Denzel Strowder

Denzel has been one of our more ambitious students. This 17 year-older has been an active participant in the CMG Teen Program for the past year. He was motivated to attend CMG by his grandmother and several CMG teen participants.

He was awarded his Certiport IC3 certificate in June, 2009. This certificate is awarded when the student passes tests on basic computer hardware and software knowledge. He is now eligible to be a student in our High Achievers Mentoring Program.

Denzel is a senior at Tampa Bay Technical High School. His major is Architecture. To the CMG instructors, He has expressed his high regard for the CMG programs and their future benefit to his technical future. He plans to begin his post-secondary studies at Hillsborough Community College. His ultimate goal is to be a computer programmer, data analyst, or video game designer.

In addition to his academic pursuits, Denzel plays football and has a passion for video games, music, and computers.

CMG is confident that Denzel has the motivation and initiative to be very successful in his chosen career.

TECH BOWL 2009

More  News about Tech Bowl 2009, coming  in Our  Next Newsletter, and be sure to visit our Website, for exciting  news, as events unfold.
Upcoming Events

2009 Back-To-School Computers For Youth Campaign

Computer Mentors is planning a back to school computer giveaway campaign. The giveaway will occur in late August and this year we will distribute the computers through local churches, mostly from the East Tampa area. The campaign is a joint fundraiser for both CMG and the churches. We are asking the public for donations of $100 each to assist us to get these computers into qualifying homes.

The program is again made possible this year by a software distribution program administered by Microsoft called Microsoft Approved Refubishers (MAR). MAR allows CMG to install Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Office Profession for a minimal fee. Additionally this year Microsoft has distributed a set of digital literacy curriculum that will also be installed on each computer. The digital literacy curriculum includes Computer Basics; The Internet & World Wide Web Basics; Productivity Software Basics; Computer Security and Privacy; and Digital Lifestyles.

Recipients lined up to receive computers at a previous Back-To-School giveaway.

Computer Mentors has also joined the Computers For Youth (CFY) national network. As a CFY affiliate we will also be able to provide 13 educational software titles in our package. These include titles in math, English and social studies, which have been tested by low-income students and education executives from around the U.S. Our personal favorites are the Help Math Program and the Word-Up to Vocabulary Program. These programs provide learning capability to students of all ages, even into a home environment with no Internet access (see additional details).

The combination of the Microsoft digital literacy curriculum and the CFY educational titles allow CMG to impact more than just the “digital divide”. This also allows us to impact the educational opportunities of the entire family that will be served through these computers.

We’re hoping to provide 100 computers for the Back-To-School giveaway this year.

From The Director

Hello All,

Thank you once again for taking the time to read our newsletter. I want to start off this note with a special apology. Last month we mentioned a donation of computers, monitors and laptops that will be donated by the Florida Senate Office of Information Technology Services. We included in that thank you a mention of Senator Jeff Atwater, president of the Florida Senate, but we failed to mention our own Senator Arthenia Joyner who was 100% responsible for Computer Mentors being selected as a recipient. This is an especially grievous omission because our Senator Joyner personally looks out for Computer Mentors by making continuing personal donations and alerting us to opportunities and legislation which affect our organization and mission. We apologize to Senator Joyner and look forward to continuing to have her as an ardent supporter of in-home technology access to the underserved population.

I also want to that thank Citi (Citigroup) Foundation for their tentative approval of a $2,500 grant to the Youth Certification and Ownership Program. It looks like we’ll even have more connections with Citi this year as the African Heritage Employee group is recruiting volunteers for both the High Achievers Mentoring Program and the upcoming Technology Bowl. In addition we want to thank Bob Conigliaro and the Caspers Company who will use their McDonalds franchises to provide food and beverage for the upcoming Tech Bowl.

Thank you all for your support. CMG could not continue without it.

Sincerely,

Email: rsmith@computermentors.org
Phone: (813) 236-1191