CTCNet Conference in Seattle, WA
Kathleen Deitch, Juan Ayala,Jr., Angel Rodriguez, Lisa Bouillion (University of Pennsylvania) and Father Jeff will be traveling to Seattle, WA June 10-12 to participate in the national CTCNet Community Technology Center Network) Conference. While there, they will lead a workshop entitled "Learning to Learn: A Four Step Process of Youth Development Through GIS and Website Training." Many thanks to our generous benefactors who have helped make this travel and stay in Seattle possible.

Youth Leadership on the move!
A group of 9 youth leaders have been meeting to plan the upcoming summer. The leadership meetings have included team building, role playing, and group activities. The youth have just finished designing and making a flag to take with them to Colorado. While in Colorado, youth, along with 4 Hopeworks staff members, will participate in team and leadership building experiences. A highlight of the trip will be a 5 day hiking trip into the Rocky Mountains. All of what the group will need to survive will be packed in with them!

2004 Summer Plans: Excitement
Summer planning has been in full gear the past month here at Hopeworks. If all goes according to plan, 30 youth will be hired to work this summer. Jobs that the youth will have involve:

• GIS Survey of East Camden, North Camden and Lanning Square
• Research surveys to develop community data sets about particular issues in Camden
• Surveying Camden Trees with the NJTree Foundation
• Running the Hope Through School Summer Program
• Creating new data sets and maps to help better understand the proposed redevelopment plans in Camden
  
  See a diagram of our summer day schedule
  
  

Congratulations to our HS graduates!
Congratulations to Avielle Watkins, Ed Figueroa, Patrick Belefanti, Mykiel Jones and Lilliana Quintana all of whom finished high school this month. Avielle will be heading to Hampton University, Ed will be attending Rutgers New Brunswick, Patrick will be attending Rutgers Camden, Mykiel will be at Camden County College and Lilliana will be attending Rutgers Camden. While at Hopeworks, these youth earned 24 hours of college credit, 3 built their own computers, and all had jobs with us. The HTS year ended with a party to celebrate all good things and all the learning that we had done this past year.  To our graduates:  Good luck in the fall!  To the rest of our youth:  see you soon for your summer jobs!

PAGIS Conference
On May 11th, Hopeworks participated in the PAGIS conference held in Harrisburg, PA. Manthu Tekhna along with Josh Rivera and Yesenia Nieves(Hopeworks youth) delivered a presentation about the Hopeworks GIS program.

HP Grant
Hopeworks has been awarded a $45,500 equipment grant from Hewlett Packard. Hopeworks was one of only 47 grantees in the entire country. This grant will allow Hopeworks to update our internal computer network, add an additional server and begin to deploy HP Tablets. We are most excited to continue to provide our youth with cutting edge technology and want to thank HP for their support!

Hopeworks Social

The second of three Hopeworks socials was held on May 21st at the home of George and Janet Hutchinson. Hopeworks is grateful to the Hutchinson's for opening their home to friends and guests. Noel Hernandez, Jamaal Johnson and Ed Figueroa talked about their experiences at Hopeworks. It was a great evening of friend making!