Microsoft Unlimited Potential Blog: Microsoft Unlimited Potential Blog

Today we are launching the Elevate America community initiative, a new grant program that will support nonprofit organizations offering employment services, including technology skills training and job placement, in local communities across the United States. To support this initiative, we are committing $4 million in cash, $6 million in software and technology skills training curriculum over the next two years.

We are inviting nonprofit organizations to respond to our request for proposal (RFP) , detailing their plans for partnering with us on proven, successful, scalable programs that respond to the 21^st century skills training and employment needs of people across the country.

The deadline for submissions is October 8, 2010 at 5pm Pacific Time with the successful projects being announced in January 2011.

Since 2003, Microsoft has been partnering with nonprofit organizations through our Unlimited Potential initiative to support technology skills training in underserved communities across the United States, with programs that have reached more than 27 million people to date. Through the Elevate America community initiative, we will continue to seek partnerships with organizations that support underserved communities, with a special interest in those that focus on the needs of women and young workers (ages 18-25) who have greater barriers to employment and re-employment than the broader population.

This is the latest extension of Elevate America, which was launched in February 2009 to provide people across the United States with no cost and low cost access to the technology skills they need to find employment. Since the program’s launch we have worked with 32 states and the District of Columbia to distribute nearly 900,000 no cost Microsoft training and certification vouchers. In March 2010 we announced the Elevate America Veterans initiative, focused on helping U.S. veterans and their spouses to transition from military to civilian employment.

How can you respond to this RFP?

Interested organizations are encouraged to review the full RFP and related information on our website to ensure their organization meets the full criteria for consideration.

To be eligible, all proposals must include at least one organization that is eligible to receive cash funding from Microsoft as defined by the following criteria:

• Qualify as an IRS registered tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization. State tax exemptions alone are not considered eligible.
• Meet Microsoft general funding guidelines as outlined in “Eligible Organizations” .
• Successfully pass the Elevate America community initiative eligibility survey located here. Following successful completion of the survey, access to the grant application tool will be provided.

Online training resources

For more information about Elevate America and the no cost and low cost training and education resources we offer to help people develop better technology skills for the jobs of the 21^st century workforce please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/elevateamerica

In the near future when I drive up to a village in Africa, although the roads may be bumpy and dusty, I will see a woman using a tablet PC powered by the latest renewable energy source and connected to the internet giving her information on sustainable and locally proven farming techniques and providing immediate access to market prices for her products. The same tablet will be used by her children to download the latest curricula and other educational content to help them with their homework. This is a vision of Technology and Development that Dr. Raj Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) painted last week during an inspiring talk in Seattle.

Organized by Global Washington, the theme of the panel discussion was Technology’s Impact on Global Development. Attended by over 400 people at St. Mark’s Cathedral – a wonderful venue in the Capital Hill neighborhood - panelists included Congressmen Jim McDermott, Congressmen Adam Smith, Professor Prema Arasu from Washington State University, Dr. Chris Elias with PATH, and myself. Moderated by Sylvia Matthews Burwell from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a recurring theme was how do we continue to support global development activities in the current economic climate?

The panelists shared thoughts on the importance of global aid and development and posited that technology does have a role to play to drive effective adoption and spur new innovations. There was broad agreement that we must find new ways of working on the development of innovative models to reach the poor as we continue to figure out the best way to achieve the vision that Dr. Shah so vividly painted. Clearly we all also understood that technology is not a panacea, noting that while a woman in the most remote village may have a cell phone to make a call, if there is no one at the other end to take the call and provide the needed services, the phone becomes useless. This was the point Dr. Elias made to highlight the importance of effective delivery systems combined with content, services and other infrastructure that are local in nature and support local development.

We at Microsoft believe in the power of technology to drive social innovation and change and we have seen this demonstrated in many ways around the world. However we also recognize that unless we have local solutions to local problems no amount of technology will truly benefit the poor. Therefore we work in partnership with effective local organizations, global NGOs and development agencies such as USAID to ensure we have the right partnership model to drive local innovation with the power to scale outside of the immediate local context.

As much as we should be cautious of technology playing too dominant a role in solutions we also should not be afraid of technology and must put processes in place that help drive local innovation. To bring about meaningful and long lasting change that lifts people out of poverty and addresses the fundamental factors that lead new generations into poverty, we have to rethink our approach to go beyond investing in transactional efforts to those that can become transformational. This will mean taking risks and learning from failures and I personally applaud the new approaches proposed by USAID to truly assess the impact of their programs and share successes as well as failures. As Congressmen Jim McDermott reminded us in his concluding remarks; it is easy to see a glass half empty – but when you see the glass half full, you focus on the potential to fill up that glass. Right now we must collectively invest in realizing this potential and appropriate recognize the positive impact of technology in that effort.

Yesterday in Atlanta I had the great pleasure of attending the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) Digital Arts Festival. This is one of my favorite events of the year where we get to see incredible entries from kids across America who have brought their creativity to life using technology.

BGCA provides programs and services in communities across the United States - and on U.S. military bases around the world. They give millions of American kids a safe, fun place to learn and grow. It’s this focus on not only supporting children, but giving them access to knowledge and skills, that drove our initial partnership with the Club over a decade ago.

That partnership led to the creation of the Club Tech program, which today provides over a million children a year with access to technology and with access to the skills they need to use that technology. We’re very proud that the initiative continues to grow and we are delighted that Comcast joined the program earlier this year.

There is a lot of discussion about the importance of innovation and creativity for our future social and economic prosperity. I think the Digital Arts Festival provides a great showcase of what’s possible when you provide our kids with the skills they need to use the latest technology. The combination of those skills with their own creativity and passion delivers outstanding results.

This year kids ranging in ages from 6 to 18 competed in four categories:

• Photo Illustration: create a digital photo that illustrates how Club members become successful in life. The submission has to be a full-page, color magazine advertisement that encouraged their peers to BE GREAT.
• Music Making: create an inspirational jingle that can teach their peers to BE GREAT through music.
• Graphic Design: follow the same format as the national “BE GREAT” advertising campaign and design a billboard celebrating the success of a local community member.
• Movie Making: write or produce a three minute public service announcement or documentary illustrating why graduating from high school is important to their future, their peers, and the world at large.

The national Digital Arts Festival winners travelled to BGCA headquarters in Atlanta from Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and even Japan. They had an action packed time which culminated in the awards ceremony which was ably hosted by Kawamba Metuassalol. Myself and Cyndi Court and Judith Pickens from BGCA had the honor of showcasing the winners’ incredible work –which you can see at the online gallery – and presenting the awards.

Our future success depends on our children. Organizations like BGCA are having a real positive impact on kids across the country and giving them the opportunity to Be Great. It takes a lot of work, and we need to recognize the passion and commitment of the Clubs’ staff, mentors, parents and volunteers, who along with the kids, bring these communities alive.

My congratulations to all the competitors and the winners, your passion, energy, enthusiasm and creativity is simply inspiring.

You can find out more about the event at the BGCA Facebook page.

Pamela Passman

Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs

I recently had the honor of learning more about Computacion Olidata in Washington D.C. during the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. Olidata is the winner of our Citizenship Partner of the Year award and exemplifies an exceptional commitment to social responsibility. The Partner awards honor Microsoft Registered, Certified and Gold Certified partners for delivering exceptional solutions and services in a number of categories. Award winners and finalists were chosen from nominations from around the world. There was stiff competition this year with nearly 3,000 entries for 67 categories submitted by partners from more than 110 countries.

It is always incredibly inspiring to read about the great work shared by our partners in the area of citizenship, using their expertise and resources to solve societal challenges and create opportunities. This year, our finalists included Training Camp from the United States and CTTC from Pakistan. Both of these companies should be congratulated for their passion and commitment in supporting economic growth in their respective countries through technology training.

Olidata has a longstanding focus on social responsibility, and that is one of the reasons they were chosen as the overall winner. Along with Microsoft and other local partners, they have supported the technology skills training of more than 600,000 individuals in Chile since 2003.

Their response to the earthquake in Chile in February of this year truly exemplified their commitment to helping their local communities. Olidata supported “ChileConect@Chile” to quickly restore public access to the internet via semi-permanent Community Technology Centers (CTCs), connecting victims with their loved ones through digitally equipped mobile containers (pictured below) placed in some of the most devastated communities. This initiative was carried out under the National Digital Literacy Program executed by the Rural Life Training Foundation (Fundacion Vida Rural) and supported by the Chilean government. The effort provides access, digital literacy skills and expanding opportunities for those impacted by this natural disaster. There are plans to install 50 container CTCs in the earthquake zone.

There is a growing expectation for the private sector to actively engage society to drive positive social and economic change. Judging by the volume and quality of submissions for this year’s Citizenship Partner of the Year award it’s clear that our partners are taking this responsibility very seriously.

Fred Humphries

Vice President, U.S. Government Affairs