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 Course Report Walden 6-1-10

     Instructor End of Course Report

 

 

Center Name: Walden House

Beginning Date: April 27, 2010

Graduation Date: June 1, 2010

 

Names of the four Instructors: Soni Nagatani, Agraja Sharma, Derin Oyekan, Peter Downey

The Walden House course consisted of two class sessions per week, for six weeks, with 15 students enrolled for the start of the course.  Course topics included hardware components, including the monitor, processor, mouse, keyboard, learning how to type, using the Internet and the basic components of Windows.  In order to graduate, the students were required to write a 500-word essay, and present their essay in front of the class.  This was the first class being taught at the new Walden House facility.

With a few exceptions, the students had very little experience using computers at the start of the course.  Some expressed feelings of intimidation from never having used a mouse and keyboard.  Despite this, the students expressed much enthusiasm and a desire to gain the knowledge necessary to become proficient with computers.  During the first couple classes, the “intimidation factor” started to disappear as the students learned the basic parts of a computer, and learned how to type properly using the instructional typing software.  As the course progressed, the students opened up more and started asking questions which demonstrated how they were catching on to the material.  For example, Rodney asked how he could copy pictures from a digital camera onto a hard drive.  The students eventually took a quiz on the computer hardware terms, and all but two passed with scores over 85%. 

Another very positive aspect of the course was the written essay requirement.  The announcement that students were required to write a 500-word essay was not well received at first, but once the students created their outlines, the ideas and words started to flow.  Because the students had to write most of their essays outside of the classroom, completing their papers really showed their dedication and devotion to graduating.  Nearly all of the students had their entire essays written before the final class.  When the time came for students to present their papers in front of the class, it was very inspiring to hear about their goals and aspirations.  James talked about how essential it is to learn technical skills as part of any career, and how he plans to use computers in his job search.  Eric discussed his former fear of technology, and how he now has an email address and is creating his own resume.  It was assuring as an instructor to hear how computer skills will help the students with their future lives. 

Unfortunately, only half of the original class went on to graduate, with the other half of the students dropping the course for various reasons.  However, the students that did graduate really appeared to have a sense of accomplishment by the end of the course, for having achieved so much over such a short period of time.  Teaching this course was an enjoyable experience, and the students seemed very grateful at graduation for having the opportunity to take a course with CDD.