planning underway for Black Family Technology Week

Posted by on January 23, 2004

We are currently coordinating activities and events for Black Family Technology Awareness Week, and we would like to make sure that all community-based organizations utilize this opportunity to promote / market your services to the community during this event. As listed below, BFTAW is scheduled from Sunday 2/15 – Saturday, 2/21. We usually incorporate the following Sunday to allow an extra day for the churches to participate. Participation can range from a free 30 – 45 minute demonstration of Internet, Email, Word-Processing apps, etc., to an Open House type of activity designed to market and announce your tech-related classes and programs. Please feel free to contact me directly, or to attend one of the scheduled Tuesday brown bag lunch meetings held at the Mayor’s Commission on Technology to obtain more information. The BFTAW Philly Initiative website is located @ http://www.roundtheway.org/techweek.

P.S. We are also looking for speakers to make presentations or conduct training sessions at some of the participating sites and sponsors to assist in providing awards for winners of the High School Competition as well.

Narissa Wallace
Workforce 2000 Advisory Council &
Mayor’s Commission on Technology

Hello everyone and Happy New Year,

Well it?s that time of year again, the Workforce 2000 Advisory Council in conjunction with the Mayor?s Commission on Technology is coordinating activities citywide for the 6th Annual Black Family Technology Awareness Week to be held this year Sunday February 15 ? Saturday 21, and we invite your participation. Now more than ever we need to expand our awareness about opportunities that exist in an economy driven by technology. We are calling upon you to identify information/educational activities that can be held in churches, schools and community centers in your neighborhood or organization during this week to inform and educate our community.

An initial planning meeting was held last month with Career Communications, Inc., the program originator, IBM, the national sponsor, and our United Way coordinator and a meeting scheduled established. Because of the short turn around time between the holidays and BFTAW, we will have brown bag lunch planning meetings each Tuesday, beginning January 13 through February 10. Meetings will be held Noon ? 1:30 in Conference Room 1080, 10th floor in the Municipal Services Building, 1401 JFK Boulevard.

As in previous years, we need your input to help us plan for activities throughout the city to help our community understand the kinds of skills they will need to successfully complete in the Digital Economy. As a result of our preliminary discussions, several organizations have already indicated their interest in convening an activity. They are the School District of Philadelphia, the United Way of Southeastern PA, and Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA).

The purpose of Black Family Technology Awareness Week (BFTAW) is to change how African Americans perceive mathematics, engineering, science and technology. For more information on the national program, please go to their website, http://www.ccgmag.com and scroll down to BFTAW, and to get an idea of what we did in Philly last year, please go to our local website, http://www.roundtheway.org. This website will be updated as we confirm activities.

For those of you who have participated in previous activities, we look forward to working with you again, and for those of you who are hearing of it for the first time, we welcome your participation. Please put the Tuesday meeting dates on your calendar and call 215-686-4460 to confirm your attendance. I look forward to seeing you Tuesday.

Take Care,
Carole Smith