July 8, 2005

BronzevilleOnline.com CTC Student Intern
becomes a Digital Connector

By: Justin G. Herron

Justin Herron (center in photo), student network analyst intern for www.bronzevilleonline.com boards the bus to a One Economy retreat in order to become a technology ambassador in the historic Bronzeville community.

On Tuesday, June 28th Harold Lucas ePublisher of the Bronzeville Online Community Technology Center escorted me downtown to the One Economy (http://www.one-economy.com) office so that I can be interviewed for a position as a Digital Connector. After being interviewed by Renee Daye I was excepted as a participant and was informed that I should attend a required Digital Connectors Family Orientation session that same evening from 6 to 8 p.m. at Holman Square Community Center 3517 w. Arthington.

At the family orientation we learned about the Digital Connector program and One Economy’s efforts to unite communities threw technology. The next morning at 8 a.m. Mr. Lucas escorted me to the Abraham Lincoln Center 3858 S. Cottage Groove to receive further instructions and to board the bus for the Digital Connectors Retreat.

More than 40 youth from the historic Bronzeville community board the bus to participate in the One Economy program to create technology ambassadors.

The retreat was designed for June 29th to go to Bloomingdale, Illinois for the reception of approximately one hundred teenagers to become a Digital Connector. A Digital Connector is a person that provides another with the ability in learning matter to develop skills on working with or on computers. Their goals and tasks are directed to other teenagers and/or grown ups and elderly to learn how to use the computer and Internet. Technology is one of the most items being used, in fact one the main items being used in the 21st Century. It’s a digital connectors job to help others and introduce this technology skill to someone that isn’t updated on it.

The trip to Bloomingdale was more than expected from me because this was one of the first trips I went to that provided so much for a teenager the first day. We arrived at Indian Lakes Resort at around 10:30 a.m. approximately to discover our first session. There were one hundred plus kids that went on this trip so we had to have decency at this resort. The whole point of this trip was to discover the basics and the reasons why I wanted to become a Digital Connector, working with computers is one of my skills and I want to be updated on technology skills too.

Over 100 disadvantaged youth from all over Chicago, converged on the new West Side Health Center to receive orientation and instructions about becoming technology ambassadors from Nicol Turner-Lee, vice president of One Economy and the National program coordinators.

Technology is improving every single day by just a little. Digital Connectors have a job and as part of technology’s development we make sure that the people receiving assist is updated. The teenagers that were there were told that becoming a Digital Connector you had to apply yourself to certain tasks to get the goals done. First off we had to introduce ourselves to each other in that little time that they gave us and I met about twenty people that were in my group. One person that stuck out to me was another teenager that had the same name as mine and a birthday that was a day after mine. My Birthday is the 20th of July.

As we were going through the day we got to learn very little about each other but the main thing was that we were all there to be apart of the program. The trip was an advantage to me by not only going to try and win something but to also become a Digital Connector and to learn new things in the process. There were a number of kids with e-mails but I didn’t have a chance to get them. I will try to receive some of them when I return to the Abraham Lincoln Center on Friday, July 8. I was happy to receive a recent e-mail stating that I became a D.C. from one of the Guidance staff members (Renee Daye rdaye@one-economy.com) of One Economy. Tasks will be performed to develop my computer skills and goals will be achieved so now I have a chance for a future.

Justin Herron, (right in photo) is interviewed by the staff of One Economy to see if he was capable of participating effectively in developing a plan on marketing technology to the historic bronzeville community and completing team building exercises.