I’m pleased to share a guest post – and curriculum (agenda and details) from Ramona Harper, who has been working with the Martin County BBC initiative on a project with MRCI. MRCI provides employment services and training to individuals with disabilities and/or disadvantages. They are very focused on getting people out into jobs in the community and competitive wages. One of their concerns has been that the people they work with understand that prospective employers can view their social media pages which can affect their hiring decisions. Their instructor, Rita Craven spent time explaining safety and security in a training and open dialogue.   She explained some of the pitfalls, as well as helpful tools or apps to use.   They did 3 sessions with a total of 36 individuals.

Last week MRCI WorkSource Fairmont hosted 3 sessions of free training for 36 participants on internet safety and security. This was funded through a Blandin Foundation grant awarded to Martin County to provide technology training education to its citizens.   Two one hour sessions took place on April 5 and another on April 8.   Instructor Rita Craven went over what is social networking ; risks of using social networks; techniques used by predators; and safety measures you can to use to protect your personal information.   The last part of each session was spent discussing a variety of useful apps such as companion apps ; google maps for walking; games; sports updates; weather apps; Level Money for budgeting; food/health apps; music, camera; “any list” or “ out of milk” apps for grocery shopping; and tools such as flashlight, alarm & pedometer.   Individual participants also shared their thoughts on apps they frequently like to use.

Following the sessions, a few individuals commented on how much they enjoyed learning about this and would like to have similar trainings brought to MRCI Fairmont.

I want to thank Rita Craven for doing a wonderful job in communicating this information to the individuals we work with at MRCI. It was enlightening and well received by all. Kay Wrucke and Diana Scott have both been instrumental in organizing and spreading the good news via several Coffee Connection events throughout our county with instructors John Landsteiner and Rita Craven.   I am grateful that MRCI was able to be a recipient of this recent training.   I also want thank Martin County and the Blandin Foundation for providing the grant that enabled people with disabilities to be included in this county-wide technology training and education project.

Sincerely,

Ramona Harper, Branch Manager
MRCI WorkSource – Fairmont