Google and ETR Associates Launch Youth IT Initiative

ETR Associates, with funding from Google's 2010 Roots in Science and Engineering (RISE) Initiative, has developed a new project titled Puente: Supportive Professional and Activity Network for Students (Puente SPANS). The purpose of the program is to support interest in and education around information technology (IT) for underserved and underrepresented Latino youth in the Pjaro Valley Unified School District located in northern California.

The goal of Puente SPANS is to involve employees from Google and other information technology companies in developing effective online IT education and career activities for Latino youth in ETR Associates' Watsonville Technología-Educación-Comunidad (Watsonville TEC) youth program. This innovative project uses a Moodle-based learning management system (LMS) to create a community of support related to information technology. A critical element of Puente SPANS is tapping into the cutting-edge expertise and experience of staff from Google and other technology companies to generate and implement the best possible concepts for activities in the following categories:

• New and exciting youth-appropriate technology experiences or technology tools
• Activities that increase youth awareness of careers and trends in the IT industry
• Activities that introduce youth to adult role models in the IT industry
• Activities that teach youth about what working in the IT field is like
• Activities that build IT skills and knowledge in a hands-on and/or "minds-on" way

For more information on Puente SPANS, please contact Project Director Jacob Martinez at
831-438-4060 or jacobm@etr.org.