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 inter 2005 Newsletter. Here's the latest on Urban Ed. Newsletter topics: Urban Ed Renews its Focus Capitalizing on Business Opportunities Urban Ed Featured on Fox 5 Distinguished Corporate Leaders Honored SkillSoft Donates Technology Resources to Urban Ed Join Innovation  he evolution of an Organization certainly is dynamic, and as time moves on it becomes necessary for an organization to reassess its purpose, test its original business plan and develop a stronger focus for continuing to strive forward.Starting in mid summer of 2004 through the early part of 2005, Urban Ed embarked on a strategic planning process to do just that. Thanks to the coordination efforts of Greater DC Cares, a highly qualified team of strategist and management planning experts came to the table to guide us through the process and what we have today is a solid plan for the growth and sustainability of Urban Ed. A truly powerful process, we learned a lot about our core mission, established a new vision and charted a course of action with a solid focus. Urban Ed thanks everyone - the strategic planning team, our board of directors, our supporters, our partners and our participants for their involvement in our renewed focus. Highlights of the plan: Our mission remained intact and was on point for why Urban Ed exists. See our mission statement in the left margin below. To carry out its mission Urban Ed implements radical employment and professional development strategies aimed at improving conditions at the neighborhood level and the individual level. Our new vision is to transform disenfranchised youth and young adults into high-performing, well-paid members of the technology workforce by: Being a leader in providing advanced technical training and industry-recognized certifications; Strengthening community and corporate partnerships; and Adopting best-in-class business practices to evaluate performance and demonstrate results. Contact us for a copy of our detailed plan. Back to Top CAPITALIZING ON BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES  or years the Girl Scouts have been the best known example of what community wealth ventures are all about. They have generated more than $200 million a year through their cookie sales to help fund Girl Scout activities. Capitalizing on business and entrepreneur opportunities is not just a for-profit thing but a creative way for nonprofits to also generate a bottom line to sustain their proven programs, and the Girl Scouts have done an excellent job in doing that.During the many assessments and analyses Urban Ed conducted during the strategic planning process, we began to think about what it is we do that can generate a revenue stream for us while also serving our social purpose. What we came up with is Checar Computer Services, Inc., a for-profit subsidiary of Urban Ed that serves the technological needs of individuals, small businesses and government and corporate clients. We are now looking for customers in addition to looking for donations. Urban Ed has certified technicians,  a bank of young adults who we are training to be qualified technicians and ample space for serving clients. Instead of providing tech support pro bono to clients to give our youth hands-on experience, we realized that we were missing a valuable opportunity to contribute to our funding base.Do you have tech support needs? At our competitive flat rates even the Geeks On Wheels can't compete, so next time you would like to help the community, give Checar Computer Services your business. You gain tech services, and Urban Ed gains support for helping move young people off the streets, out of poverty, out of jails, out of foster care and into personal sustainability. Visit Checar at www.checar.net or call us at 202-610-2344 for more info. Back to Top he snow was falling steadily and hard on the early morning of February 24, 2005, but that didn't stop Holly Morris of WTTG TV 5, a Washington D.C. affiliate of the Fox Television Network, from coming out to Urban Ed and sharing with her viewers the tremendous work we do.  Urban Ed was featured as part of their Gimme A Break series, which highlighted organizations and individuals making significant and unique contributions to the D.C. community. Urban Ed and its president, Roxanne J. Williams, was one of five who were selected for this honor. The segment was exceptional and generated more than 11,000 website hits, not to mention the phone calls to Urban Ed during that snowy day.Back to Top DISTINGUISHED CORPORATE LEADERS HONORED  ach year more and more leaders from corporate America emerge to demonstrate their social responsibility to the betterment of the community. On Monday, June 27, 2005, Urban Ed held its 5th Annual Event and Men and Women of Distinction Awards Celebration to honor true corporate philanthropic acts.  This year's honorees were Wayne Estrada of Smart Triangles, Inc. for taking time out of his schedule to teach our youth web design; Ely Kahn and Elizabeth Kytle of Booz Allen Hamilton for their tireless devotion and resources to our strategic planning process; and Ken Williams of Allied Telecom for providing free DSL connection to Urban Ed over the past three years. A special heart-warming recognition was also given to Mary Celestine Williams, the Urban Ed president's mother, for being a lifetime woman of distinction through her mentorship and silent guidance during the birth and ongoing development of Urban Ed.Back to Top SKILLSOFT DONATES TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES TO URBAN ED  killSoft PLC (NASDAQ: SKIL), a leading provider of content resources and complementary technologies for integrated enterprise learning, has donated learning resources to Urban Ed. The SkillSoft learning resources, comprised of self-paced IT skills courses and the OfficeEssentials Referenceware collection from Books24x7, will be used in Urban Ed's Pathway to Prosperity program, an intensive curriculum designed to train young adults in critical IT skills and assist students in entering the workforce. "By arming young people with job skills that can gain them competitive, professional employment, Urban Ed is making a huge difference for individuals, families, and the D.C. community," said Kevin Duffer, director of government and education markets for SkillSoft. "We are very pleased to help with this worthy mission."Donated SkillSoft courses cover topics such as wireless networking, security, Flash, Java, operating systems, and computer hardware. OfficeEssentials is an online, searchable collection comprised of 175 titles covering widely-used desktop applications. "SkillSoft is known for the high quality of its instructional design and content.  This donation will go a long way in enhancing the learning experience of our students," said Roxanne Williams, president and founder of Urban Ed. This is a tremendous opportunity for young people in the community wanting to learn the IT trade. Urban Ed is accepting applications now for the winter term of classes to begin in late January. Interested students should contact us via phone or the web at 202-610-2344 or Programs. To learn more about SkillSoft visit www.skillsoft.com.Back to Top  ou can join our efforts in a number of ways: See Urban Ed's newsletter in PDF format. Click Winter 2005 Newsletter. Back to Top | 
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