Philanthropist Ms. Kathleen Patton is not only one of the Cofounders of Crossing the Digital Divide, she is also the organization’s CEO and Executive Director. With a solid background in business, having started her first NPO in her early twenties, Kathleen Patton was more than prepared to take on the challenge of opening a computer training facility. This facility has been on the cutting edge of “Reentry Programs”. City officials are heralding RP’s as being vital to the cities success as they offer support to some of the most at-risk adults who are recovering from drug abuse and other challenges. Kathleen Patton’s organization, which was formed in January 2004, gives recovering addicts the opportunity to change their lives by learning how to use today’s technology to earn a living. Crossing the Digital Divide, which is located in Los Angeles, California, has three locations to better serve the community of high-risk adults in recovery.

Kathleen Patton utilizes her business smarts to manage and oversee the operations at Crossing the Digital Divide. Because of Kathleen Patton’s efforts, the Crossing the Digital Divide staff, and the numerous volunteers, Crossing the Digital Divide is an award-winning organization that has received recognition from the local government, including the mayor of the city of Los Angeles.

In addition to her work with CDD, Ms. Kathleen Patton also enjoys a close family, friends and colleagues. Kathleen Patton relaxes by participating in swimming, volleyball, hiking, music and film.

Kathleen Patton finds special meaning in the quote, “The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” Ms. Kathleen Patton also finds inspiration and deep meaning in a quote credited to one of her favorite writers, world-renowned author and poet Maya Angelou: "All great achievements require time."

CDD Class Report Walden 3-20-10

                                  WEEKLY CLASS REPORT

                               Walden House /03-20-2010

ATTENDANCE:

All students were in attendance; see sheet.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

Marlaina arrived 10 minutes early, gave an introduction, and got the students started working. I came a couple minutes late, but jumped right in to helping the students.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

Students worked on their papers for the first half of class. Those who finished were shown how to make a blog post. There was a formatting problem with the submission form that I’ll look into, but it didn’t stop the students from posting.   All remaining students finished their papers and some were able to type them as well.

Unfortunately the CDD site went down (i.e. the Internet was working, but pages on the CDD site wouldn’t load) after only three or four students made their blog posts. We checked several times during class to see if the site came back online, but it remained down for the whole class, so we gave all the students credit.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

 After break, Marlaina reviewed the email vocabulary words.

3RD TOPIC COVERED:
Students then gave their presentations. I didn’t think any of the presentations were fantastic, but they were all very solid, and many students had more concrete, actionable papers than those I’ve heard in the past.

Kenneth was chosen to present since his paper was good, he was the most comfortable speaking in groups, and he was willing (wanted actually) to do it. William, who’s paper was also very good, was chosen as the alternate.

 

The presentations actually ran until s few minutes after one, so although we were able to finish them, the papers, the blogs, and the email, we didn’t have time to talk about graduation or do book project signups. But, I think the center will give them the graduation details and I know they can sign up for the book project at the ceremony.