REDMOND, Washington, Feb. 3, 1999 — Microsoft Community Affairs is pleased to announce the winners of the most recent round of Connected Learning Community Grants. Microsoft’s regional sales offices partnered with public and nonprofit organizations to develop grant requests for up to $15,000 per project, most of which also included software donations. Begun in 1996, the CLC program has awarded a total of $1 million in cash and an estimated $2 million in retail-valued software to 74 organizations in 21 states and the Districts of Columbia.
Full descriptions of projects funded during this round of CLC grants (listed by state):
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Eastmont Computing Center, Oakland, CA: $15,000
Serving as an information technology resource for the Oakland community, Eastmont Computing Center provides computer access, training and employment opportunities for low-income residents of all ages. Paid staff and trained volunteers run programs both at the center and at 25 community access labs located in churches throughout the area. This grant will be used to enhance and support the organization’s volunteer recruitment effort. In addition, software will be donated to support the organization’s network infrastructure as well as its many public access labs. -
Hayes Valley Computer Learning Center, San Francisco, CA: $15,000
CLC funds will be used to purchase ten multimedia computers for the newly constructed Computer Learning Center at the Hayes Valley public housing site. Part of the US Department of Housing’s Campus of Learners program, Hayes Valley is one of 25 public housing projects where computer technology and training have been integrated into the housing to help residents become economically self-sufficient. The software donation accompanying the cash grant will provide children’s titles for the computer lab and productivity software for the networked computers located in each resident’s home. -
Scottdale Child Development and Family Resource Center, Scottdale, GA: $15,000
Dedicated to providing childcare and family support services to the working poor and unemployed residents of DeKalb County, Georgia, the Scottdale Center will use the CLC grant to increase the number of computers in its Family Technology Resource Center. This center provides computer training for parents and Internet access for parents and their children. Funds will also be used to staff the center and purchase a self-paced software training program. -
Patriot’s Trail Girl Scout Council, Boston, MA: $15,000
The Girl Scout Computer Clubhouse was built in partnership with Microsoft New England in 1995 to provide inner-city girls with access to computers that they would not otherwise have at home or at school. Computer Clubhouse activities include producing Web sites, creating presentations, conducting scientific explorations, writing plays and recording music. This grant will allow the Clubhouse to upgrade its existing equipment and add six more computers to increase the lab size to twelve. Local Microsoft employees have been regular volunteers at the Clubhouse since it was established, helping the girls master the technology and serving as role models. -
Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN: $15,000
This grant will support the establishment of Studio 3D (Digital Design and Development], a fully equipped computer clubhouse for youth ages 10 to 18. The project is a collaboration between the Science Museum’s Learning Technologies Center, the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Targeting low-income youth in nearby inner-city neighborhoods, Studio 3D will provide these youngsters with the opportunity to learn how to use high-end computer applications as tools for interdisciplinary explorations. In addition, Studio 3D will be used to train staff from community centers throughout the Twin Cities area in creative applications of computers. -
WTVI 42, Charlotte, NC: $15,000
WTVI’s Ready to Learn is an educational outreach project that extends the benefits of public television’s educational children’s programs into child care facilities throughout the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. Ready to Learn provides teachers and child care workers with the training and curricula to combine educational programming with literature, technology and educational resources in the classroom and home environments. This grant will provide funds to establish a computer lab at each of three Boys and Girls Clubs participating in the Ready to Learn Program. The computers will be loaded with a variety of educational and children’s software that will provide children with an interactive experience that complements the Ready to Learn television curriculum. -
Alexander Children’s Center, Charlotte, NC: $15,000
The Learning Center is a year-round school for emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children receiving residential or day treatment at the Alexander Children’s Center. This grant will be used to purchase nine networked computers for three classrooms; software will also be donated. A previous CLC grant funded a lab for the Center’s pre-school. Microsoft employees from the Charlotte office have volunteered to set-up the pre-school lab and will offer the same support for establishing the lab for the older children. -
Science Linkages in the Community, Rochester, NY: $15,000
Science Linkages in the Community is an outreach program of the Rochester Museum and Science Center providing low-income youth with access to computer technology through non-school youth programs. SLIC also trains the community agency staff working with these children and supports over 45 community-based technology centers. This grant will support the establishment of a dedicated lab at the Rochester Museum and Science Center for training community organization staff and teen computer coaches in the content and delivery of age-appropriate computer learning activities. -
Easter Seals Society, Philadelphia, PA: $15,000
This grant will support start-up equipment costs for launching an Assistive Technology Center for children and adults with disabilities in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Easter Seals’ mission is to provide education and therapeutic services and to advance the welfare of people with disabilities. With the establishment of this computer lab, which will be outfitted with a variety of assistive technology devices and software, Easter Seals will be able to provide adults with job skills training and help younger children learn to read and write using the computer. -
Hope Computer Center, Memphis, TN: $10,600
Hope Computer Center, located in the low-income Binhampton neighborhood, provides local residents with a computer lab and Internet access. Introductory computer classes are offered as well as advanced instruction. This grant will provide funds to purchase upgrades for the fourteen computers used in the introductory classroom as well as two new Pentium computers for the advanced classroom. Software to be used in both labs will also be donated. -
Community Preservation and Development Corporation, Washington, DC: $15,000
Edgewood Terrace is an affordable housing complex of 884 subsidized, public housing and market rate apartments in a neighborhood just east of Capitol Hill with the second highest unemployment rate in the District of Columbia. A previous CLC grant (March 1998) provided all the software needed to equip Edgewood Terrace’s community computer center. This grant will contribute to the implementation of Edgewood Terrace’s Residential Network which will link every apartment at Edgewood Terrace (each will be equipped with a Windows-based Terminal) and provide residents with a variety of software applications, high speed Internet access and personal email accounts. This grant will include the software needed to operate the Residential Network. -
College Bound, Washington, DC: $15,000
College Bound provides comprehensive assistance to low-income high school students from the District of Columbia interested in pursuing a college education. To supplement its offerings, College Bound will use this grant to add technological resources to the College Preparation Center. Internet access will allow students and parents to research colleges, complete applications electronically, research scholarships and apply for financial aid. In addition to the computers that will be available at College Bound’s main office, funds will be used to purchase portable computers which will allow staff to provide this service to students in other low-income neighborhoods in the District.
