Tom C. Forestieri remembers the first time he reached over the shoulder of a six-year-old in an effort to explain the mechanics of a computer mouse. The child looked up defiantly and said: “I can do it myself.” Forestieri smiles as he recalls the past year, where he has spent as many as 50 hours each week as a volunteer coordinator of the Power Zone at the InTown YMCA on Broad Street in Providence. The Power Zone is a technology center funded by GTECH, the West Greenwich-based lottery giant.
The idea behind the center is to ensure that children in low-income families have access to computers and the Internet. The Power Zone targets children between the ages of five and 15.
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The InTown YMCA opened its doors last Thursday (June 10) to attendees of the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors, in Providence for the four-day affair. They came away from the visit duly impressed.
This is filling such an important need,” said North Dakota Lt. Gov. Rosemarie Myrdal. “For children who have both parents working, there is an absolute need for this kind of opportunity to help the children grow.”
As the room in the basement level of the YMCA began to swell with dozens of business leaders and politicians, Forestieri stayed the course. Moving from one computer station to the other, he made sure all of the children were clicked onto the proper program.
Forestieri displays an easy patience with each child. Time spent at the Power Zone, he said, is time well spent.
”The best part is seeing their innocence, and seeing the growth from September to now,” he said. “They used to be babies. Now they are children. It has been so rewarding – watching them change.”
Forestieri said he has been amazed at the pace at which the children adopt computer skills. He believes that is possible because of an advantage that the children hold over adults.
”They are not intimidated by change,” Forestieri said.
Terry Addison is the executive director of the InTown YMCA. To Addison, linking a for-profit company like GTECH and the non-profit YMCA not only makes perfect sense, it serves as a model for how to begin training tomorrow’s workforce.
IN THE POWER ZONE at InTown Y Terry Addison, executive director, talks to participating children and visiting delegates from lieutenant governor conference, and business people.
”This program signals what should be happening in communities like ours,” Addison said. “The Power Zone represents, truly, a beacon of hope.”
And Addison said that programs such as the Power Zone make sound business sense.
”When you have a trained workforce, it impacts your bottom line,” Addison said.
For GTECH, the Power Zone is an extension of a growing philosophical and financial commitment to programs designed for the benefit of children.
This spring, the $972 million public company launched a national After School Advantage program at the John Hope Settlement House in Providence. The After School Advantage program is being implemented in states throughout the country, with GTECH committed to giving $3.3 million to the program over the next three years. The company will donate an average of $20,000 in state-of-the-art computers, on-line technology, computer software and volunteer hours to each after school program in inner-city communities where GTECH offices are located.
“GTECH realizes that after school programs for today’s youth are critical,” said William O’Connor, chairman and chief executive officer at GTECH. “Approximately 30 percent of all juvenile offenses occur on school days between the hours of 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and during these hours, children are at an increased risk of being a victim of violent crimes.”
The burgeoning success of GTECH’s After School Advantage program has also been made possible through donations made by Compaq Computer Corp., Microsoft and Staples, Inc.
Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty, who hosted the conference, told his colleagues that the Power Zone is the type of innovative program that will help ensure that today’s children – whether they be from wealthy suburbs or the inner city – are able to compete for jobs in the 21st century.
”By next year it is estimated that 60 percent of American jobs will require technology skills, but you cannot gain the computer skills you need if you do not have access to a computer,” Fogarty said.
The Power Zone first opened in January 1998. During the course of a year it provides basic computer and Internet skills to 170 children from kindergarten through eighth grade. The program has since grown to include adult beginner computer classes. Intermediate and advanced classes are in the planning stages.
Donald L. Stanford, a senior vice president and chief technology officer at GTECH, was among the business leaders visiting the Power Zone on June 10. Stanford explained that the company provides enough flexibility so that employees have the time to make sure programs like the Power Zone get off to a good start. He was asked how one might go about starting such a program in his home state.
If GTECH doesn’t have an office in your state, Stanford said, “call one of our competitors and tell them what we’re doing.”
”This is the exact kind of collaboration that we see as valuable,” he said. “We’re using this as a prototype for after-school programs across the country.”
