Resident Success Stories

Getting a job. Getting a better job. Going back to school. Earning a college degree. Making the honor roll. Using technology to connect or reconnect with family, friends, and society. Becoming self-sufficient. Buying a home.

These are just some of the successes attained by Neighborhood Networks center users, and every day, even more residents are achieving their goals. Residents like:

Latasha Hampton, who vowed to end her dependence on public assistance and sought help doing so at the Sutton Place Neighborhood Networks Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. After visiting the center, Hampton enrolled in the pharmacy technician program, a state-approved program that provides onsite training, as well as short-term childcare and free tuition, all barriers that Hampton was struggling to overcome. Less than six months after enrolling, Hampton became the first Sutton Place pharmacy technician graduate and obtained a position for a competitive starting wage. After a few weeks of employment, Hampton moved off the welfare rolls totally.

Jasmine Santana, David Skiratko, and Angela Trant, who achieved academic success thanks to the encouragement and support they regularly received at the Glenview Gardens Apartments Afterschool Learning Center located in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Santana received a full scholarship to University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Skiratko earned the highest grade point average for fifth graders at his elementary school. And, Trant was selected to attend a summer science camp taught by professors from the University of Maryland that explored Chesapeake Bay environmental issues.

Senior residents at Plough Towers Computer Learning Center in Memphis, Tennessee who formed a stationery creation and production business that enables them to expand and improve their computer skills. The residents create a variety of products that are sold to the community. Some of the items they create include greeting cards, personalized labels, note cards, and business cards. They also scan old photographs and retouch them on the computer. Samples of the various items they produce are on display in the center, and people can come to the center and place their orders. All of the money received is invested back into the center.

Fifty-nine-year-old, blind resident Maria Petas, who wanted to enter the age of technology, but the only computer on the property equipped with screen-reading software for low-vision or blind users was located in Petas' apartment. Petas contacted the staff at the Alachua/Sherwood Oaks Neighborhood Networks Center in Alachua, Florida to determine how she would go about getting the computer training she so desperately wanted. The staff decided that if Petas could not take part in the classes offered at the center, the staff would bring the classes to Petas. Thanks to the Alachua/Sherwood Oaks Neighborhood Networks Center staff's in-home computer instruction, Petas types about 40 words per minute and has become a pro at e-mailing. She has also learned how to use Microsoft Word, add Internet shortcuts to the desktop, and navigate Web pages.