Create West Virginia

Mission WV Continues to Build West Virginia Tech Literacy

An exciting announcement was made at the Create WV conference last week in Snowshoe - Microsoft awarded their third grant of $625,000 in cash and software to Mission WV, a non-profit organization dedicated to delivery a number of social services to West Virginians, not least of which is hands-on PC technology training. 

Microsoft was also a sponsor of Create WV and has demonstrated a commitment to helping fulfill our mission of building "creative communities for the new economy."

Below is the official press release. Congratulations to Mission WV and keep up the great work!

 

Mission West Virginia Receives Microsoft Grant

Third donation of cash and software brings giving total to almost $1.3 million from Microsoft

 

 

Charleston, W.Va. – Oct. 21, 2008 – Today, Microsoft is awarding its third grant worth more than $625,000 in cash and software to Mission West Virginia, a non-profit organization based in Hurricane.  The grant is part of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills program, an initiative dedicated to improving job skills and employment opportunities for individuals.

 

The donation marks the third installment of a five-year commitment Microsoft is making to the nonprofit organization.  In 2006, Microsoft contributed $50,000 to Mission West Virginia and last year the company increased its contribution to more than $623,000 in cash and software to the organization, bringing the total donation so far to almost $1.3 million.

 

Mission West Virginia collaborates with public and private organizations, to help individuals use new and existing resources to encourage innovative social change through new local partnerships.  For example, Microsoft’s support is helping disadvantaged youth and adults learn computer skills essential to finding work and helpful to parents assisting their children with school work.

 

“Through the assistance of Microsoft, Mission West Virginia will be able to continue our work to empower the talented individuals who are driving this state’s innovative economy,” said B. David Rogers, Associate Director/Chief Technology Officer for Mission West Virginia, Inc. “With a decrease in manufacturing and non-skilled jobs, the only way out of poverty for many people is to hone the technology skills employers and educators are looking for in emerging job sectors.” 

 

"Education and IT training are vital to our state's economy, and it's exciting to see this ongoing and successful partnership between Microsoft and Mission West Virginia," said Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.  "This is great news for Putnam County, great news for our state and great news for West Virginia workers." 

 

The grant will be presented to Mission West Virginia by Allyson Knox, Academic Program Manager, Microsoft’s US Partners in Learning (PiL) program, at the second-annual Create West Virginia Conference on Oct. 21. Knox will also take part in the conference speaking on “What is a Creative Job? What is a Creative Worker?”

 

“Microsoft’s grant to Mission West Virginia is a testament to our continuing relationship within the community,” Knox said. “Our investment through this organization will empower the local workforce by encouraging the growth of IT skills resulting in economic self-sufficiency through jobs and entrepreneurship.” 

 

Representatives from local government, education, business and cultural organizations will be in attendance at the Create West Virginia Conference alongside West Virginia-based artists, writers, designers, entrepreneurs and other statewide influential leaders.

 

“We are moving West Virginia forward by building partnerships among business, education, government and our community organizations,” said Gov. Joe Manchin.  “Microsoft’s support of Mission West Virginia and Create West Virginia is helping to create a brighter future for the state and our citizens by helping us develop a 21st century economy and the workforce to support it.”

 

The grant is part of Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to support the state of West Virginia. Since 2003, the company has given and matched employee gifts totaling more than $4.2 million in cash, curriculum and software in the state of West Virginia. Microsoft and its employees support community organizations, educational institutions and human service agencies across West Virginia with grants of cash, software, and curriculum, as well as employee volunteer hours.

 

 

About Microsoft Unlimited Potential-Community Technology Skills program

Microsoft Unlimited Potential – Community Technology Skills program is a global community-based learning program focused on extending IT-skills and economic opportunities to enable young people and adults to realize their potential. Through cash grants, software donations, technology solutions, and specialized curriculum, the program supports community technology centers across the U.S. and around the world.  http://www.microsoft.com/giving

 

About Mission West Virginia

Mission West Virginia, a non-profit organization that collaborates with public and private entities, particularly faith communities, equipping them to utilize existing resources to form new partnerships, encourage innovative social change, and build stronger communities in West Virginia. For more information, please visit: http://www.missionwv.org

 

About Microsoft: Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

 

# # #

 

 

Mary Esler

Airfoil Public Relations

[email protected]

Office: 248-304-1437

Mobile: 586-855-4630

Where do Candidates Stand on the Arts?

This year Arts Advocacy of West Virginia conducted its first candidate survey with very positive results.  The survey was designed to increase awareness of the arts as a legislative issue and to place major issues confronting the arts industry in the front of candidates’ minds. 

A resounding 93.5% responded that they believed that the arts were a major component of economic development and should be included in all state development initiatives.  When asked if they would support policies to increase accountability for school standards in the arts, 58.7% said they would enthusiastically support and 37% said they would support such policies with 4.3% being neutral and none opposed.  Ninety-three percent of candidates were willing to enthusiastically support or support increased funding for the arts with none opposed. 

It also appears that the candidates were active in participating in the arts themselves by showing attendance at events as follows:

100%   - Music

89.1%  - Theater

58.7% - Visual Arts

32.6%  - Literary Arts

28.3%  - Dance

The survey also asked candidates if they would be interested in serving on an Arts Caucus and 75% responded yes and 25% either asked for more information or did not know.   Arts Advocacy was very pleased with the results of its first survey and plans to use this data in its work throughout the coming year. 

How Quickly Lists Change

For several years, West Virginians have lamented the steady flow of "first on bad lists, last on good lists" syndrome. Some people dismissed the lists as biased, others just shrugged and figured that's where West Virginia will most likely be for some time.

However, the misfortunes of the rest of the country and the relative stability of West Virginia's economy recently have elevated us on some recent lists. Now that we're getting some credit at the top, maybe it's time to start touting them.

Careerbuilders.com recently listed the "Top 25 Best Markets to Find a Job." After years of seeing young people leave the state to find jobs, West Virginians might scratch their heads and allow themselves a little bit of glee to see that we have two cities in the national top 25 list - Morgantown and Charleston!

The list was generated by looking at unemployment rates and job growth. West Virginia currently has a very low unemployment rate and Morgantown in particular has a high job growth rate. The rest of the Top 25 were mostly Western cities.

Of course, each city in West Virginia is showing well for different reasons. In Charleston, the energy boom with coal and natural gas has stimulated the region. In Morgantown, the growth of high-tech and university/research organizations has driven growth.

Whatever the reasons, it's nice to be on top for a change. And here's hoping we stay there for a while. 

Creative Cone Awards Announced

There are literally hundreds (thousands?) of creative people in communities throughout our state taking a leadership role by sticking their neck out to instigate positive change. To honor their work and to honor the work of specific individuals who have earned our respect and admiration for their creative accomplishments, the Create WV team launched the first "Creative Cone" awards on the last day of the conference.

Why a "creative cone"? Because we're all working in creative communities "under construction." Some communities are a little further down their path, but we're all at various stages.

Please join us in celebrating the work of this year's honorees:

Jeanne Mozier, Berkeley Springs - We're not sure it's possible to think of Berkeley Springs without thinking of Jeanne. She's the entrepreneurial heart and soul behind the creative power of this little town in Morgan County who has earned multiple "top arts town" designations and is the first certified arts community in West Virginia.

Keith Pauley, Charleston - Keith is the CEO of MATRIC, the research non-profit launched in 2004 that has put the Kanawha Valley on the R&D map again by putting Ph.D.'s back to work in the Kanawha Valley. Under Keith's leadership, MATRIC has hired dozens of new highly-paid researchers and spawned new commercial companies from their work.

Marlon LeBlanc and Jason Staples, Morgantown - OneWVU arose, according to Sharon Mallow, program coordinator for the President’s Office for Social Justice, after an incident occurred at the University in which a student athlete was called a racial slur. WVU soccer coach Marlon LeBlanc has been a founding visionary leader for the initiative, and Jason Staples a key leader in delivering tangible efforts to build awareness and commitment to diversity at West Virginia's flagship university.

Reverend Matthew Watts and Reverend Ron English, Charleston - West Virginia has had its share of ugly incidents and bad PR in the past year that forced us to ask many difficult questions to confront both our public image and our personal commitments. Luckily, we have two long-time civil rights and community champions working in Charleston who have helped build connections, share balanced insights via the media, and championed the urgent need for the Kanawha Valley and all of West Virginia to value its citizens from all ethnic, racial, and age backgrounds. Their accomplishments are too numerous to name, but their impact is felt across many realms such as mentoring youth, creating job opportunities and building diversity leadership.

Dr. Stephen Kopp, Huntington - Dr. Kopp is a champion of building creative communities in West Virginia through 21st century education, technology and research. Under his leadership, Marshall University has aggressively launched their implementation of "Bucks for Brains" and personally participated in the Create Huntington initiative. Dr. Kopp is a passionate, shining example of how leaders in our state can lead us into the new economy and greater prosperity.

As we mentioned earlier, there are many, many folks doing fantastic creative work throughout the states. But we thank the honorees above for their examples of leadership and creative problem-solving in our great state. Thank you to all of them for their leadership!

Wow....And Thank You

After last year's inaugural Create WV conference, we wondered if we could recreate the same magic that was sparked by so many people from so many different parts of the state with so many different backgrounds coming together to explore this "creative community" concept.

This year's 2nd Create WV conference was different and special in its own way. Snowshoe Mountain was beautiful (and cold at times!) and more spread out. The audience was much larger. But the end result was just as magical:  Hundreds of creative West Virginians banding together to learn about and discuss major challenges and exciting opportunities for their communities and our state.

We have so many to thank. The attendees, the volunteer organizers, the speakers, the sponsors. In coming days we'll be sharing the slide presentations and handouts, photos and videos and comments from the attendees.

For now, we leave with a quiet, yet excited, confidence that the future is very bright for our state because of our commitment to creatively shaping it together. If you attended the conference, we'd love to hear from you with a post on this site or an email to [email protected].

Let's go create!

Pre-Conference Thoughts: It's Been a Creative Year!

As we get set to launch the Create WV 2008 Conference today, we asked ourselves "Has there been any impact on West Virginia in the past 12 months? Do we see tangible progress towards building the New Economy?"

We asked in a survey "Is your community actively including key pillars of building creative communities for the new economy in your local growth and development plans?" And here's what you said:

• We're actively infusing new economy thinking into our plans - 33%
• We're just getting started, but we're committed - 38%
• Not sure - 5%
• Not yet - It's not well understood, but we're open to the possibility - 14%
• Not at all - It's not understood or accepted in our area - 10%

That's pretty good momentum. We also asked you to help us build a list of what's going on out there. And boy did we come away feeling excited! Here are just a FEW of the highlights from the last 12 months:

QUALITY OF PLACE

• Community Development Hub launched
• 40% increase in total arts funding in West Virginia
• Create Huntington and the Old Main Corridor Project
• WV Music Hall of Fame launched
• Chuck Mathena Center in Princeton opened
• Gary Bowling's House of Art opened in Bluefied
• Clay Center Community Arts Programs in Mingo, Logan, Kanawha, Lincoln, Clay
• 30th Anniversary of the Morgan Arts Council!
• American Mountain Theater opened in Elkins
• Pocahontas County Artisan Co-Op and Opera House
• Charleston's East End Wi-Fi program launch

DIVERSITY

• Diversity Leadership Academy and Communities United Against Hate forums in Charleston
• One WVU Campaign
• Five Inclusive Communities program members in WV: Morgantown, Parkersburg, Clarksburg, Huntington, Ranson
• "Communities in Schools" in Greenbrier County

TECHNOLOGY and R&D

• Bucks for Brains and Bucks for Jobs program passes
• NETL Tech Support Facility in Morgantown
• CWP Inc - Fossil fuels research partnership with WVU, Carnegie Mellon and Pitt
• Statewide broadband plan revealed
• Robert C. Byrd Science and Tech Center at Marshall
• Marshall Institute for Interdisciplinary Research launched
• MATRIC expansion in South Charleston
• Tech Connect WV reveals Blueprint for Tech-Based Economic Development
• State support for SBIR grants
• Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute
• WV Angel Investor Network

EDUCATION AND TALENT

• 21st Century Learning Initiative by WV Dept of Education
• Center for Educational Technology at Wheeling Jesuit
• STEM initiative at Marshall University
• Come Home to WV campaign by WV Dept of Commerce
• Globaloria program - learning via online gaming

We know there are more, so please take the 5-10 minute survey to let us know what is going on in your community! There is nothing better to build momentum in our state than to share the progress that is happening in every county.

Things That Are Necessary Tend to Happen

One the eve of the CreateWV conference, I want to close out my discussion of the book, Disrupting Class, with a simple, but profound statement made by Dr. Johnson, the book's co-author, the last time I sat down with him in person - "CreateWV is all about creating something that is not there."

Public education, if it is to be effective and relevant in the 21st Century, will not resemble what it is today.  Disrupting Class makes a compelling argument that public education's long-term survival requires a "separate space" in order to execute innovative strategies in school and schooling. 

"This process will require taking into account of certain realities that are now obvious.  It is obvious the existing arrangement of public education does create obstacles to improvement.  It is obvious that state policy leadership does not have to be constrained by existing arrangements.  It is obvious that policy could make it possible to start schools new as well as to change existing schools.  It is obviously possible to create professional communities of teachers that exist, legally, and for these collegial groups to be given responsibility for the success of the school or department.  It is obvious that the information revolution represented by the internet and the world-wide web creates the potential to individualize and personalize learning, and that this will make it necessary to change the old notion of 'instruction'...

Nothing is as encouraging as the fact that all these things are necessary.  Things that are necessary tend to happen....

To do what is necessary we will need to expand the current theory of action...state policy leadership needs to break out of present arrangements, needs to move agressively to create an open sector in public education in which new entities are creating new schools that motivate students to work hard and to do well.  These students will need to be open to new technologies, open to the desire of students to individualize and personalize their education, open to radically different uses of the year and the day and open at last to leadership roles for professional teachers."  (Creating the Capacity for Change, How and Why Governors and Legislatures Are Opening a New Schools Sector in Public Education,  Ted Kolderie, p. 183-184)

Things that are necessary tend to happen.  So it will be in your community.  See you at the conference.

MATRIC Continues its Innovative Ways

MATRIC - the Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research and Innovation Center - has already put dozens of ex-chemical industry Ph.D.'s to work in South Charleston. Yesterday the non-profit group, which was launched in 2004, announced a new round of investments and new jobs. From the Charleston Gazette:

The Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research and Innovation Center in South Charleston will add 150 new high-tech jobs in the next 18 months and is receiving $2 million in federal funds to start a Homeland Security data integration center, the center announced on Wednesday.

"While a lot of people are afraid for their jobs, we are creating jobs," MATRIC chief executive officer Keith Pauley said prior to the group's annual celebration on Wednesday.

MATRIC will partner with Butler International Inc. to form the International Design Center, which will create 150 new engineering and research and development jobs. Butler is a tech outsourcing company headquartered in Florida.

This is what it's all about - leveraging innovation to create jobs, not just wait for them to come.

WVU is also on the move with the opening of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute. You can also hear - if you listen closely - the phrase "new economy" cross the lips of various politicians running for election or re-election this season.

As hundreds of folks head to Snowshoe Mountain next week (including Keith Pauley, CEO of MATRIC and a featured speaker), we can celebrate the progress our state is making across many pillars for "building creative communities for the new economy."

Trade Tech High

Trade Tech High is a prototype for career technical education across the United States.  "No longer will students have to choose between 'college prep' or 'career prep' as Trade Tech provides the opportunity to earn college credit, participate in work-based internships, and begin an accelerated apprenticeship program."  View their operating model:

http://www.tradetechhigh.org/operatingmodel/tradestech_op_model_10e_web_02.pdf

Watch their video:  http://www.tradetechhigh.org/videos/TTsmall.wmv

It is all about student and teacher motivation and that should be at the core of any learning opportunity. 

The Education Track this year is a chance to hear from individuals who have been involved in these discussions across the country and can help our state start the conversation now. 

After learning about some of the different schools and schooling that is occuring right now in other states, do you believe that creating an opportunity in WV for these types of schools to emerge is a fight worth fighting?

That will be the topic of my last post before the conference, the connection between this conversation and creative communities. 

Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP)

KIPP began in 1994 when two teachers, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, launched a fifth-grade public school program in inner city Houston, TX, after completing their commitment to Teach For America.  In 1995, Feinberg remained in Houston to lead KIPP Academy Middle School, and Levin returned home to New York City to establish KIPP Academy in the South Bronx.  These two original KIPP Academies became the starting place for a growing network of schools that are transforming the lives of students in under-resourced communities, and redefining the notion of what is possible in public education.

      

Learn more www.kipp.org

    

KIPP selects where they open new schools, much like a retailer selecting where to open a new franchise.  Read what it takes to be considered:

http://www.kipp.org/07/KIPP_RFP_2006_Questions.pdf

   

Could your community make this commitment to public education?  Would your community let this type of innovation to occur?  Learn more about innovation in public education at the conference.