fulfillment of rights for urban marginal and working children and youth. This proposal will strengthen the Youth Information and Communication Centers (CICJs) in eight cities, providing office equipment and furniture so that the centers can create rooms that provide low-cost access to the Internet for youth and a place for them to carry out their student or formative consultations and investigations. CICJ works with young people 15 to 20 years old who are excluded from schools or juvenile and popular organizations, and who don't have access to computer technology.
El Salvador
Fundación Bienestar Policial (FBP)
Fundación Bienestar Policial is a nonprofit organization founded in 1999 that works to improve the well-being of the personnel of the National Civil Police and their families. The project includes the creation and development of a Family Training Center with 43 computers and will enable National Civil Police personnel and their families to improve their lives with academic and professional success.
Guatemala
Cooperacion para la Educación (COED)
COED was founded in 1996 with the mission of bringing textbooks, computer technology, and learning materials to Guatemalan schools. The project will create 10 new CTLCs in impoverished Guatemalan communities, providing first-ever technology access and opportunities for lifelong learning to over 10,000 people of all ages. These CTLCs are unique in that they involve the whole community and operate on a revolving-fund concept: users pay a small fee to take computer classes, and a portion of these fees go into a fund that is held for five years and pays for the replacement of equipment as it becomes obsolete. CTLCs will be placed mainly in Guatemala's Mayan indigenous communities, which have historically been targets of repression and discrimination and remain among the poorest communities in the western hemisphere, and also in the impoverished urban areas of Guatemala City.
Trust for the Americas/Fundacion para las Americas
The Trust for the Americas is a nonprofit organization created in 1997 that is affiliated with the Organization of American States (OAS), whose mission is to promote sustainable development in the Americas. The Trust for the Americas, jointly with its main local partners, Comité Pro Ciegos y Sordos (CPCS) and FUNDABIEM, is running an innovative ICT program in Guatemala consisting of opening the first two fully accessible community technology and learning centers (CTLCs) for people with and without disabilities. The CTLCs consist of approximately 10 computers with full Internet access; they will improve ICT access for better learning and acquisition of job-readiness skills. They will train local instructors from partner organizations in ICT, adapted technology, job readiness, office technologies, and effective teaching and learning skills.
Mexico
Instituto Latinoamericano para la Comunicacion Educativa
This project is a component of the e-Mexico initiative and is supported by the government, including the president and the Ministry of Education. Microsoft funding will support a train-the-trainer education program for the operators of the 2,500 Digital Community Centers that are being established throughout disadvantaged areas of Mexico. These operators will be trained in the basic skills necessary to implement and maintain the community centers, serving disadvantaged adults and youth who do not currently have access to computers.
Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos
This federal institute provides education for Mexican adults and has a technology program called Community Centers that provides computer access and courses for adults to improve their quality of life. Microsoft funding will support the development of a customized solution to convert schools into community centers and vice versa. This will make it possible to fully utilize available facilities and provide a training solution to improve quality of life for adults.
La Casa de la Sal A.C.
Casa de la Sal is a 17-year-old nonprofit organization that provides multiple free services to people living with HIV/AIDS in Mexico City. Last year the Casa de la Sal community center started a Saturday computer workshop guided by IT volunteer students from one of the most prestigious universities in Mexico, the TEC de Monterrey. The volunteers bring their laptops and teach Microsoft Office programs to students. Funding from Microsoft will help expand the community center's technological capacity so that it can upgrade five of its services: computer workshops, availability of technology to create documents, printing services, Internet research services, and an electronic database for its library. Six computers connected through an internal network will be installed with Internet connections. To assure the operation of the new CTLC, we will charge nominal fees; we will also provide some scholarships to people who cannot pay, continuing our policy of being fully available to anyone who needs our services.
Mona Foundation, FUNDESCO
FUNDESCO's mission is to promote universal education for the individual, the family, and the community of indigenous people in Panama. Since 1994 its primary activities have been in support of the indigenous population of Ngobe Bugle in the Chiriqui region of Panama. Microsoft funding will support a project to install the first CTLC in the community, providing basic computer skills and technical training to indigenous teachers, their students, and community members. The CTLC will be installed in the Ngobe Bugle radio station and will have 15 solar-powered computers. This village is extremely remote, and the project will introduce computer technology, Internet access, and potential e-commerce opportunities to the region.
Peru
Centro FUNDADES
Fundación para el Desarrollo Solidario (FUNDADES) is a private, not-for-profit organization that was created in 1992 with the objective of initiating and executing programs and projects that improve quality of life for the most needy in the areas of health, education, shelter, and employment. The organization's work focuses especially on people with disabilities. This project will create opportunities to improve the lives of 800 policemen and soldiers who lost their careers as the result of disabilities acquired during the war against terrorism and the war against Ecuador. Microsoft funding will support the consolidation of three Community Centers with 30 PCs where policemen and soldiers with disabilities will be trained as technology evangelists. These centers will provide an infrastructure that enables participants to share technology lessons with their community and with other relevant community members, such as schools in the surrounding areas.
Puerto Rico
ASPIRA de Puerto Rico
ASPIRA was established in 1961 in New York with the goal of bridging the educational gap that existed between disadvantaged Puerto Rican youth and the rest of the population. Since the establishment of the local chapter in 1969, the organization has successfully developed and implemented a variety of innovative educational and social programs targeting youths of all ages and their families. This project will establish six CTLCs with 10 PCs each in strategically selected low-income and technologically underserved communities throughout the island (located in the municipalities of Mayagüez, Lares, Río Grande, Arroyo, and Juana Díaz). The project is a joint venture with the government of Puerto Rico's "Special Communities" Program. The project endeavors to make education in computer technology accessible to large numbers of poor, low-income families from six densely populated communities in Puerto Rico that currently do not even have a library within a reasonable distance. The CTLCs will be accessible to students of all ages, serving as a resource center as well as a lab where they will be taught basic technology skills
Uruguay
Intendencia Municipal de Paysandú
Microsoft funding will support two projects that will be implemented in different municipalities of the north part of Uruguay. These projects will be used as a model for other LATAM countries. The first project, Paysandú's Public, Social and Productive booths, is part of the Strategic Plan of Development – Paysandú 2015. Its goal is to abolish the digital gap, especially among the young rural population, by strategically placing seven public-access booths. The program is expected to benefit 2,100 young people. The objective of the second project, Rural Salto, is to enhance the quality of life for rural families in the department of Salto by implementing coordinated Internet access in several rural locations in the department.
Venezuela
SUPERATEC A.C.
SUPERATEC (Personal Growth through Technology) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to establish technology training centers for low-income residents of Venezuela. The center provides IT skills training and IT-related soft skills for disadvantaged communities. It is also developing a job bank, which will offer students job placement. The target population is approximately 200 high school students and recent unemployed graduates of the Liceo Felipe Fermin Paul school, a low-income public school without computing equipment. Microsoft funding will be used to acquire or develop training material, to compile the material for replication, and to provide training and job placement.
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