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 Weekly Class Report Uhuru 4-26-11

                                              WEEKLY CLASS REPORT

                                                        Uhuru/ 4-26-11

 

 

Opening Comments:

 

I walked into the center around 6:40 pm and a counselor greeted me. I met Melissa right away and started getting ready to let the students in the classroom. We had to get a table to put our books and teaching supplies on it, and we also had to get extra chairs. We let the students in at 7:00 pm and started taking attendance and passing out the manuals and recorded them in the attendance sheet.

 

Attendance:

 

Attendance was more than expected as we were short of manuals and some students had to share. Melissa assigned the manuals and created the teams and groups

 

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

 

Melissa introduced herself and then I introduce myself and then We ask the students to tell us their names and the reason why they were in the class and how much computer knowledge they had acquired prior to this class.

I explained the importance of computer skills in today’s marketplace and why it would be in their best interest to do their best in the class. I explained the format of the class. The class expectations rules and regulations and told them to be on time and absences and tardiness were going to lower their graduation goals. I told them not to write on the manuals and to keep noise to a minimum. i informed them about their assignments due on the 5th week, the test on the 7th week, and the oral presentation on the 9th and 10th week.

 

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

Melissa covered this topic and she explained to them about the written essay in detail. She explained why they had to improve their writing skills in order to be competitive in the outside world. She told them about the length and topic of the paper and that they had to do an outline in order to write the paper and the importance of the outline. She explained that the paper was to describe their individual goals for the future and that the presentation of the paper will help them improve their public speaking skills.

 

 

 

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

 

I covered this topic and we opened up a computer to show them the parts inside the computer. We went over the computer terms on the manual, pretty straight statements of fact about computer hardware.

 

 

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

 

 

LAB TIME:

Melissa explained the use of the mouse in detail and went over page viii of the manual. we let the students practice left clicking and right clicking during lab time the majority of the group got the idea pretty fast. During the last part of the lab the students were clicking on the icons AND SOME students practice their typing skills on the mavis beacon program.

 

FINAL NOTES:

Offer any additional issues you would like to point out to the next team.

Everything went pretty smooth, a couple of the students had to leave briefly because their counselors ask me if it was ok, but they returned right away and I knew that they were with their counselors.