Second Chance of Northwest Florida

Second Chance of Northwest Florida, Inc. (hereinafter “SCNWF”) is a not-for profit 501(c)3 organization that provides services to adults living with traumatic or acquired brain injuries and their families of Northwest Florida. SCNWF provides a brain injury rehabilitation day program, education, advocacy, awareness, and prevention services. A traumatic brain injury (TBI) may be the result of an automobile accident, sporting activity, violence, work accident, or other insult to the brain. An acquired brain injury may be the result of a stroke aneurysm, cancer, or other illness.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. Teens, accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group. TBI causes more deaths than any other sports injury; in football, brain injury accounts for 65 to 85% of all fatalities. Annually, 50,000 people will die as a result of a TBI caused by violence. Prevention is the only cure!

SCNWF provides safety, health education, and information in the community with the goal of alleviating or drastically reducing the number of brain injuries occurring in our area. This is accomplished by participating in outreach opportunities to the general public, networking with services agencies such as the Bay County Interagency, Bay County Health Task Force, Bay County School program, and other programs that serve our targeted population.

SCNWF is a unique program in that it is the only program of its kind in the state of Florida. Since the agency's inception in 1998, over 80 brain injured individuals have benefited from SCNWF services; outreach and referral services have reached over 600 individuals. Through the use of Microsoft technologies received from Techsoup, SCNWF will have the opportunity to optimize the delivery of our mission and increase awareness of our program to the community. Areas of improvement through the use of donated products include the production of educational and prevention materials, advertising materials, day program organization and client education on how to use products such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Publisher, and Powerpoint.

Through the use of Office Pro Plus 2007 our agency has utilized Microsoft Word to create brochures used to educate the public about brain injury prevention. These brochures were distributed to an area high school to 300 graduating seniors through the school's Anchor Club. Along with brochures, fliers have been created to promote SCNWF at several fund raising events including Yard Sales, Fish Fry, concert ticket sales, and our Speakers Bureau. In the future we hope to utilize Microsoft Powerpoint for presentations at speaking engagements in the community. Microsoft Office is used to compose thank you letters to our supporters and for record keeping of donors which is essential for continued support.

Microsoft Office products have allowed SCNWF to upgrade the quality of services to our day program members and their families by enabling the agency to provide more structure and organization. We are now able to create daily lesson plans as well as weekly and monthly calendars so that members and families are kept up to date on events and outings. Another feature that the day program offers to its members is a computer lab where members are currently learning computer basics. Once they become familiar the computer the members will create a monthly newsletter for distribution throughout the state of Florida.

Every 23 seconds one person in the US sustains a Traumatic Brain Injury. The use of these donated Microsoft products has greatly impacted the quality and delivery of services to SCNWF members, their families, as well as the community. Without these products the prevention and awareness services to our youth would not be possible.