“With the Google Community Grant, we will be able to provide young people in our community with an updated computer lab to assist with their homework and research projects," said Tana Murray, executive director of CFI. "Our youth come from homes where access to computers and the Internet is not always available. It is our goal that these tools will assist youth in developing their computer skills and their knowledge of the Internet for future success.”
With the supervision of the youth's adult mentors, the computer lab will be available for their use during afterschool and weekend hours. CFI hopes that the computer lab will also increase the grade point averages and the computer literacy skills of their participants. CFI is an after-school one-on-one mentoring program in Caldwell County and the only mentoring resource for the area's court system. Adult mentors and the staff provides assistance to youth by enhancing their social skills, improving their cognitive skills through dialog and listening and serving as role models and advocates.
"CFI is just another example of how successful programs, involving area community partners, can be an effective tool to help our young people who need it most,” said Tom Jacobik, Google's Operations Manager for North Carolina.
The Google Community Grant comes from the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund at Tides Foundation, which offers donor-advised funds and other grant-making vehicles, as well as professional philanthropic advice.
For more information about the Google Community Grants Program, go to www.google.com/lenoir and visit the "Community Outreach" page. Interested parties can submit an online application through this Web page on or before the first day of each quarter (January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1). All grant applications must be submitted online.
ABOUT CALDWELL FRIENDS, INC.
Caldwell Friends, Inc. (CFI) is a community-based 501C3 nonprofit organization providing adult mentors to at-risk youth ages 6 to 17. CFI was established by a grant from the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in July 1983, with a mandate to serve 17 to 22 youth per year. In July 2006, CFI began providing the mentoring component for the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, which expanded the program to 21 to 26 youth per year. Sixty percent of the youth are referred by juvenile court, law enforcement or school resources.
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