In Belize City, alarmingly high numbers of high school aged youth are dropping out of school (60% are not enrolled). CCRD's youth training program, called the "Hope Through Technology Program (HTTP)," is essentially a formation program as well as a computer training facility: they will not only train youth in cutting edge, emergent technologies, they try to form the WHOLE PERSON through various academic offerings, life skills coaching, and mentorship by local professionals. The goal is to assist youth to build upon their own internal resources in order to discover new possibilities for their future, apart from drugs, guns, and early death.
Through CCRD's relationships in the the business community, they have become aware of a need for skilled and certified I.T. professionals. This is especially true in the areas of GIS and web marketing. Furthermore, numerous foreign companies have begun to outsource their tech support services to the Eastern Caribbean. Belize has the potential to create an attractive and welcoming environment for foreign investment through the creation of a skilled and tech savvy workforce.
New World Villages believed in this vision and with your help, supported the effort by donating and transporting 20 laptops and a wireless router to help form the technology hardware needs of this project.
Expected impacts include:
* Thirty youth participate annually, which results in fewer youth targeted for gang recruitment.
* Increased numbers of at-risk youth remain in school and/or return to school.
* Program trainees are able to articulate a clear, concrete, and hopeful vision for their futures.
* A professional labor pool skilled and certified in information technologies is created to better respond to the needs of Belize's business community.
* Through the development of a professional and skilled labor pool, an incentive is created to attract foreign businesses interested in outsourcing their technology support services to the Caribbean.
