Microsoft congratulates the following Unlimited Potential (UP) grant recipients. We are proud to support their work.
Canada
YMCA of Greater Toronto
Microsoft Canada has aligned its Unlimited Potential efforts with the priorities of the City of Toronto in an effort to be a better corporate citizen and to create the greatest impact for its community investments. This YMCA project in the Jamestown neighborhood of Toronto is a natural extension of other Microsoft Unlimited Potential efforts already underway in Toronto, including JobStart and Dixon Hall. Through this project, and in consultation with the municipality, local residents, and employment service providers in Jamestown, community members will be trained in jobs-focused skills. The project will also provide a creative draw to engage youth in the community with resources so that they can start to attain the basic job and IT skills they need to gain employment or to pursue further education.
JobStart
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) grant will help enhance the Computer Learning Training Centre at JobStart, in addition to offering the UP and Digital Literacy curricula, enabling the program to serve its clients more effectively. Many of the program's clients have very limited IT skills and knowledge, and some have never used a computer. To address this and to meet the needs of a wide variety of clients at the center, a broad curriculum will be offered.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
This project builds on the success and investment of a previous Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant, which has made it possible for low-income Boys and Girls Club members to access technology and technology-based programs. Additionally, previous funding supported the clubs in developing a strategy and framework for the community-based training of volunteers and staff. The new grant will enable clubs across Canada to provide sustainable skill-development programs aimed at enabling members to succeed with their educational and vocational training goals.
United States
Arizona
NPower Arizona
The purpose of this NPower project is to improve work-force training opportunities for low-income, underserved Hispanic adults in the Tempe area by working closely with community partners, including Por La Causa, Communities in Schools in Arizona, and the Valley of the Sun YMCA. This project will pilot a work-force development program, Pathways to Enhanced Employment, which will be designed to integrate Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) computer literacy modules into the existing work-force training and placement programs of partner organizations. The UP grant will be used to develop, implement, monitor, and evaluate a 16-week series of classes designed to help participants acquire computer skills within a work-force development context. NPower will also develop a train-the-trainer module that can be shared with the partner organizations and within the NPower network for broad dissemination to other organizations that work with populations facing similar work-force development challenges.
California
SeniorNet Headquarters
This project will use the Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) curriculum to train students in three Native American Achievement Centers in how to use the 2003 Microsoft Office System so that the students can find employment, become entrepreneurs, and share their knowledge with other tribal members. An important part of this project is training a Native American UP Training Consultant, who will take the program to the other tribes. This pilot project will evaluate the effectiveness of adapting and using UP curriculum as the course content in the Achievement Centers to provide training in basic and intermediate IT skills. Microsoft Unlimited Potential funds will be used for a pilot train-the-trainer program using the UP curriculum.
Boys and Girls Clubs Orange County Alliance
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will provide IT training to Boys and Girls Club staff in Orange County, California. Over the course of one year, staff at these clubs will attend dedicated workshops conducted by trained IT professionals, including Microsoft staff, and these trainings will be leveraged with the LA Alliance of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Club staff will receive training in basic and advanced software applications, teaching programs for youth, maintenance, and administration skills. The objective of the trainings is to create an advanced tech subculture within the 16 Orange County Boys and Girls Clubs.
Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC)
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will provide technology capacity-building assistance to upgrade APALC's network operations. Specifically, it will fund the installation of a T1 phone line for enhanced data flow, the implementation of SharePoint to strengthen a collaborative work environment, and training for staff on videoconferencing and SharePoint. These improvements will help support improved delivery of services to the low-income, limited English-speaking Asian and Pacific Islander community served by APALC.
Los Angeles Urban League (LAUL)
The LAUL has launched a five-year strategic plan that includes an initiative to revitalize a 70-block area of the Park Mesa Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles surrounding Crenshaw High School. The LAUL Headquarters location is being transformed into a wireless ICT hub and community technology center so that residents in the neighborhood and others in Los Angeles can learn more about education, employment, safety, health, and housing. The goal is to provide IT skill training to youth, adults, displaced workers, and seniors to enable them to apply for college, compete for jobs, and remain in the work force. The Microsoft Unlimited Potential funds will be used to provide IT instructors, and the software grant will be used in deploying the technology infrastructure.
PUENTE Learning Center
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant supports PUENTE's High School Tutorial (HST) program, including the new Computer Software & Repair course. Students in the Computer Repair course will prepare for PUENTE's Computer Support Specialist and Job Training programs. They will also receive training in technology and office skills, and they will receive assistance with job placement. Students not participating in the computer repair course will receive academic support and mentoring through the HST program. They will learn how to use Microsoft Office programs such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Access, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. This donation will support instructor salaries, instructional materials, and tools.
Jewish Vocational and Career Counseling Service
The Business Basics Program offered by the Jewish Vocational and Career Counseling Service provides increased access to computers, relevant technology training, and results-driven employment resources to disadvantaged job seekers to ensure that all members of the community have tangible tools with which to obtain employment and achieve self-sufficiency. The Business Basics continuum of technology access, relevant training, and individualized employment support is designed to directly address the major barrier of limited computer skills, which is a daunting obstacle to employment and economic advancement for people without the ability to update their technological proficiency. With support from Microsoft Unlimited Potential, the program will provide participants with accessible and relevant computer skills, focusing on the specific skills most useful for their targeted industries. This will empower people to compete for available jobs and improve the economic situation for themselves, their families, and the San Francisco community.
Street Tech
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will support Street Tech's GET IT program, which strives to help men and women of all ages who are unemployed or underemployed and living in poverty to achieve economic self-sufficiency by training them to begin vibrant, viable careers in information technology. The learning environment at Street Tech has been designed to immerse participants in a professional business environment that extends from the physical environment to their business-casual uniforms. Each student is treated, in every way, as though he or she were actually on the job. The result is highly professional, skilled technicians who can successfully compete and thrive in their new IT careers. Men and women who complete this program are experiencing increases in income, with potential for significantly more pay and career advancement, and they are moving away from public assistance and engaging in the economic mainstream. Equally important but less tangible, participants are also becoming role models for their families and their communities, showing that success is possible.
Shih Yu Lang Central YMCA
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will build on the success of the Computing Training Center at the YMCA that is currently serving youth, adults, and seniors. Funding will support staff development and training in technology to ensure continuity of technology training during staff turnover, integrate technology into all aspects of the YMCA programming at this branch, and support current users of the center by providing advanced computer skills training.
Colorado
YouthBiz
The purpose of this project, which is supported by a Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant, is to provide training in IT skills for youth and adult residents of the Denver Housing Authority to assist them in developing job-ready skills so that they can enter the labor market. The program works in conjunction with YouthBiz, a training program for young adults in middle school and high school that provides training in leadership, business skills, academics, and technology skills, including Microsoft Office programs such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The program also aims to provide access to MOS certification for interested residents who have completed basic and intermediate skills training.
District of Columbia
Capitol Hill Computer Corner
The program will provide IT skills training to youth and adults in underserved section of metropolitan Washington, D.C., through after-school programs, summer programs, and adult education programs. This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will be used to support staff teaching in the after-school, summer, and adult education programs and to hire staff to support the GED program. The grant will also be used to provide supplies for these programs and to help maintain and upgrade technology resources, which are vital to ensuring that the programs run smoothly.
Byte Back
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will be used to upgrade the quality of teaching and instruction and the overall quality of the Community Academy and Intern Technology Program. These programs address the need for IT skills training in the community and provide access to work-force development training.
Higher Achievement Program, Inc.
The purpose of this Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant is to provide support to technology instructors in the Higher Achievement Program. The program provides middle school students from low-income neighborhoods with four years of technology training. After they graduate from the program, students continue to receive support through the Follow-Through program, which connects students with internship and job opportunities by using a listserv and Web-based discussion sites. The program has received the Accenture/NPower award for Nonprofit Innovation in Technology and impacts families as well as students.
Florida
MacDonald Training Center, Inc.
The purpose of this Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant is to provide a new technology center for individuals with disabilities in Plant City, Florida, thereby increasing the number of people who can be served. The grant funds will support staffing, curriculum development, and training for the lab. The center will provide training in basic computing skills, basic computer hardware identification, simple adaptive equipment, Microsoft Windows, Internet skills, word processing, e-mail, digital imaging, and keyboarding, as well as tutorials in daily living skills. Scheduled computer courses will be available to community members served by the Day Services and Employment Services programs at the Plant City location (James Ranch). Staff will also receive training to expand their technology skills.
Georgia
Asian American Service Agency
This project, with support from Microsoft Unlimited Potential, will provide technology skills and job-readiness training to Asian immigrants in the Atlanta area. The organization provides 20 weeks of skills training and an additional 6 weeks of job-placement assistance to this population. Most new immigrants with education and experience still find themselves unemployed or underemployed because of the lack of IT and career guidance. This program will help combat the unemployment and underemployment problems of these Asian Americans by providing technology skills and training.
Illinois
IT Resource Center
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will enable the IT Resource Center to conduct a pilot program of collaborative IT skills training and work-force development training models for underserved and unemployed adult workers. Partners in this effort include the Chicago Public Library and other community technology centers.
Jane Addams Resource Corporation
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant supports the Technology Promoters initiative, a train-the-trainer model for IT skills training and work-force development support among the unemployed Latino population. The program provides IT skills training in manufacturing-sector work-force development training programs.
Hull House Association
The purpose of this Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant is to provide technology-based employment services to low-income, unemployed adults and residents of public housing in Chicago. Hull House Association community technology centers provide unemployed adults with access, knowledge, and skills training to maximize the resources and information available through computer technology. The program will promote the economic development of communities, will provide job training in computer technology, and will provide placement opportunities for adults previously unskilled and unemployed.
Midtown Educational Foundation (MEF)
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will provide software to update the technology labs of the MEF. It will also enable MEF to hire an IT training expert to work with the lead staff person to develop an appropriate student curriculum for the centers. In addition, the foundation will provide a train-the-trainer program to transition the initial program to ongoing implementation by the MEF staff and volunteers.
Comer Science & Education Foundation
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will support the computer center operated within the Gary Comer Youth Center, which serves students, parents, and other adults in the community. The lab will serve community residents by providing classes focused on basic IT and computer skills and by providing open lab use to community residents. The center's classes will focus on applied computer skills that directly prepare students for the work force.
Prairie Tech Learning Center
Many low-wage jobs in rural areas do not offer extended opportunities to learn new or transferable skills that could help workers acquire a better or higher-paying job. In Monmouth, Illinois, as in many rural areas, there are few resources available for Spanish-speaking community members, and many offices of local government or aid organizations do not have a Spanish-speaking person on staff. There are many Web sites available for Spanish speakers, but often the Hispanic population does not have access to computers or the Internet. This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will enable Prairie Tech to offer classes to Hispanic community members in Monmouth. These courses will provide training in technology skills so that participants can find available resources online, learn English, apply for jobs requiring technology knowledge, or start a business.
Indiana
CRWorks, Inc.
The Lake Community Technology Center (LCTC) offers IT skills training, tutorial assistance, and work-force development training to the community members of Gary, Indiana. The LCTC has partnered with the Department of Education, the City of Gary, and Lew Wallace High School to provide ISTEP tutorial assistance to students at Lew Wallace High School. With this Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant, the LCTC will work with the welfare department and Workone centers to provide Microsoft certification classes in Microsoft Office productivity for unemployed or underemployed individuals, enabling them to obtain higher-paying jobs that will set them on a path toward self-sufficiency. The LCTC is also poised to help close the digital divide by providing access to the Internet and other computer-based services for various personal and professional growth endeavors.
Louisiana
Joy Corporation of Baton Rouge
JoyTech is committed to empowering surrounding communities to improve education levels, gain job-related skills, build personal and community capacity, and link with other communities by providing a community service, social action, and educational facility where computers and related communication technologies are available to people who otherwise might have little or no opportunity to use or learn to use these technologies. The Microsoft Unlimited Potential donation will be used to create jobs through the implementation of document management and knowledge management training, provide computer literacy training in entry-level work-force skills, and enhance employability of the local work force through implementation of technology training in document conversion and knowledge management.
Maryland
Learning Independence Through Computers, Inc. (LINC)
The purpose of this Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant is to provide IT skills training in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office programs such as Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint to students and adults with disabilities. LINC will train young people and adults who are underserved and have disabilities in basic technology skills using the Unlimited Potential and Digital Literacy curriculum. Participants in last year's class will receive advanced training to advance their skills in Microsoft Office Word or Microsoft Office Excel. LINC will also provide job training in computer skills for students and adults with disabilities who are transitioning from school to work.
Massachusetts
Center for Women & Enterprise
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) grant supports the creation of a women's business technology and distance learning center in Boston that will be patterned after a successful model supported by Microsoft in Providence, Rhode Island. The center targets women age 12 and older who are seeking to start and grow businesses. The goals of this project are to equip a UP Center in Boston, integrate technology skills training into the business development curriculum, and offer technology-focused workshops to emerging and existing business. Instructor and curriculum resources will be shared between the Boston and Providence sites. This Microsoft donation will be used to support technology workshops and to update existing curriculum to include an IT skills training component.
Easter Seals Massachusetts, Inc.
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will help disadvantaged youth and adults with disabilities enter or remain in the work force by helping them learn and take advantage of the accessibility features of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system. The donation will provide software, funds to upgrade memory on computers, and funds for staff and client training on the new platform for centers in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts.
Michigan
Michigan Jobs Training Partnership
This project is designed to provide an integrated work-force training program for WIA-eligible adults and dislocated workers served by the Career Alliance and the Saginaw-Midland-Bay Michigan Works! Agencies. Workers in these counties have been significantly affected by plant closings and relocations as a result of a declining automotive manufacturing economy in Michigan. With the goal of training a work force to meet the current needs of employers, Michigan Works! Agencies in five counties will identify adults who have barriers to employment for participation in this project, which will be supported by a grant from Microsoft Unlimited Potential. The training will focus on workplace skills and information technology skills so that participants will be able to obtain their GED at a distance or online, use a computer program to recover high school credits and obtain their high school diploma, join the labor force, or go on to participate in postsecondary education and training. The project will be used as a pilot to create a work-based training curriculum that has been employer and college tested.
Missouri
St. Patrick Center
This project, with support from Microsoft Unlimited Potential, will work to create a uniform, secure, and compliant operating system platform by ensuring that all workstations are running the latest version of Microsoft Windows, as well as Microsoft Office. This consistency will enable businesses, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations to more easily interact and cooperate. The project will also create a secure and stable domain structure by having the latest Microsoft Windows Server software on all production servers, including SQL. Through these upgrades, the center's employees will have the means of working efficiently and in an environment of high productivity so that they can effectively support the homeless and impoverished in achieving stabilization and self-sufficiency.
New York
Bailey House, Inc.
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will provide upgrades to the computer lab and IT skills training courses used by Bailey House residents and drop-in clients at the Bailey Computer Center in East Harlem. The Microsoft donation will be used to support IT program staff, maintain access to the Internet, provide patrons with access to the Microsoft Certification Library, and support other general marketing and program areas. Additionally, workshops in Internet and privacy protection, search engine use, basic computer skills, office productivity, hardware repair, and Web design will be offered as part of the upgraded training courses.
NPower NY
Technology Service Corps (TSC) is a work-force development program managed by NPowerNY that trains out-of-school youth ages 18 to 25 on a set of technology and professional skills. Graduates are placed in junior IT positions within the nonprofit sector. This grant from Microsoft Unlimited Potential will strengthen the hands-on technology training and support students in obtaining their MCP certification.
North Carolina
Athletes United for Youth (AUFY)
AUFY develops, operates, and supports structured, affordable, and accessible after-school programs, computer learning centers, one-on-one mentoring, and substance abuse prevention and awareness programs for youth ages 7 to 16. The program enables students to gain basic and intermediate computer technology skills at two community-based, after-school educational computer learning centers. Youth in this program will improve their technology skills, use the computer as a research tool, and learn to use the Internet. The Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will also enable AUFY to hire additional staff to administer weekly basic and intermediate computer learning sessions and guide youth in after-school computer-based activities.
Junior Achievement of the Central Carolinas, Inc.
The Junior Achievement Exchange City Grant serves underserved students by providing them with the opportunity to use technology in managing a simulated economy. This simulation includes places of business such as city hall, post offices, banks, technology shops, radio stations, restaurants, newspapers, accounting firms, retail shops, and other community business partners. The Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will support computer training for the program's volunteers to further train youth and staff, as well as significant software and hardware upgrades.
Iredell-Statesville Community Enrichment Corporation
The project, with support from Microsoft Unlimited Potential, provides underserved populations with training in IT career skills and life skills to help them compete for jobs that enable an improved quality of life. Three Skills Center labs are operated in partnership with Mitchell Community College, the Housing Authority's Summit Village Community Center, and the Housing Authority's Parkwood Community Center. Basic IT skills courses are taught at all locations.
Oregon
Centro Cultural de Condado Washington
The purpose of Access Technology is to develop and enhance the access to information technology and computer literacy for low-income Latinos so they can use technology as a tool to improve the quality of their lives in this country. This Microsoft Unlimited Potential donation will be used to provide instructors and materials for IT skills training in a variety of classes that offer instruction in basic to intermediate skills over a three year period.
Pennsylvania
Southwest Community Enrichment Center
The primary goal of the Teens 'N Technology (TNT) and Career Development Program is to provide low-income students with skills, support, and guidance in pursuing meaningful and successful careers beyond high school. The program's objectives are to motivate teenagers to stay in school, to develop the computer skills necessary in this era of technology, and most importantly to develop the pride in accomplishment and sense of responsibility required in higher education and the business world. The Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will provide funding for programmatic support to sustain and develop this program.
ACLAMO
ACLAMO provides social service assistance to the rapidly expanding Latino population in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will expand ACLAMO's capacity to make IT resources and quality skills training available to its predominantly underserved Spanish-speaking constituency, including youth and adults. ACLAMO is actively engaged with county employment and training officials to plan for a major expansion of job-related services for Spanish speakers in 2007. That planning is expected to result in designation of ACLAMO's Norristown center as the county's bilingual job-training and job-placement services outlet, or Career Link site. ACLAMO's computer lab is a key element of the plan and will enable community users to acquire skills, conduct Web-based job searches, and receive bilingual training and support.
Assets Lancaster, Inc.
The goal of Assets Lancaster is to create a technology center that will offer professional and technical training in small-business software. With support from a Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant, this training will be available to current and future graduates who are ready to take the next step in ensuring the success and growth of their businesses. The Assets 2.0 Technology Center is a technology curriculum program that will be made available to graduates of the Assets Lancaster entrepreneurial training program. Assets 2.0 will provide students with IT skills training in applications relevant to small-business owners.
Rhode Island
Year Up
Year Up is a one-year, intensive training program that provides urban youth ages 18 to 24 with a unique combination of training in technical and professional skills, college credits, and a corporate apprenticeship. This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will be used to support student training in IT, including hands-on experience with the newest Microsoft technologies such as the 2007 Microsoft Office system and Windows Vista.
Tennessee
Youth Villages Inc.
Youth Villages provides children in its residential treatment program with access to the latest technology to enhance their studies, familiarize them with technology tools, and prepare them for the work force. Children on the Youth Villages residential campuses have serious emotional and behavioral problems that make it difficult for them to succeed in the classroom and later in the work force. This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will enable the Youth Villages teachers to help children learn in different, innovative ways so that they can overcome learning disabilities and have a better chance at educational success.
Texas
Houston Area Urban League
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will provide training to displaced and unemployed workers in the Houston area. This training will include basic computing, computer literacy skills, skills using the Microsoft Windows operating system, and skills using Microsoft Office Word and Microsoft Office Excel. Classes are designed to provide participants with the knowledge and skills they need to become computer literate. The lack of basic computer and IT skills presents the most critical barrier for entry into unsubsidized employment and to job retention.
Head Start of Greater Dallas
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant provides a focused benefit to Head Start program families by supporting a qualified, bilingual trainer to provide IT skills training in basic computing. The goals of the program are to provide parents with job-related computer skills; to provide parents with the computer skills they need to help them in an educational setting, such as high school, college, or a training program; and finally, to provide parents with the computer skills they need to use a computer in the home so that they can access educational and other resources on the Internet for themselves and their children.
LifeNet Community Behavioral Healthcare
LifeNet operates a Supported Employment and Vocational Training program that receives referrals from state agencies, clients, and other sources. As part of the Supported Employment program, the vocational training includes classes in computer skills, job-application skills, preparing a résumé, and interview skills. Through these courses, participants learn the skills they need to qualify for a different or better-paying job, with the end result being increased productivity in the community. This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will support an instructor to teach information technology classes, including basic computer skills and office productivity.
Technology For All
With support from Microsoft Unlimited Potential, this project will assist hurricane evacuees, displaced workers, and other residents of low-income neighborhoods in gaining the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need to successfully participate in today's world and earn a livable wage. Community Technology 2.0 (CT 2.0) will provide training to community technology centers with the resources necessary to increase their ability to provide services to evacuees and other clients. These resources will include trained volunteers, AmeriCorps VISTA members, technology equipment and technical services, communications support, and access to information resources. In the first year of the program, at least 500 clients will receive training in IT technology skills.
Utah
Salt Lake City Foundation - Sorenson Computer Center (SCC)
The goal of this project is to assist youth and adults in gaining technology fluency. The grant from Microsoft Unlimited Potential will fund a part-time position for an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and a part-time position for a computer skills instructor. In addition, grant funds will enable the program to purchase a projector and refurbished computers for the youth computer construction course. The long-term goal of the project is to assist individuals in entering the economic and social mainstream with the competency and confidence to use technology. The community-based strategy and creative focus of SCC will continue to assist young people and adults in translating their visions, imaginative designs, business ideas, and creative ideas into tangible expressions and marketable skills.
Virginia
Computer C.O.R.E.
This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant will fund training operations at Computer C.O.R.E. The training will include keyboarding; Microsoft Windows; Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint; the Internet; Web-based e-mail; and hardware. It will also cover career and life skills, including assistance with job placement.
Washington
Seattle Jobs Initiative (SJI)
SJI has received support from Microsoft for two innovative IT skills training programs. SJI is partnering with the Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC) to assist homeless clients in the Connections program in securing and retaining employment. With this Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant, SJI plans to offer clients computer training on site as part of the Connections program. This training will enable clients to gain the computer skills that are critical to securing a meaningful job, conducting an effective job search, producing a résumé, and engaging in the continuous learning necessary to succeed and advance on the job. Additionally, SJI and South Seattle Community College (SSCC) will implement a Career Pathways model that will offer low-income students articulated training tracks in specific industry sectors that map out the jobs and training steps required to advance up a career ladder. An initial training step, called the Bridge Program, will enable individuals with low literacy skills and individuals who need to achieve a higher level of literacy to enroll in the short-term sector training through SJI and SSCC.
Hopelink
In its second year of funding from Microsoft Unlimited Potential, Hopelink will continue to provide computer skills training through small group classes, one-on-one tutoring, and practice labs to assist low-income people in north and east King County in increasing their computer skills and improving their employability. The key focus is on beginners who are learning to use a computer for the first time and on those who need computer skills to increase their employability. The Microsoft donation will be used to expand access and capacity during the second year of the program. Specifically, the grant will enable Hopelink to strengthen project staffing by increasing the computer education coordinator's hours from part time to full time and to increase the availability of the job-readiness computer lab during evening hours.
NPower Seattle
Microsoft Unlimited Potential funds will provide support for the NPower Seattle Technology Service Corps (TSC) one-year pilot. The TSC addresses two issues. The first is the difficulty that nonprofits have maintaining stable and secure technology infrastructures. The second is work-force and service learning opportunities related to technology. The TSC program provides participants with training in basic technology-support skills and assigns them to local nonprofits that need help maintaining their technology infrastructures. NPower Seattle conceived this project as a new approach to meet a critical need for technology support among local nonprofits while providing practical experience that prepares participants to enter the work force. This effort also aligns with the NPower strategic roadmap that aims to establish standards for stable and secure technology infrastructures for local nonprofits.
Yesler Terrace Community Learning Center
Yesler Learning Center's mission is to provide residents of Yesler Terrace public housing and the surrounding community with a nurturing, safe, culturally sensitive environment. In the Yesler Learning Center, residents are offered practical knowledge and training in the use of electronic technology and the English language—tools for life-long learning, personal empowerment, and community empowerment. This Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant supports staffing and consulting to expand the center's current programming and to offer advanced training classes in IT skills. Through lectures and hands-on computer training, students will have the opportunity to master word processing, spreadsheets, and keyboarding. They will learn about databases, learn to prepare computer presentations, and learn to use programs such as Microsoft Office Outlook and the latest version of Microsoft Windows. Yesler staff will also work with Seattle Housing Authority Job Connection to provide support and follow-up to program participants after training is completed. Job Connection staff will work with clients on job preparedness issues such as transportation, training, child care, and clothing. They will also help them prepare for job interviews and may recommend specific employers. This is the second Unlimited Potential grant that Yesler Terrace has received from Microsoft.
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