[UCIMC-Tech] Community Technology and UC2B: Careers, Jobs and the Future of our Local Economy

[Danielle Chynoweth]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Noah Lenstra <nlenstr2 at illinois.edu>
Date: Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 9:45 AM

PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE BROADLY

  I am writing to invite you to a follow-up meeting of the
eBlackChampaign-Urbana Campus-Community Symposium. The eBlack CU
Symposium was a great success, with over 180 people attending or all
part of the event. The full record of the Symposium is available
online for anyone to access at: http://eblackcu.net/portal/symposium.
We need to do more to get community members and community
organizations able and motivated to take advantage of technological
tools to better our local community for all.

This follow-up meeting will be held January 8, 2011, from 9 a.m. to
noon at the Champaign Public Library, in the main Robeson room on the
first floor. We are organizing this follow-up meeting around the
themes of technology, jobs and the future of our local economy. The
title of this event is: "Community Technology and UC2B: Careers, Jobs
and the Future of our Local Economy." We need you and your
organization to co-sponsor this event. As a co-sponsor all we would
ask of you is to help mobilize your organization’s membership and
family and friends to come join in the conversation of how technology
has already, and will continue to, change the skills needed to use
technology both in the work-market and in community life.

Here are some of the audiences for this event:

   * Youth and Unemployed individuals of all ages and backgrounds -
Find out what jobs already exist in the technology sector, what jobs
are being created, and what you need and can do to prepare yourself
for employment in the high-tech sector;
   * Parents/Grandparents/Mentors - Hear about the new skills your
loved ones will need to stay competitive in a changing job market;
   * Employers - Offer opinions about the technological skills you
expect from employees;
   * Educators - Hear the technology demands of the work-force and
present the responses you already offer and may offer in the future;
   * General Public - Continue the conversations on technology and the
future of the Champaign-Urbana community begun at the November 5-6
Campus-Community Symposium.

We are still organizing the program and speakers for this event.
Flyers will be made available in the very near future. If you or your
organization would be willing to co-sponsor this event we would be
happy to distribute flyers to you the week of December 27 for you to
disseminate to your members and members’ family and friends in the
lead-up to this event.

The draft schedule of this event is:
9:00    - UC2B, Economic Development, and Jobs -  What do the economic
leaders in our community think about technology and the future of the
work-force?
10:00   - Career Job Fair and Break-out discussions - Social justice,
Churches, Youth, Social service agencies (Continuing the conversations
from the November 5-6 meeting)
11:00   Mobilizing our community for change - The Difference Makers
Manifesto and community preparation for UC2B
Throughout the morning we will also have a Community Informatics
Poster Sessions, with demonstrations of what the UIUC campus has going
on in the community; and a Career-Job Fair, with literature and staff
on what will be the new jobs and how can people qualify.

If you are interested in co-sponsoring, or desire more information,
get in touch with us by e-mailing nlenstr2 at illinois.edu or calling
244-8203 or 815-275-0268 and asking for Noah Lenstra.

Thank you for your time,
Noah Lenstra