CATHEDRAL SQUARE - Key Persons

My name is Alzira Agostinho, originally from Mozambique but now living in Vermont. This is my story and how I ended up in Vermont. Before coming to Vermont, I was a Catholic Sister for five years. However, I decided to leave the congregation of Sisters because I did not want to be part of that group any longer. After that, I started searching for a job. Eventually, I was hired as a teacher. I taught math and social studies for four years. I was then promoted to be a principal at a primary school (elementary and middle school). I also served with the ruling political party "FRELIMO" as a member of a consulting committee in our district. After that, I was working for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) malaria consortium. That's when I met my husband as he was a teacher at a secondary school (high school) in the same area that I was working in. I was officially married in 2012. At that time, my husband was relocated to the United States as a refugee. I could not accompany him because I did not have the proper visa . Once my husband arrived in the U. S., he applied for our reunification. The reunification process was very long. It took a little over five years for me to be reunited with him in America. First, I had to travel to Johannesburg, South Africa on four separate occasions. The first time, I went for an interview at the U.S. Embassy. Then, I had to go twice more for the medical check-up and vaccination. The fourth and last time I went to South Africa I was able to obtain and pick up my U. S. visa. The U. S. immigration services required me to go to South Africa because the U.S. embassy in Mozambique does not provide visa services for those who wish to enter and reside in America. In March 2017, I finally had my U.S. visa in hand. I left Mozambique on March 24 that same year and arrived at a New York City airport on March 25. My husband met me at the New York City airport when I arrived and we drove all the way up to Vermont. It was a long trip, about 29 hours from Mozambique to our final Vermont destination. Now, I am finally here in Vermont together with my husband. As soon as I arrived in Vermont, I started to attend an English class at O'Brien Center in Winooski as my native language is Portuguese. My English class teacher is Sherry Star. Sherry is very patient and concerned about her students. In addition to English class, I also started working at City Market. I am a grocery bagger in the City Market store in the South End of Burlington. Since late 2019, I am also learning about computers and technology with Bjorn from Technology for Tomorrow. Computer skills are very important in my life because if I know how to use a computer, I will have more opportunities in the future. For example, if I go to college, I will need to use a computer to write my research papers. If I get a job promotion, I will need to use a computer. There are many things one can do online such as checking the news, doing banking, researching library books, and looking for jobs if knowing how to use a computer. Having sound computer skills, I can accomplish all that and more. Thanks to the technology education services provided by Technology for Tomorrow, I have been able to learn such skills. In summary, combining English language learning with technology training is essential for New Americans according to Jennifer. She concludes that utilizing technology lessons to help make the language comprehensible to English language learners is a very effective technique, made possible through collaboration with T4T, now and in the future.

Job Titles:

• DIRECTOR
• Software Development Leader

Dipen is a software development leader with 16+ years of industry experience focused on building large scale solutions to recognize customer value and building highly productive agile delivery teams in the financial services domain. He is currently working as Sr. Director of Software Development at Netspend (a Global Payments company) with the mission of delivering solutions for businesses, employers and consumers to simplify payments and empower the individuals to manage their money, their way. Dipen is a Computer Science graduate from India and has traveled to Singapore and Malaysia for work prior arriving to USA. Dipen is currently based out of Austin, Texas and lives with his wife and two daughters. With the passion for technology, he has joined the T4T board with the goal of replicating and extending the T4T mission to Texas and ultimately making it scalable and sustainable organization across rest of the USA.

Job Titles:

• DIRECTOR

Dipti is a 15 plus years veteran in the health care industry, with experience in a wide range of business process areas, IT implementations, and associated user training. She is a supporter of and participant in Technology for Tomorrow in a variety of roles since its inception. Her activities as a board member include participation in program and fund-raising sub-committees. She brings strong organizational, communication, and multi-cultural skills and experience to the board. Dipti has worked extensively to help integrate the role of volunteers into the organization. She is a proud wife and mother of two children, and is currently transitioning her career at the UVM Medical Center to a part-time role, which will allow greater T4T involvement.

Job Titles:

• DIRECTOR
• Education Program Coordinator at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
• Key Member of the USCRI Vermont

Jennifer Borch has spent the past 20 years in language education in both the United States and abroad. She has developed language and cultural education projects and facilitated teacher training in the Middle East, North Africa, Vietnam, Senegal, and France. Jennifer holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) in French from the University of Vermont and an M.A. in TESOL from Saint Michael's College where she teaches in the graduate program and supervises students seeking Vermont state teaching licensure. Jennifer's areas of academic interest include service learning, virtual cultural exchange, technology integration in the classroom, and girls' empowerment training. She is currently the Education Program Coordinator at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) in Colchester, Vermont where she manages educational programming for New Americans. Jennifer Borch is currently the Education Program Coordinator at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). She is located in Colchester, Vermont where she manages educational programming for New Americans settling in Vermont. She has spent the past 20 years in language education in both the United States and abroad, and has developed language and cultural education projects and facilitated teacher training in several regions and countries around the world. Jennifer's areas of interest include service learning, virtual cultural exchange, technology integration in the classroom, and girls' empowerment training. Jennifer is a key member of the USCRI Vermont and Technology for Tomorrow (T4T) partnership to bring English language and computer skills training to New Americans. These new skills are essential to refugees who arrive in the United States. The training is structured to allow these students to gain computer skills as they practice English and learn about and grow into their new community. Jennifer emphasizes that technology skills enable refugees to stay connected to family members they may have left behind in their home countries and help them to communicate and make essential connections in their new culture. In addition, technology skills enable New Americans to apply for jobs, communicate with schools and health care providers, and navigate websites of community organizations and service providers. "Our experience with T4T has been wonderful," Jennifer points out. T4T is very flexible and is truly interested in helping students accomplish their goals. She continues to explain that T4T is willing to customize its teaching to the language levels and learning objectives of the classes she is working with and that students love having hands-on practice using the computers T4T brings to class each week. They are especially enthusiastic to embrace a new, virtual world as it becomes accessible to them. Jennifer states that through T4T training, New Americans are gaining access to essential information on the Internet, as they find and navigate websites that are important to their daily lives. They are also beginning to develop workplace technology skills that will be valuable to employers. Another very important factor for parents is gaining an ability to keep up with their own children, as computer classes give them a window into the virtual world their children are discovering and provides them with an awareness of the power (and some of the pitfalls) of the Internet. Gaining basic computer skills is an important step along the path to self-sufficiency for New Americans.

Job Titles:

• DIRECTOR

Mike is a 35-year veteran in management and IT consulting, including Business Transformation, Strategy and Change, and Enterprise Architecture. His experience extends to global projects and clients, in numerous high-technology industry areas, including electronics, automotive and biomedical. He is a patent holder in the area of Manufacturing Execution Systems, and brings both broad and deep knowledge and experience to the T4T team.

Job Titles:

• FOUNDER
• PRESIDENT
• Founder of Technology for Tomorrow

Neel is the founder of Technology for Tomorrow. He started the organization with the hopes that he could help the older members of his community use technology to improve their lives. In addition to founding the organization, Neel has served in the office of Senator Patrick Leahy, and he is currently working for Profitwell in Boston as a Product Manager.

Peter is an IT professional leader with comprehensive experience, over 30 years, in eComm, financial institutions, pharmaceutical / healthcare, customer service and telephony industries. Skilled in managing global projects using cross functional teams based in the US and overseas. He has excellent interpersonal, problem-solving, planning and communication skills. Passionate with mentoring less experienced professionals and driven with making sure projects meet client requirements and are completed on-time and within budgets. Peter has a customer-centric management style which serves his clients well. He lives in Sun City West, Arizona with his wife.

Job Titles:

• Engineer
• Ranga Chilakamarri / PROGRAM MANAGER

Ranga is an engineer turned educator and learning designer. In the last 20 years, Ranga envisioned, designed, developed, and administered enriching learning experiences for adult learners in a variety of business environments. As a professional, he strives to be steadfast in his commitments, practice attention to detail, and exercise decisive action when necessary. As a person, he welcomes the opportunity to learn and grow from all interactions and enjoys helping others by supporting their instructional needs. Ranga holds a Master's degree in Education from ASU with emphasis in Educational Technology. He lives in Gilbert, AZ with his wife and daughter.

Job Titles:

• DIRECTOR

Scot brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in operations and customer service to the T4T team. As a passionate leader, coach and mentor, he is inspired by curiosity and learning and is driven to bring that knowledge to everything he does. Scot has spent his career in industries as diverse as publishing, health care and e-commerce and has seen his work take him all over the world. Scot lives in Burlington, Vermont with his wife and daughter.

Job Titles:

• Coordinator

Syndi Zook is the SASH Coordinator at the Thayer House in the Burlington North End and organizes and facilitates a number of programs in health and wellness for the residents there, including how to access technology. She works for Cathedral Square Corporation, which is a non-profit organization that develops housing for low income senior citizens all across Vermont. Syndi has been working with older adults since the 1980s with a stint as the director of the Lyric Theatre Company. Syndi has always loved working with older adults and feels very comfortable in this setting. She explains that many older adults choose to move into senior housing because it "takes a huge weight off their shoulders" since they don't have to worry about maintaining a home anymore. In particular, she loves to work for Cathedral Square Corporation as it provides affordable housing for older adults. She also loves to listen to the real stories that older adults share based on their life experiences.One aspect of Syndi's job is to provide various opportunities and activities for the residents at the Thayer House. As technology is becoming more important and prevalent, Syndi decided to reach out to Technology for Tomorrow (T4T) in the summer of 2018 having found the T4T contact information on a resource list at Cathedral Square Corporation. Syndi points out that "we are at a crossroads with technology between elderly who have never touched technology and seniors with great technology skills from previous life experiences." As such, it becomes critical to provide various levels of technology education services to senior housing residents. Syndi continues that "T4T provides this opportunity and that the services are greatly appreciated by the Thayer House residents." Syndi points out that the 1:1 tutoring service is very popular but that some group workshops also have a value when the topic is of interest to a larger audience. Syndi explains the importance of T4T's services in helping seniors avoid the typical social isolation that can occur when leaving home, and often family and friends, behind. T4T helps by providing immediate and customized technology help for individual needs as well as group activities for socializing and connecting. These activities are important aspects of senior life and housing today, as technology really changes lives and can transform the way of living.

Job Titles:

• EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
• Certified Executive Project Manager

Vijay is a professionally certified executive project manager and the owner of Vermont-based Desai Management Consulting. Vijay's training and experience, over 23 years, is a huge asset to the Technology for Tomorrow Board of Directors. His broad track record of success, on a global scale, in the areas of subject matter expertise, process and application development, change leadership and project management will prove extremely valuable for T4T and its growth into the 21st century.