A CAMBA class to teach immigrant entrepreneurs how to run their business with mobile technology took home the grand prize of $150,000 this month in the Competition To Help Reach Immigrant Ventures and Entrepreneurs (THRIVE). The award will enable CAMBA Small Business Services to expand its class, "Mobilize Your Business: Using the Tablet for a Competitive Edge," and teach digital business skills to even more budding business owners around New York City.

As one of five finalists in the competition, "Mobilize Your Business" received a seed grant in April 2013 from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), the competition's sponsor. The $25,000 grant allowed CAMBA Small Business Services to offer a pilot program of three-part courses that introduced entrepreneurs to tablets and mobile apps and taught them to use other digital business tools, like point-of-sale and accounting systems and social media for marketing.

In the competition's final round earlier this month, CAMBA staff presented a business plan for the class's expansion and long-term viability based on its successful six-month pilot.

"CAMBA is honored that 'Mobilize Your Business' was selected as Competition THRIVE's winner," said Joanne M. Oplustil, CAMBA's President and CEO. "Immigrant entrepreneurs - a large and growing economic engine in New York City - too frequently lack the technological know-how necessary to expand their businesses beyond small, neighborhood-based, cash-and-carry enterprises. With this new funding, CAMBA will be able to help many more immigrant entrepreneurs gain a competitive advantage."

Competition THRIVE is jointly funded by NYCEDC, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, Garfield Foundation and Western Union Foundation and is administered by Baruch College's Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship. Read more about the competition here.

Sixth-graders at Andries Hudde Junior High School in Midwood, Brooklyn, are letting 3 p.m. fly by each day and staying around to beef-up their reading, shoot lay-ups and learn to dance.

These lucky kids---about 230 in all---are part of CAMBA ExTRA, one of 20 new extended-school-day programs citywide designed to bring struggling middle-school readers up to grade level. To help them get there, the school day has been extended by 2.5 hours to give the blossoming readers all the time they need.

CAMBA ExTRA is part of a citywide initiative called Middle School ExTRA, designed by The After-School Corporation and run in collaboration with Harvard Ed Labs the NYC Department of Education and the New York City Council.

The centerpiece of CAMBA ExTRA is students' daily literacy tutoring with retired professionals. But the kids also participate in a range of hands-on activities to develop their talents in the arts, sports and other academics. From basketball to dance to economics, the theme of literacy is woven throughout.  

"In basketball, the team members keep a journal in which they reflect on their playing and set goals for their next practice," said Amanda Birdwell, Director of CAMBA ExTRA. "The kids in the Yoga Club also keep journals."

The theme of literacy is also taking students far and wide, like on a recent trip to the Main Branch of the New York Public Library in Midtown, Manhattan. The trip, to see a library exhibit on cartoon characters and superheroes, was made possible by the National Book Foundation's BookUp program.

"It's really great to be part of this new citywide initiative," said Christie Hodgkins, CAMBA Vice President of Youth Development. "It's also exciting to be so aligned with the school and the Department of Education."

Want to give a child in a CAMBA shelter this kind of holiday? Individuals and businesses interested in being a Secret Santa Partner and purchasing gifts for children living in our homeless shelters or supportive housing should contact Normel Smith, at (718) 287-2600, x20226 or normelj@camba.org by December 3. Learn more here.