Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 8-8-17

Features
55 Years As A Realtor:
Mrs. Evelyn Jones Wilson Recognized
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
Mrs. Evelyn Jones Wilson was among those recognized in the July/Au- gust issue of Tampa Realtors, the official publication of the Greater Tampa Realtors®. Mrs. Wilson was recog- nized for celebrating 55 years as a realtor.
Having earned her Real Estate license in 1962, Mrs. Wilson earned her Brokers license in 1963. She has been a member of Greater Tampa Realtors since 1962.
“I purchased some prop- erty from a gentleman who encouraged me to go into real estate and I took the courses and started from there,” she stated. She studied at Roy Yates Real Estate School.
Currently a realtor on the staff of Preston & Farley, Mrs. Wilson remains active in the industry. Throughout her career, she has been a broker/owner of her own real estate firm and has been as- sociated with several offices in the Tampa community. She has also served on nu-
MRS. EVELYN JONES WILSON
merous committees, includ- ing the Realtor®/Attorney and Housing Opportunity committees.
Mrs. Wilson also taught Real Estate courses at Hills- borough Community College.
Real Estate is not all that Mrs. Wilson has been pro- ficient in. For 35 years she was an interior designer, owning E. Jones Wilson Inte- rior, a business she closed about 7 years ago.
Mrs. Wilson is the mother of the Honorable Charles R. Wilson and Va- lerie Wilson Reed.
Computer Mentors Celebrates 20th Anniversary
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
In 1997, Ralph Smith laid the foundation for his dream to put a computer in the homes of East Tampa youths.
On last Thursday, Smith helmed a 20th anniversary celebration of Computer Mentors, the dream that’s now a full-fledged nonprofit organization.
Smith, the chief execu- tive officer, credited Com- puter Mentor’s growth from humble idea to an outfit that has served thousands of resi- dents throughout Hillsbor- ough County as a divine act.
“These things could not have happened without the touch of the Lord in our lives,” he told an audience of about 200 at New Hope Christian Life Center. “When you look at what God can do with a little bit, He can take it a long way.”
What began as an initia- tive to bridge the digital di- vide among urban youth is now an organization with multiple free programs in- cluding Teen Tech, which teaches code writing and app building to high school stu- dents.
Computer Mentors founder and CEO, Ralph Smith poses with Shirley Houston, former Computer Mentors board member, and alum and celebration keynote speaker, Garrett Johnson.
Students also can earn Mi- crosoft certifications that can make them eligible for entry- level technology jobs.
Much has changed about Computer Mentors, but it’s mission has remained the same, said former board member, Shirley Houston.
Houston wrote many of Computer Mentors gover- nance policies and worked with Smith to secure the nonprofit’s first grant from Verizon.
“I’m just so happy for him and that it’s still going
strong,” she said.
In his keynote address,
alum and Rhodes Scholar Garrett Johnson shared how his participation in Com- puter Mentors has served him well working among tech gi- ants in California’s Silicon Valley, where he heads up his own firm, Lincoln Network.
Smith’s quest to close the tech gap that exists between urban youth and their more affluent counterparts also shows disadvantaged youth that they, too, can be creators, Garrett said.
“It brings young people in contact with people who work in IT, who send the clear mes- sage that if I can do it, you can do it,” he said.
Computer Mentors is helping to shape the future and ensure that people from low-income backgrounds have access and a better shot at life, Garrett said.
“I’m proud of what we’ve done,” he said.
By The Numbers
Founded in 1997, Com- puter Mentors has worked to close the digital divide among underserved populations and equip youth with technology skills required for gainful em- ployment. Here are some outstanding figures notched by the nonprofit over 20 years:
9,710 – The number of people who have participated in Computer Mentors pro- grams at Lee Davis Center.
3,369 – The number of computers given back to the community
1,000 – The number of adults trained from 2006 to 2007 through Computer Mentors through a special grant.
PAGE 2 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017