ADVISORY/From Streets to Superhighway: Unique Hi-Tech Training Program Bridges Digital Divide, Links Employers With New Labor Pool.

News Desks/High Tech & Education Writers

ADVISORY...for April 27 (Thursday)

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

WHAT: A reception inaugurating Street Tech, a unique program that
    connects the high-tech labor needs of employers with the skills
    needs of 18-to-25-year-olds from underserved neighborhoods. Unlike
    "computer literacy" programs, Street Tech delivers specialized
    professional training and certification in high-demand computer
    skills (such as A+ and MCSE) along with intensive
    life/professional skills training and job retention services that
    involve partnerships with employers after the program's graduates
    are hired.

    Demand for Street Tech training is high: Over 100 East Bay youth
    applied for one of 32 available places in the nine-month
    intensive evening program that began last month in San Pablo.
    The students will graduate as skilled computer technicians in
    December, and be placed with participating employers.

    Street Tech is a nonprofit run in partnership with the East Bay
    Neighborhood Links (EBNL) collaborative and the City of San
    Pablo. It is supported by a major grant from the U.S. Dept. of
    Education and a growing roster of Bay Area technology,
    telecommunications, financial and utility companies, including
    Lucent Technologies, AT&T Cable Services, East Bay MUD, NETg,
    Nextera Interactive, Providian Financial, Proxicom,
    TechSkills.com and many others.

WHO:--  California State Assemblywoman Dion Aroner
      --  San Pablo Mayor Barbara Vigil
      --  Jim Rowe, CEO, GetSmart.com and Executive VP, Providian
        Financial
      --  KMEL Personality "Davey D"
      --  Street Tech directors Paul Lamb and Doug Stein, and trainer
        Adrienne Davis
      --  Street Tech students Paul Driver and Sochetta Samroung, who
        are available for interviews about their journey from the
        East Bay's most disadvantaged neighborhoods to new high-tech
        careers.

WHEN: Thursday, April 27, 2000 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM (Tours from
      5-6:30 p.m.; Presentations begin at 6:30)

WHERE: Street Tech's brand new training facility at the
       newly-opened San Pablo Community Resource Center, 1500
       International Marketplace, San Pablo

WHY: Surveys show that Bay Area employers face an unprecedented
     shortage of skilled high-tech workers. Meanwhile, bright young
     adults from at-risk areas see this need, but face economic and
     skills barriers. The demand exists from both sides; Street
     Tech is among the first programs to bridge this gap in a
     targeted, results-oriented way.