Duke Energy skilled volunteers upgrade job-training computer lab to help drive economic success for the formerly incarcerated being served by OMITT Innovative Solutions.
Through Apparo’s Tech Therapy program, Duke Energy skilled volunteers Michael Johnson and Jesus Macias returned to upgrade the lab Duke Energy helped create six years ago. Read more about the history of Apparo, Duke Energy and OMITT.
OMITT Innovative Solutions is a trade school for formerly incarcerated individuals that put them on the path towards economic independence through skilled trade education in fields like carpentry, forklift operation, electrical, facility repair, welding, and HVAC. Students use these computers for simulations, education, and certificate program testing. Before this upgrade their computers were slow and unreliable (some were damaged from a previous lighting strike that hit the building!) This upgrade to 13 new computers will allow students to train faster, positioning the school to accelerate students into jobs faster and to serve more students each year.
When Rose Jones Edwards, Executive Director of OMITT received a grant to upgrade the computer lab, she did not know how to optimize her spending. This is where Apparo comes in. Apparo’s Tech Therapy team leveraged its technical expertise to help Rose make the smartest computer purchase and identified volunteers from Duke Energy to help ensure that these computers are secure from cyber threats, protected from physical hazards and ready for use.
Hear Rose share her perspective.
See our story on WCCB News at 10.
Apparo Chief Technology Thought Partner, Stephanie McKee, shares, “We’ve supported Rose, OMITT and their students since 2015 and I’m so happy to be able to be her go-to when it comes to helping OMITT improve the way they work, so that they can do more to help more people improve their economic position. Rose is an amazing woman and being part of her team means a lot to me.”
Hear from our Duke Energy volunteers Michael Johnson and Jesus Macias on what this volunteer experience means to them.
