Recipients of Microsoft’s Connected Learning Community Grants, 1997 & 1998

  • Click on states in blue for details on 1998 grant recipients

  • Click on states in orange for details on 1997 grant recipients

  • Click on states in red for details on 1997 & 1998 grant recipients

Cordova Public School/Cordova, Alaska (1997 award winner)

This cash and software grant will link the local library, City Hall and public school together so residents of this Alaska fishing town have access to the Internet and computer training and resources.

Break Away Technologies/Los Angeles, CA (1997 award winner)

Break Away Technologies was formed in the wake of the Los Angeles riots to help expose kids and adults to technology for education and employment purposes. This grant will allow upgrades to hardware and software and will facilitate a Technology Awareness lecture series.

Hearing Eyes, San Jose, CA (1998 award winner)
Hearing Eyes is a Silicon Valley non-profit start-up that provides technological education to the blind and visually impaired of all ages. Hearing Eyes works to remove access roadblocks by adapting computers for use by the blind and visually impaired. Funds from Microsoft will contribute to the purchase of hardware, specialized software using voice technology, and other equipment to create a lab where students will be trained to use computers, software applications and the Internet.

Delhi Community Center/Warwick Square, Santa Ana, CA (1998 award winner)

Community Outreach Partnership Centers was funded initially by a federal HUD grant and strives to build the individual capacities of the low-income communities of Delhi Neighborhoods and Warwick Square Apartments. A Microsoft donation will contribute to the purchase of hardware, specialized software using voice technology, and other equipment to create a lab where students will be trained to use computers, software applications and the Internet.

Marion Street Project/Denver, CO (1997 award winner)

This grant will help build a computer lab to provide computers, training and Internet access to local Denver youth and adults. The Marion Street Project is a community agency composed of the Denver Street School, which assists disadvantaged youth continue their education; Belay Enterprises, which encourages business entrepreneurship; and Mile High Ministries, which runs a safe-haven caf
é
for homeless and at-risk youth, as well as day care for single mothers. This grant will allow the agency to share information technologies and computer literacy with their clients.

Waldec Education Foundation/Tampa Presbyterian Village/Tampa, FL (1997 award winner)

This non-sectarian low-income housing project is setting up a computer training program to teach computer skills to local residents.

Franklin Neighborhood Association/Belleville, IL (1997 award winner)

The FNA provides family assistance services, after-school tutoring and a computer lab for use by neighborhood youth. This grant will help support onsite training at the computer lab and provide Internet connectivity.

Chicago Children’s Museum/Chicago, IL (1997 award winner)

Awarded to the Chicago Children’s Museum, this grant will support after-school “computer clubs” in the Robert Taylor public housing community. Leveraging the museum’s existing relationships with three elementary schools, this grant will build on existing programming and create new activities for children and families to access computer technology and the Internet.

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (1998 award winner)

This training program will help patients who have recently suffered traumatic injuries gain the computer skills needed to secure employment in a variety of fields that require those skills. This grant will be used to deploy computers in the RIC facility and provide self-paced training materials. An on-site computer trainer also will be funded.

Technology Outreach Program/Boston, MA (1997 award winner)

This grant will enable the Patriot’s Trail Girl Scout Council to expand its successful Technology Outreach Program. Started in the Spring of 1996 by Microsoft, Compaq and local Girl Scout leaders, T.O.P.’s lab of six PCs introduces girls to computer and information technologies, provides them with role models and exposes them to potential career choices. The grant will allow the Girl Scouts to partner with the Boston Computer Museum in bringing the benefits of this computing facility to the entire community and to extend the program to other nonprofit organizations.

YWCA Boston, Boston, MA (1998 award winner)
The grant will be used to create a computer lab and provide Internet access to residents of the YWCA Grandfamilies Apartments, a supportive housing environment for grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. The computer lab will provide the technology component of the program Generations Learning Together, which is designed to address underachievement in math and science and provide access to technology for residents of the Grandfamilies Apartments. The lab will be used to create access to basic computer skills, the Internet and software applications for these disadvantaged families. Microsoft volunteers and Microsoft partners will be involved, providing training, mentoring and overall support.

Detroit Impact/Detroit, MI (1997 award winner)

This grant will enable the purchase of three Pentium computers for a community computer lab in an at-risk, low-income neighborhood in West Detroit.

Focus Hope/Detroit, MI (1997 award winner)

This grant was awarded to Focus Hope, a civil and human rights organization, for Tech Villa, a residential learning lab open to the Detroit community. This donation supplements a Community Involvement Fund grant from last year and builds on the involvement of Microsoft volunteers who have assisted with program design and implementation. Focus Hope plans to expose more than 400 low-income students to information technologies and computer training over the next year.

Metro Deaf School/Minneapolis, MN (1997 award winner)

This grant will allow Internet connectivity and construction of a web site to link the school to families, other schools and businesses in the area.

Friends of Tennis/Harrison School/St. Louis Park, MN (1997 award winner)

Awarded to the Harrison School in partnership with Friends of Tennis, this grant will expand the Harrison Computer Lab, which was recently started by 10 local businesses, including Microsoft. The purpose of this project is to expose urban area youth to state-of-the-art computing, the Internet, finance and computer careers and positive role models.

Mentor St. Louis, Inc./St. Louis, MN (1997 award winner)

Awarded to the Technology Advantage Project of Mentor St. Louis Inc., this grant will help develop a computer lab that will enable local elementary students to become computer and Internet literate, while reinforcing their basic skills working with mentors, including Microsoft volunteers.

The Center for Communication and Development, Minneapolis, MN (1998 award winner)

The Center for Communication and Development was established to provide communications training and education primarily to African Americans living in the Twin Cities metro area. This grant will support the purchase of computers, software and internet access for Let’s Get it Online, a pilot program that will train underprivileged sixth-grade children to use a variety of software applications as well as Internet basics. Children will be given the opportunity to build a web site for CCD’s radio station as part of their workshop training.

Feed My People Help Center/St. Louis, MO (1997 award winner)

The Help Center is a nonprofit rehabilitative center dispensing food supplies, job counseling, budget guidance, GED assistance and literacy and computer literacy instruction. This grant will upgrade the center’s computer lab, which currently consists of four donated PCs.

Employment Education Consortium/Staten Island, NY (1997 award winner)

The Employment Education Consortium on Staten Island, NY offers computer training for disadvantaged youth and adults in need of job skills training. Their grant will allow the consortium to provide instruction on the Internet and on Windows95, as well as implementation of a network and the addition of CD-ROM drives to existing PCs.

Children’s Museum of Manhattan/Teen Parenting program/New York,NY (1997 award winner)

This grant was awarded to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan in conjunction with Brandeis High School, for the literacy component of their teen-parenting program. The grant will add a computer to their facility, and participants will learn word processing to publish their shared experiences while also learning about technology. Participants’ essays are compiled into a booklet, and shared via the museum’s web site. In addition, the participants can link to the teen parenting program at the San Jose Children’s Discovery Place in San Jose, California.

Lakewood Community Development Corporation, Charlotte, NC (1998 award winner)

Lakewood Community Development Corporation (LCDC) will create a seven-unit computer lab in a low-income neighborhood as part of LCDC’s Neighbors Helping Neighbors, an ongoing community development program. The purpose of the lab is to improve the quality of life for all residents of this neighborhood, from the educational and recreational needs of youth to the job skills training for adults. Microsoft funds will be used to purchase hardware, cabling and software.

Columbia Technology Center, St. Helens, OR (1998 award winner)

Columbia Technology Center (CTC) is the first community-based technology center established in Oregon. Among its many services to the residents of rural St. Helens, Oregon, is the provision of Internet access, designing and hosting community web pages, training disadvantaged youth to build computers and teaching residents of all ages to use software applications and navigate the Internet. This Microsoft grant will provide additional software for expanded course offerings and will allow CTC to upgrade its network and add a new server.

Project Reflect, Nashville, TN (1998 award winner)

Project Reflect is an education program targeted for residents of a Nashville housing project. The project provides basic skills to pre-kindergarten children enrolled in Head Start. Parents of the children also are served by specialized programming. Project Reflect will use this Microsoft grant to incorporate technology as a tool for enhancing children’s skills. A learning lab for youngsters will be developed to include Actimates Barney Dolls, and software to enhance job-training skills for adults also will be donated.

John 23rd School/Dallas, TX (1997 award winner)

Located in one of the most economically depressed areas of North Texas, John 23rd School offers instruction to students, as well as job training and a vocational center for local parents and community members. This grant will upgrade current computer hardware and software in the computer training classroom.

Buckner Children’s Home/Dallas, TX (1997 award winner)

Awarded to Buckner Children’s Home in Dallas, this grant will support the creation of a community technology lab in which volunteers will teach children, youth and adults to use the computer and access educational and entertainment software as well as the Internet.

Children’s Museum of Utah/Salt Lake City, UT (1997 award winner)

This grant will allow for the purchase four computers equipped with the latest educational products that will complement the museum’s current, long-term exhibits in science, health, fitness, world cultures and art. The goal of the project is to provide children with access to computers and computer training in a positive learning environment located in an economically disadvantaged area of Salt Lake City.

Shenandoah County Schools/Shenandoah Valley, VA (1997 award winner)

These schools serve 110 students for who English is not the primary language. Working with the Shenandoah Valley Migrant Education Program and Literacy Volunteers of America, three laptops will be purchased to train ESL teachers, The laptops also will be available to students to complete assignments and share with their parents.

Grand Coulee Dam School District/Grand Coulee, WA (1997 award winner)

Awarded to the Grand Coulee Dam School District, located 2 hours south of the Canadian border in North Central Washington, this grant will implement a school-wide technology plan that will link the Grand Coulee Dam Middle School to a server with computerized curriculum and access to the Internet.

Hoquiam High School/Hoquiam, WA (1997 award winner)

Hoquiam, a timber-dependent community, has an unemployment rate twice the state average. This grant will establish an Authorized Academic Training Program and provide computer training to teachers, students and the community. Students will be trained to run the computer labs, which will be networked between area schools, libraries and City Hall.

Partnership for Learning/Redmond, WA (1997 award winner)

This grant will support the School-Community Resources Division in the Lake Washington School District. A “Resource Center” in the Redmond Town Center Shopping Center will be opened in July 1997, and will connect schools, libraries, government agencies, students, learning teams and staff within the district in what is hoped to be a national model.

Junior Achievement/Snoqualmie, WA (1997 award winner)

Awarded to Junior Achievement of Greater Puget Sound to conduct a pilot education and technology training program at the Echo Glen Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Snoqualmie, Washington. The program will combine Junior Achievement’s curricula, hands on computer and Internet training and community volunteer instructors who will serve as role models and resources for the 220 youth participating in the program.

Woodson High School/Washington, D.C. (1997 award winner)

Awarded to Woodson High School in Washington, D.C., this grant will introduce and educate more than 250 students in the use of computers, information technologies and business practices. This lab will serve as a model for the D.C. school system.

Community Preservation and Development Corporation, Washington, D.C. (1998 award winner)

This grant will support Gateway@Edgewood Terrace, Community Preservation and Development Corporation’s flagship program. Edgewood Terrace is a low-income housing project in a crime-ridden area, which has the second-highest unemployment rate in Washington, DC. Gateway@Edgewood Terrace provides a welfare-to-work program that includes computer, network administration and office productivity skills training to the residents of the Edgewood Terrace community.

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