PROJECT IT LIFE SKILLS

The Campbell Lodge Boys’ Home (CLBH), a charitable safe haven for at-risk youth, has a 50 year history of caring and serving the community. We are a licensed Child Caring Facility through the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and have received national accreditation through the Council On Accreditation (COA) for Children and Family Services. The CLBH serves families in Clermont and Hamilton counties in Ohio, and Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton, and Pendleton counties in Kentucky.

The CLBH provides assistance for adolescent boys ranging in age from 10-18 years who typically arrive with a history of one or more of the following issues: mental health (e.g. depression, ADD, ADHD), family conflict, abuse, neglect and negative behavior. Most of these children arrive from the court systems, and all are taken in and cared for 24x7 living and having their physical and mental needs, often grossly neglected, taken care during their stay.

We are not just the only 24x7 residential facilities capable of offering an Equine Assisted Counseling program in the area; we have a top-notch staff thoroughly trained to address the multitude of needs of our youth residents across social, emotional and familial domains. Residents have a safe environment and are able to build self-esteem and life skills important in breaking the cycle of deviance they often have at home. Incubating and growing the technology skills of these misguided youth along with further enabling our employees to provide the right care at the right time for the right resident are the key needs the funds would meet.

As a Microsoft IT shop we have found significant value in leveraging Microsoft applications to truly impact the quality of lives of several of these youth. The ease and reliability we have with our IT allows us to spend our energies on the young men whose lives we are attempting to influence positively. With our existing IT products we have several examples where Microsoft is making a real difference. The COA approval was enabled via all the Microsoft technologies that allow us to run the charity ongoing.

One of our therapists leverages MS Outlook on an iPaq with Microsoft ActiveSync. This enables the therapist to administer critical Youth Outcome Questionnaires without having to re-type later and potentially lose important data. By utilizing MS Outlook, MS synchronization technology and MS Exchange Server 2007 the therapist finds it “Incredible to communicate with providers, parents, and staff updates so everyone is aware all the time of changes”. By leveraging MS Active Sync real-time information is shared and communicated ensuring the proper care is always administered and problems are discovered before they truly become problems. The CLBH would look via these funds to obtain additional HP iPAQs with Microsoft Office and Windows as well as licenses for Exchange and other MS products needed to equip all staff. Not all therapists, psychiatrists and other critical personnel have this technology which, if granted, would truly make a positive difference in these boys’ lives.

The Microsoft Office suite is leveraged by several folks who find real value across the board. Examples include the same therapist referenced above who leverages MS Excel to manage the equestrian riding schedule of the boys and tracking the time they have stayed at the CLBH, both tremendously flexible thanks to the ability to leverage Excel on the iPaq wherever and whenever the staff desires. The MS Word offering is the only tool used to build and manage treatment plans for all our youth and is something we cannot imagine being without.

Another therapist and program coordinator stated that without a PDA running Microsoft Office – particularly Excel, Word and Outlook – there would be “no way” to coordinate amongst case workers, other therapists and various school systems on grades and daily progression status. Microsoft Calendering via Outlook is the only calendaring tool utilized and was also referenced as critical to managing the charity and kids’ care day-to-day.

Perhaps the most important example of how Microsoft applications are making a real difference is with the boys themselves. Time for the boy’s to use the computers is a reward given to the boys’ who consistently demonstrate the best behavior and/or improvement in sessions. It is amazing how valuable the boys’ have found computer time and they have an amazing intuitive feel to the Microsoft technologies. The boys’ showed us how we could develop a brochure utilizing MS Word and numerous other items.

We would like to enhance this program via additional PCs running Microsoft Windows applications to give all boys access to the computer and the internet for additional learning opportunities. Additionally we would look to leverage Microsoft trainers to provide the staff and the boys training on numerous items so we can leverage technology properly.

Finally – the boys would have a learning curriculum developed to help them continue to build their skills – and in parallel their very core self-esteem – as they learn and succeed with skills needed for higher education and their careers in society. It would be a dream come true for all of us if we would be able in the future to provide a success story with Microsoft to show other companies how we were able to truly impact lives through the technology, expertise and compassion of the Microsoft company.