Microsoft Unlimited Potential Blog: Microsoft Unlimited Potential Blog

Today I wanted to share with you our final Accelerator Summit video.  This session addresses skills training and workforce development, an area of significant focus for Microsoft around the world.

The session, which was moderated by Pamela Passman, explores the impact of training and workforce development programs from the real world experience of a number of guest speakers.

We were privileged to have Liza Estlund Olson, Director, Bureau of Workforce Transformation, Michigan; Nalini Gangadharan, CEO, CAP Foundation; in India and Jim Gibbons, President and CEO, Goodwill Industries International join us.

You can also view a number of other videos from the Accelerator Summit:

• Videos- Innovating to help solve some of the world’s most pressing issues
• Video- How technology can enable nonprofits
• Video- Employee giving and social entrepreneurs at Microsoft

In 2007 we launched the Microsoft Unlimited Potential program to focus on getting the power of technology to underserved communities around the world, and in the intervening period we have learned a lot and we’ve seen some exciting results from our partnerships and our investments.

Recently I had the privilege of attending our first Citizenship Accelerator Summit which was themed Accelerating Change through Technology and Partnerships. We brought together journalists, bloggers and academics to meet with us and our government and nongovernmental partners to share with them how Microsoft is accelerating change through technology and partnerships.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer speaking at the Microsoft Accelerator Summit

We have always believed that access to technology and technology skills can drive significant economic and social change and we’re seeing how even the smallest exposure to information technology can have an incredible impact if it’s implemented with the right partner who has deep understanding of the community needs and is a trusted partner in the community. The summit provided many examples.

Vida Durant the CIO of CARE, which works around the world empowering women and girls, told us that having medical test results sent via text messages to a person in a rural community can be a matter of life and death. In some communities it can take up to three months to send a test result whereas now with a simple phone using text messaging the result can be known in hours.

Ed Granger Happ, chairman of NetHope, shared how they and their partners have been able to get wireless connectivity in Haiti after the earthquake and the incredible collaboration, facilitate by technology, that is taking place on the ground among the various agencies working there.

The issue of jobs is front and center in the U.S. and around the world. During the Summit, Liza Estlund Olson, Director of Bureau of Workforce Transformation for the State of Michigan spoke about how with the introduction of Elevate America in Michigan they can provide unemployed and underemployed people needed IT skills to become ready for employment. She also highlighted that as much as it is about getting jobs, it is also about using technology to build confidence in a segment of society that is truly at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

From inside Microsoft, we heard from our employees who too are using technology to bring about change by connecting micro-donors to causes around the world, and are creating movements among their community to bring about social change.

There is a growing expectation for businesses to actively participate in addressing some of society’s most challenging issues and technology has a role to play in accelerating this change. Our work is grounded in the fact that it is communities first – it is all about long-term investment and partnerships, it is about scale and finally it is about sustainable impact.

Over the coming week we plan to post videos from the different sessions and hope you’ll have time to find out more about how technology is having a positive impact on communities around the world.

In the meantime here are some reports from the Summit:

• Microsoft’s CSR Accelerator Summit – David Connor
• Microsoft’s Networked Approach To Accelerating Social Change Through
  Technology – Beth Kanter
• Young generation redefines culture of Microsoft philanthropy – Seattle Times
• Microsoft seeks business edge in wave of social consciousness - TechFlash
• Microsoft summit: How to harness technology to help veterans, accelerate
  change in the world – USA Today
• Microsoft’s fight against child porn - Beneblog

Update - Accelerator Summit sessions:

• Videos: Innovating to help solve some of the world’s most pressing issues
• Video: How technology can enable nonprofits
• Video: Employee giving and social entrepreneurs at Microsoft
• Video: Preparing people for the jobs of today and tomorrow

Today marks a significant milestone for our Elevate America program with Louisiana and Ohio becoming the last states to join the program, which is part of Microsoft’s overall Unlimited Potential efforts to improve social and economic opportunities for people. Since we launched Elevate America in February 2009, thirty two states and the District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico and American Samoa (see full list below) have partnered with us to offer over 800,000 no cost training and certification vouchers to people across the United States.

We have learned a lot from working directly with the states and it’s clear they face tough challenges addressing the issues of unemployment and retraining. However we’re also discovering that providing people with ready access to technology skills training and certification can help people in their quest to find employment.

We are evaluating how we can apply what we’ve learned from the program so far to other training and employment initiatives. In March we announced the Elevate America Veterans initiative which will support active duty service members and their spouses who are transitioning out of the U.S. military as well as members of the National Guard and Reserve returning to their civilian jobs. The unemployment rate among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans is 20 percent higher than the overall unemployment rate for nonveterans according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. veterans are highly trained in military and leadership skills, but many lack the formal education, training and certification required by employers. We are currently calling on organizations to help provide job placement, career counseling and other critical support services, such as child care and transportation assistance, to help ensure a successful transition to the civilian work force.

We are continuing to work with the states, and later this year we hope to share more in-depth results and learning from the program on the blog. If you’re interested in finding out more information please visit the Elevate America website.

Thirty two states and the District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico and American Samoa are participating in Elevate America

Elevate America program partners:

From 2009 through the end of 2011, Microsoft is responding to the economic crisis with Microsoft Elevate America. Through Microsoft Elevate America, the company is partnering with local governments, as well as public and private organizations, to help 2 million Americans improve their employability by enhancing their IT skills.

Program Participant, Jesse Franco Chicago, Illinois

By distributing vouchers for Microsoft eLearning courses to states across the nation, Microsoft's Elevate America program will give individuals an edge in the recovering job markets across the country. They will return to the workforce with knowledge of current Microsoft products.

These skills will give individuals the opportunity for not only job placement, but also the potential for job advancement that would not have been available without this training.