If you are a regular viewer of ABC7 News, you may have caught Urban Ed's founder and President, Roxanne J. Williams, on screen. ABC7's Alison Starling interviewed Roxanne as part of its long-running Working Woman series, which features accomplished and respected women in the Washington, DC area who are making outstanding contributions to the community.
The Urban Ed team is pleased with this recognition of the impact it has had on its graduates' lives. As Roxanne says of the skills Urban Ed teaches young adults, "This is something that can sustain you."
In addition to building career opportunities for young adults in the IT field and inspiring the "Lil Bitties" to embrace technology, the Teen TechnoAcademy is one of Urban Ed's newest revamped programs. The organization runs it in six DC middle schools to combat truancy and dropout rates to give students "a different view of technology," according to Roxanne. "T
hey're getting to see inside a computer. They're getting to see how to build games that they play. And how to build code that they use," she says.
Urban Ed has been working since 2000 to help bridge the "digital divide" in DC's poorest neighborhoods. Recent grants from the Honda Foundation, Meyer Foundation and JPMorgan Chase will allow Urban Ed to continue working toward its mission of empowering children, youth and adults with technology-driven education, information and skill development for a brighter future.
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