Launch of Philadelphia

Descirption of the three largest major program services is as follows:elect (education leading to employment and career training). Elect assists pregnant or parenting students in the completion of their high school education or equivalency. Elect students receive training and support to enable them to make successful transitions into self-sufficiency and parenthood. Launch's site coordinators provide intensive case management; parenting and child development training; health and nutrition seminars; academic and social services support;and life skills development. A component of elect is a fatherhoodinitiative dedicated to young men who are parenting. Urban technology project. in partnership with the school district ofphiladelphia, Launch developed a program to address digital inclusionissues within the city of Philadelphia. The urban technology projectprovides youth with opportunities for meaningful access to informationtechnology tools and education, promoting ownership of knowledge,problem solving and self-reliance. The urban technology projectincludes the digital service fellows and computer support specialistsdescribed below. Digital service fellows (""dsf""). Dsf is a full-time americorpsinformation technology preapprenticeship program for recent high schoolgraduates who have an interest in both serving their Communities and inpursuing the information technology field. Dsf participants learn under the guidance of a school district of Philadelphia informationtechnology professional and actively apply the skills learned byinstalling new equipment or repairing existing equipment in Schools andby leading school-based technology programs and workshops. Computer support specialists (""css""). Launch and the sdop have alsopartnered to create the css program. Css provides technical support to56 Schools and 4 central offices of the sdop. This program complementsthe dsf initiative and allows recent graduates the opportunity to servea one or two years as a pre-apprentice with master technicians in the school district of Philadelphia.