Miami Students Receive Free Computers

Following the event last week celebrating the graduation of more than 300 sixth-graders from the ELEVATE Miami program, this week we started handing out free computers to the students. Here you can see students from Kinloch Park Middle School taking their free computers home.

This is the second year of ELEVATE Miami, a joint effort of the City of Miami, Miami-Dade Public Schools and private partners to close the digital gap within our community. I am very proud of our students who graduated from the program and who have been rewarded with a free computer and internet access. Congratulations!

- Manny

Elevate Miami Kicks Off with Goals for Second Class

Elevate Miami is one of the programs that I am most proud of in the City. A result of the City's partnership with the Miami-Dade Public School System (the Education Compact), Elevate Miami is a comprehensive “Digital Inclusion” program to break the downward spiral of economic adversity and educational inequity and give our youngest residents every opportunity to pursue their hopes and dreams.

This week, I was joined by Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, two Elevate Miami alumni and 200 sixth graders at a rally at Jose De Diego Middle School to celebrate our goal to double the number of families to receive free computers and internet access this year to 1200 families.

Elevate Miami gives our students the ability to develop the skills necessary to compete globally. We need to ensure that we continue investing in our children and that we provide them with all of the tools they need to succeed. It is a life skills course that is being taught to sixth grade students that attend schools within the city. Students who complete the required coursework and also meet important academic and behavioral benchmarks during the school year earn a free computer and internet access for their homes.

In 2007, 600 sixth grade students successfully completed the very first ELEVATE MIAMI curriculum and took home a free computer. This year’s goal will be to double the amount of students to 1200.

Students participating in the Elevate Miami – Rites of Passage Initiative will need to meet certain criteria to earn a computer. Among the requirements students need to meet are: attending a Title I school or attend a City of Miami magnet school with a Title I City of Miami home school; complete the Rites of Passage Curriculum including the submission of a Rites of Passage Portfolio; attend school consistently; maintain academic grades of C or above in all academic subject areas on the second quarter report card. Additionally, parents/guardians will have to complete four (4) Parent Academy Rites of Passage Workshops.

I want to wish good luck to all of the students participating in Elevate Miami.

To learn more about this program http://www.elevatemiami.com/.





- Manny

Elevate Miami Testimonials

When I started Elevate Miami, I wanted to help our citizens, regardless of age, to improve their digital literacy. Through our many training centers around the city, we have touched thousands of residents. Some of them have let us know how helpful and life-changing their classes with Elevate Miami have been. It’s always nice to see just how much our community is learning by hearing from them directly. Below are some examples of written testimonials we’ve received via their newly-created email addresses that truly showcase the impact this program is having on their lives. In these difficult economic times, these messages help reinforce the type of work we do and why we do it.
To learn more about Elevate Miami, please visit their website.


“I write to you today to thank you for offering these classes. I was sick and tired of having to ask for favors when I needed something done in the computer. When I visited Sisters & Brothers Forever and saw a sign announcing the computer classes. I decided to take one, despite fear that I was too old to take it. I found a very comforting and friendly environment very favorable for my age, and the teachers were very patient and full of love and other classmates who had the same fear as me. Today I can be informed of what is happening in the world and I can send emails. I am very thankful to Elevate Miami.”

“I am very happy because the classes are very friendly and interesting, and I have learned a lot about how to send an email. It is amazing how much I have learned. I have a computer and have never been able to use it because of lack of experience. Thanks to these classes, I can now write and communicate with my friends who are far away.”

“Through this wonderful communications medium, the computer, I can tell you that I am happy to learn. En each class, I learn more. Thank you for the opportunity that you have given the community, to seniors and to people of all ages. My experience has been wonderful.”

“I have learned a lot in a computer that it is very entertaining. The teacher is very special. I wanted to learn a lot and also hope to work in a place. I feel this computer class mean a lot to individuals. It’s like going to a place and to me it looked kind of scary but in reality its not. It’s like going for a vacation with nice individuals, and especially the teachers are nice and the ones who work there too. It’s like being in the library and you are learning and having much fun. It’s unexplainable. The Miami Herald Newspaper advertisement got me to these classes and to me it’s like a dream come true. I am very grateful for this and the United States of America also the government. Thank You. God Bless America.”