To the Office of the President-Elect: Kids, Technology & Problem Solving

I received and email from President Elect Obama's Change.Gov. Open government was a campaign promise that Obama consistently made, and he is delivering on his promise. Change.gov is set up to take ideas from Americans that can be used to fix our nation's problems. I could not resist the opportunity to offer my two cents to the Office of the President-Elect.

My Comments:

Teach Kids How to Use Computer Technology to Solve Problems

To the Office of the President-Elect,

I volunteer in a professional organization (BDPA) that teaches children (8th-12th grade) in underserved communities, 3 tier web design (HTML, .NET & MySQL) to solve problems. We accept students from all walks of life, with little to no programming experience. Along with programming, students across the country in this volunteer initiative, learn project management, career skills and team building. We are proving that kids in underserved communities can learn and apply college level education, while in still in grade school to solve complex problems, when they are mentored and handled by wise hands. Some of those students go on to compete against other students across the country in a High School Computer Competition (HSCC) for bragging rights, but most importantly college scholarships. They have created Information Technology Systems in these competitions such as:

• Global Troop Deployment Systems
  
• Charity Donation Sites
  
• Online PC Ordering Sites
  
• Terrorist Tracking Databases
  

Children are naturally interested in computer technology, so let's develop a national directive that takes their passion with the internet, gaming and teach them to solve problems, which in return will create a workforce of very talented future leaders, who will keep America competitive and creative, while solving a world of problems. If the volunteers of the BDPA can turn out hundreds of students each year on Saturdays to and influence them to pursue Computer Science careers, imagine the impact to our economy, business innovation and Homeland Security if our nation can reproduce our results.

Julius

BDPA Charlotte IT Assessment Project

"From the Classroom to the Boardroom"

BDPA Charlotte is proud to announce the creation of the BDPA Information Technology (IT) Assessment Project:

A collaboration between area Corporate IT professionals and Computer Science students to assess the Information Technology needs of Charlotte area Community Computer Centers.

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

BDPA Charlotte

IT Assessment Project

Project Purpose

The purpose of the BDPA Charlotte Information Technology (IT) assessment project is help local Charlotte organizations with community computer centers identify IT gaps. Community computer centers provide vital IT resources to citizens in underserved communities, but they often lack the personnel with skills to adequately assess their technology needs. BDPA Charlotte is looking for Charlotte area organizations, which have small to medium size community computer labs to conduct a complementary IT computer assessment. BDPA, the premier organization for African-Americans in IT, can fill this knowledge gap for organizations in our community, by providing the thought leadership and expertise to accomplish this noteworthy goal. As Microsoft phases out its most successful Operating System (OS) Windows XP, the BDPA's IT assessment project will make coordinators of community computer centers knowledgeable of the hardware requirements needed to run Microsoft's new OS Windows Vista. Additionally, it will identify risks and threats existing in their desktop computing environment.

Supporting Statistics

• 89.6% of all the worlds' computers run some flavor of Microsoft Windows. Source: http://marketshare.hitslink.com
  
• Currently, 66% of computers still run the Microsoft Windows XP OS version. Source: http://marketshare.hitslink.com
  
• 98 out of every 100 computers have 1 or more unsecure applications installed. Source: www.computerworld.com
  

Project Details

The following steps outline the actions performed as part of the IT Assessment Project.


Services Performed

* Security Vulnerability Assessment to identify risks and threats that exist on existing desktop/laptop computers.

* Assess the ability of existing computer hardware to meet the upgrade requirements to run the Microsoft Windows Vista Operation System.

Goal

Approximately four weeks after assessment, BDPA Charlotte will provide the community computer center with a formal report. The IT assessment will provide a road map to assist community computer centers for identifying and prioritizing their needs. This will empower community computer centers to provide higher quality of services to our students, job seekers, and seniors in our community. Additionally, the report information can be useful for grant applications.

Funding Requirements

The IT Assessment Project is FREE to local community computer centers, which grant BDPA Charlotte volunteers permission to perform the assessment.



BDPA Charlotte Qualifications

BDPA Charlotte is a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization comprised of professionals working in the IT field or anyone having an interest in computers. BDPA Charlotte is member of the National BDPA organization that has over 57 Chapters nationwide. Our membership is diverse and composed of IT executives, managers, consultants, entrepreneurs, project managers, developers, network engineers, programmers, web developers, instructors, and students.

BDPA is a global member focused organization that positions its members at the forefront of the IT industry. BDPA is committed to delivering IT excellence to our members, strategic partners, and community.

BDPA Charlotte strives to accomplish our mission by serving the Charlotte community, keeping our members educated and employed.

BDPA Charlotte Board


Charles Moore
President

Julius Clark Sr.
President-Elect & VP of Business Management

Lawrence Belton Jr.
VP of Finance

Cassandra Seibles
VP of Membership Services

Sherri Sonnier
VP of Membership

John Hoffler
VP of Student Information Technology & Scholarship Program

Aaron Johnson
High School Computer Competition Coordinator

Background of Project Manager

Julius Clark Sr.

Information Assurance Professional

julius.clark.sr@gmail.com


Education

Salem International University

MBA, 2004 - 2006

University of Fairfax

MSIS, Information Security, 2004 - 2006

Wentworth Institute of Technology

BS, Electronic Engineering, 1994 - 1997


Honors and Awards

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)


Specialties

Server & Network Architecture, Information Security, Information Technology Audit, Career Mentoring

and Non-profit Management.


Experience

* Security Compliance Monitoring & Reporting Engineer at Wachovia Bank
* President Elect, VP of Business Management at BDPA Charlotte Chapter
* Information Technology Auditor at Wachovia
* Director of Education at BDPA Charlotte Chapter
* Implementation Coordinator at Wachovia
* Sr. Systems Engineer at Wachovia
* Network Analyst at Piedmont Natural Gas
* Network & Telecom Analyst at Homesite Home Insurance Corporation
* Sr. Systems Engineer at American Student Assistance