Powering the Possible (Dell)

Affording chances and other life skills

By
Earl D.C. Bracamonte

Total solutions company Dell announced very recently that it will
support the advocacy of Children’s Joy Foundation, Inc. (CJFI) in helping close
the learning gap among abandoned and underserved children in Metro Manila and
its six other centers around the archipelago. CJFI will receive funding from
Dell’s ‘Powering the Possible’ grant that will facilitate its aim to empower
misplaced youth through education and computer literacy.

CJFi’s initiatives to support learning empowers the young wards by
closing the technology gap and providing training in information &
communications technology skills – all focused on improving, enhancing and
jumpstarting learning for life. By placing state-of-the-art computer labs into
underserved communities and working with non-profit organizations, Dell’s
action helps marginalized young people discover new possibilities, change their
lives, and unleash their true potential.

Dell’s ‘Powering
the Possible grant’ is focused on four areas of giving that includes children’s
cancer care, disaster relief, social entrepreneurship, and learning. CJFI
belong to the latter category; addressing the concern by targeting the marginal children
and youth, most especially indigent children in their serviced community who
have the interest to learn computer, as well as other life skills.

A
better tomorrow

In the Philippine setting, public school
students, especially those in the elementary and secondary levels, have less
access to computer literacy. So you can just imagine how grim the chances are
of those who are unschooled, particularly the out-of-school youth, because of tight
resources. They are the neediest in the area of learning. In its own way, this
program helps address the ever-widening gap of access to learning. The children
at CJFI are being taught by volunteers in classroom settings at the center in
Proj. 8, Quezon City. CJFI has been
working
with depressed communities when it was established over a decade ago as this is
the vision of its founders. This program is a vital instrument for the
organization to be able to help the children and youth under its care to
realize their dreams, and eventually enable their latent capabilities. The Proj.
8 center that we visited has 17 wards under its care.

The rapid growth of the information and
computer technology has opened the minds and interest of many children and
youth to get a profession in ICT. For the last three years, state universities
and colleges in the Philippines have an increasing average of students who
graduated in IT related courses or discipline. According to the DepEd data, 69%
of the public schools in the Philippines have at least one computer unit. The
rest of the public schools have no computer set thus
depriving many school children of the opportunity to learn or at least
familiarize themselves with the basic operations of a computer. Dell’s support
on CJF’s program, in effect, affords better chances to these kids than those enrolled
in public schools.

Grants such as this will
greatly help CJFI sustain its efforts and continue to monitor the welfare of
the children and the impact of the program on their development.

"Our grants to
children’s centers like CJFI mark an important milestone in our CSR efforts. It
is special because of the strategic focus of these projects; most specially the
Computer Literacy Program. Building these computer laboratories affirm the best
use of Dell technology.

“Even our employees
donate their free time to teach the children technical and IT skills. We
approach the program in a more structured way now, unlike in the past. For
every 10 hours of volunteered time in every quarter, each employee receives
$150 that they donate to any of Dell’s charitable causes,” remarked Richard Teo, president of Dell Int’l Services
- Philippines.

Home away from
home

Children’s Joy Foundation, Inc. was
established in 1998, the year of the Philippine Centennial, when a group of
good-hearted individuals from Davao City saw the miserable plight of poor
Filipino children particularly children along the streets, and they felt a
burden in their hearts to help and protect these innocent and needy children by
subsidized means. They wanted that these children improve their lives and
experience happiness and contentment in their hearts. They envisioned that
these children would have joy, peace, protection, and become productive
citizens in the country when they grow up.

From one residential
center for children established in 1998, Children’s Joy has expanded to seven
(7) children’s residential centers across the country serving and catering to
the poor and needy. Aside from Davao City, the other CJFI centers are located
in Butuan, Cebu, Pampanga, Cavite, Laguna and Quezon City. Children’s Joy feed
the children, clothe them, teach them the good values, and send them to public schools
within the area.

“We are very lucky that Dell turned its eyes on the children of our
foundation; whose experiences would have been otherwise very limited. Dell
computers are in all our computer laboratories nationwide. Our wards have all been
screened by the DSWD before moving here from their respective families. The
children are aged from 6 to 17 years old,” intimated CJFI executive director
Rosemarie Dimagnaong

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:
DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services that
give them the power to do more. ‘Powering the Possible’ is Dell’s commitment to
put technology and expertise to work where it can do the most good for people
and the planet. Dell works with nonprofit organizations to address pressing
social issues by donating a combination of Dell technologies and solutions,
funding, expertise and volunteer support. In 2012, Dell team members
volunteered more than 700,000 hours in their communities and contributed an
estimated $32 million through employee match and rewards programs. To learn
more about Dell’s initiatives, simply visit their Web site, www.dell.com/communities.