Don Holt Uses 3 Keys In Bringing Nonprofit Success To Computer Village

Computer Village 1451 Mullanphy Street St. Louis, MO 63106 314.531.1900 www.cvillage.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Release Contact: Walter Pritchard, Soaring High Media Group, 314.338.1436 [email protected]

Don Holt uses three ‘keys' in bringing nonprofit success to Computer Village technology center

St. Louis, MO – July 11, 2012 - Since the mid-'90s, Don Holt, founder and executive director of Computer Village, believes in the saying – “It takes a village” to instill hope and a future in the underserved youth and adults in the community to bridge the digital/technology gap.

That is why Holt, a former Xerox sales manager, has employed his skills been bringing things together from unlikely places, such as:  unused computers with people who need to learn how to use them;

 broken computers with people who want to learn to fix them;

 volunteers with work that makes them feel good;

 unused space with computers, students, and instructors; Don Holt, right, share insights with students at Computer Village

 people who need computers with computers refurbished by techies-in-training;

 unmotivated teenagers with a realization that they, too, can own a business or land on the moon (sort of);

 skilled workers and high-paying jobs.

-MORE- 3 Keys/Don Holt/Computer Village Computer Village 1451 Mullanphy Street St. Louis, MO 63106 314.531.1900 www.cvillage.org

He started out in a community center with 10 computers, a little money, and a few friends who wanted to give back by teaching Word and Excel to students in under-served, low-income, African American neighborhoods.

But what started as a weekend venture to bring a few people into the information age became an Information Technology (IT) training school, a green technology training center, and an IT/solar panel installation company, not to mention haz-mat removal, robotics and more.

After talking with Don, one realizes the success of his retirement project, Computer Village, a nonprofit, 501(3) community-based corporation, is based on three “keys” at which he excels:

Focus  Networking  Collaboration

Focus: The mission of Computer Village is and has always been: more jobs and higher paying jobs in low-income communities. What those jobs are has changed as has the way in which they're obtained. It used to be a program about basic computer skills; it became computer installation and repair; now it's green construction and robotics. But the bottom line was, is, and will be: well-paying jobs.

To meet that goal, Holt has come up with new ways to generate revenue, new classes and, most importantly, new projects, all serving that single focus: well-paying jobs.

Networking: Holt is a master at networking, meeting people, and making matches. His board is not so much “get and give” as it is “get-to-know/open doors.” Board members are people who go to meetings in the community and network, who knows what, is needed and who can open doors for Computer Village. That door may be a church willing to install some computers so its members can upgrade their skills. It may be the door to a construction firm that needs skilled workers who can install IT systems.

Holt and his board are out there talking up Computer Village so when a company upgrades its computers, it calls Holt to come pick up the old ones, to use in his classrooms or to train repair techs or to refurbish for low-income students to take home. Computer Village 1451 Mullanphy Street St. Louis, MO 63106 314.531.1900 www.cvillage.org

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Motivated, trained IT workers need actual paying jobs so Computer Village pays them a better than living wage to install and maintain IT systems. To get those jobs, its back to networking, talking to small businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies about providing computer maintenance and, now, solar panel installations and haz-mat removal.

Holt talked to people in the construction industry, to let them know that their employees could be trained in green construction at Computer Village. Lo and behold, some of those construction companies needed their computer systems maintained. Another partnership, more jobs.

More jobs…The eye is always on that prize.

Collaboration: Holt has a collaborative turn of mind. He does not apply for grants on his own. He works with other nonprofits for their mutual benefit. For example, Father Support is an organization that works with non-custodial parents who might be termed "dead-beat dads." Computer Village has a contract to teach basic computer skills to every single one of the people who go through Father Support. Those who are particularly adept or interested can go on to higher-level training.

The grant and the grant-writing process were done by Father Support, not Computer Village. If the allocation for training is not enough to cover the needs or interests of Father Support Center’s clients, they can go to another Computer Village location to finish their studies.

Computer Village works with Head Start to help parents learn skills to get better job and, as an aside, helps the Head Start staff understand Excel. "Those collaborations are our life-blood," Holt says.

In his latest collaboration, he's reaching for the stars ... literally.

Computer Village students, working with scientists, physicists, and mathematicians are competing for the Google Lunar X prize, $3 million. It involves robotics and a lunar landing.

Shoot for the moon: That's kind of what Holt and Computer Village have always done.