Dear Friends:

The Boston Digital Bridge Foundation (BDBF), created in the year 2000, has been my primary technology education vehicle to create new opportunities for citizens in our community. The programs we deliver aim to increase community collaboration, improve children's academic performance and enhance adult employment opportunities.

I was determined that our young people, as well as our families, would not be part of the technology “have nots,” unable to secure good jobs due to inadequate familiarity with computers. So we began a campaign that continues today — a campaign that says that every person, in every neighborhood, should have access to the wonders of technology.

The BDBF created and now manages the Technology Goes Home program, a computer-training program that brings students and their families into the schools for technology training with Boston Public School teachers.

To date, more than 3,500 families have graduated from this program, and we intend to have the program available in the future in every school throughout the Boston Public School system. Once parents become involved in their children's schoolwork, they also engage with the workings of the school, and the entire school system benefits.

I am very proud of the technology training programs we have created here in Boston. Together we can continue to bridge the digital divide one family at a time.

Sincerely,

Thomas M. Menino