Information Technology Making A Difference in Children's Lives
June 26, 2008

Technology is not an end in itself.  It's a "scaffold for youth development" and a tool for better health care, said Father Jeff Puttoff, Executive Director of Hopeworks 'N Camden, an innovative technology-training program that addresses workforce preparation for at-risk youth in Camden, New Jersey.  In Their Own Words, the student-produced video that was featured at the briefing can be viewed by clicking here.

The occasion was the June 26th Hill briefing Information Technology Making A Difference in Children's Lives, co-sponsored by APT and The Children's Partnership (TCP). Father Puttoff was joined by Dr. Matthew Levy, Director of Community Pediatrics at, Georgetown University Hospital, who described how he is using electronic medical records and broadband to provide access to health care for underserved communities in Washington, D.C. with the Kids Mobile Medical Clinic.  Click here for more information on the program.

Another event in the Broadband Changed My Life!™ series, the program was moderated by Joy Howell, the Director of the BBCML campaign and also featured Ken Kelly (Ken Kelly's remarks), Director of TCP's Washington Office and Karyne Jones, Chair of APT's Program Committee and President and CEO of the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged.  Participants generally agreed that:

• Broadband applications are improving our quality of life in many areas, but there are still gaps in access.
• Broadband technology is essential to the health care and training applications featured at the briefing.
• Pubic Policy is needed that will ensure investment in, access to and adoption of broadband networks and services.
• Access to computers is not the biggest problem.  It's access to broadband and knowing what to do with it.