Resource Center

ComputerCenters in Edgewood
Support Students and Families

Community-based College Access and Computer Centers Launched 

San Antonio (October 10, 2008) – Four TECNO computer centers in the Edgewood community are being introduced at a college fair on October 11, 2008. The four centers will provide community-based college access and computer support to high school students and their families.

According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, of the 495 Edgewood graduates in 2006, 33 percent enrolled in two-year
Texas colleges and 13 percent enrolled in four-year
Texas institutions. Nationally, children in low-income families are 32 percent less likely to attend college than those in families with higher incomes. Even though minorities constitute an increasing proportion of college students, they are still underrepresented in postsecondary education. The lack of after-school access for low-income Hispanic students and their families to computers, Internet, online resources and multimedia technologies often keeps students and their families from obtaining critical information about college access.

This is why the Intercultural Development Research Association created the Technology-Enhanced Community Neighborhood Organizations (TECNO) project. The centers that are working in partnership with IDRA are Benitia Family Center, Edgewood Family Network,

and the Westside YMCA. They are providing:

• Direct access and personalized technology support for students, parents and families;
• Resources and information about college access and success;
• A mentoring system staffed by college students and retired high school and college counselors; and
• Support to parents and other nontraditional learners in the community by establishing a bridge between aspirations and access to college and available resources.

Also as partners, Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio College and Northwest Vista College will assist in staffing the centers as mentors. The centers will be fully operational on November 3.

Starting with first-phase funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the TECNO 2.0 project is now funded by the TG Public Benefit Program and JP Morgan Chase.

At the launch event on October 11, College Rocks!, held at Our Lady of the Lake University, hundreds of students will: visit with college representatives; learn about TECNO 2.0 centers; meet with early college programs staff; search for college information on the Internet; participate in campus tours; and attend breakout sessions on “kid’s college,” financial aid for high schoolers and college prep for middle schoolers.

TG is a public, nonprofit corporation that helps create access to higher education for millions of families and students through its role as an administrator of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). Its vision is to be the premier source of information, financing, and assistance to help all families and students realize their educational and career dreams. Additional information about TG can be found online at www.tgslc.org.

IDRA is an independent, private non-profit organization, directed by María Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., dedicated to creating schools that work for all children. As a vanguard leadership development and research team for more than three decades, IDRA has worked with people to create self-renewing schools that value and empower all children, families and communities. IDRA conducts research and development activities, creates, implements and administers innovative education programs and provides teacher, administrator, and parent training and technical assistance.

Media contact: Christie Goodman, APR, IDRA communications manager (210-444-1710; christie.goodman@idra.org)

For more information about the project or the centers, contact Leticia Rodríguez, Ed.M. at IDRA (210-444-1710; leticia.rodriguez@idra.org).