The
statistics are alarming. Eighty percent of homeless people in NYC were
formerly in the foster care system. When a foster-care youth reaches
the age of 18 and has not been adopted, they "age out" of the system and
are essentially abandoned and completely unprepared to be on their own.
Almost universally, they have minimal education, very high dropout
rates, absolutely no parental or adult guidance, no life skills, no
qualifications, and no living arrangements.
That's
why the Techie Youth Foundation's Founder and President - Eric David
Benari, is on a mission. He's teamed up with other experts in the field
to provide free IT education to any
youth of employable age in the foster-care system to help combat
homelessness.
"
It is never the kids' fault they are in the foster-care system. Most of
them enter the system due to severe parental abuse or extreme neglect.
Kids who don't enter the Techie Youth program and age-out of care are
likely to become incarcerated within 18-24 months. Many will become
homeless, and nearly half of all females will become pregnant within one
year. Any of the students who participate in the program could within a
very short time be earning much more than what is required to live
adequately,” says Benari.
After
five months of classes, the Techie Youth Foundation is proud to
announce they recently celebrated their first graduating class at the
Microsoft Store on 5th Avenue.
About Eric David Benari:
David
Benari, PMP, is the Founder & President of Techie Youth. He is an
IT business expert and master-technologist who has founded and/or built
the infrastructure for a large portfolio of ventures, spanning sectors
of social networks, e-commerce, B2B, open-source, online advertising
(while in a senior-role at Yahoo!) and others. Benari has been invited
to speak at numerous conferences and universities, including NYU and
MIT, and is a published writer for Forbes and MIT CIO Corner, to name a
few. Benari is also the Chairman/Coordinator/Organizer of the world's
largest community of database-technology professionals.
For more information on the Techie Youth Foundation, visit: www.TechieYouth.org
or www.TechieYouth.org/hope.
To see Class Photos, please visit: www.TechieYouth.org/gallery.
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