OpNet was founded in 1997 to bridge the Digital Divide, a well-documented gap in technology access and employment for minorities. OpNet creates meaningful career development opportunities for low-income young adults between the ages of 18 to 25 who want to enter the fields of information technology (IT) and digital media. OpNet's strategy is to provide promising youth with the necessary technology skills, and with work experience to compete in the new economy. The program trains students on both technical and "soft skills" and then assists them in attaining a 2 to 4-month paid internships or direct employment in the IT sector or IT impacted careers.

OpNet accomplishes its mission and objectives through the following program components:

• EntryNet: an intensive, full time, eight weeks web training course that provides students with system administration, web programming, project management, and job readiness skills. Students focus on their technical skills from Monday through Thursday and on soft skills (e.g. resume development, interview techniques, life management, coping skills) on Fridays. Students learn about career ladders in the Internet industry and develop skills in html and XML, Java Script, cascading style sheets, image manipulation software (e.g. Illustrator and Photoshop), and other web authoring tools. Students also complete their own website and a web development project for a client, thus gaining experience they can highlight in their portfolios.
• InternNet: provides students on-the-job experience through paid internships in companies with information technology departments and/or a web programming presence.
• AdvanceNet: OpNet's newest component provides training to graduates so they may upgrade their skills and remain competitive in this fast-changing industry. Advanced level students receive training in JAVA; Perl; advanced System Administration; and Unix.
  
  
  Participants:
  OpNet recruits Bay Area residents between the ages of 18 to 25 who are:

• Low-income according to HUD guidelines
• Minorities, women, refugees and recent immigrants, and low income heads of households.
• Motivated, entrepreneurial and interested in computers and/or design.
• have a high-school diploma or G.E.D. recipients.

OpNet has trained over 230 participants since 1997. Outcome history and highlights include:

• Eighty percent of graduates were placed in internships or jobs during the 1998-99 time period.
• Thirty five percent of all enrollees have secured full-time employment or contract work in the technology industry after completing their internship.
• Ten percent of all enrollees have pursued advanced education; and
• The average post-internship starting salary for graduates is $30,500 per year (the average student salary prior to enrollment of $11,500 per year); recent starting salaries have been in the $30,000-45,000 range.

Thirty-three percent of participants are African-American, 24% are Latino, 24% are Asian, 19% are Caucasian or mixed race. Forty-one percent are female, and the average age is 21.

In 2002 OpNet plans to:

• Provide entry & advanced level IT training and Technical assistance as a member of the SFIT & EBRIT Collaborative's;
• Explore the following directions through a comprehensive strategic planning process:
  
  • Expanding the scale and the scope of the core program offerings. This will include additional technologies and/or client services.
  • Leveraging the OpNet brand to generate revenue to support our program by either: (a) developing training programs tailored to specific employers, or by (b) piloting or replicate the OpNet model throughout the region and California;
  • Providing consulting and/or technical assistance to organizations interested in the OpNet model.

In 2001,OpNet received funding from government, foundations, corporations and individuals, including: the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Community Development, the San Francisco Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the Tides Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Penney Family Fund. Other supporters include: Pacific Bell, AT&T, Microsoft, Macromedia, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Advent International Corporation, The Charles and Helen Schwab Family Fund & Charles Schwab Inc., Community Bank of the Bay, Crimson Language Services, Inc., Hall Kinion, Inc., PeopleSoft, Inc., RippleEffects, Inc., the Gap, Inc., and the Zefer Corporation, Wave Exchange.

OpNet's funding strategy is threefold: 1) renew current funders; 2) diversify and expand our funding base, especially among national foundations, high technology firms, and individual donors; and 3) develop earned-income revenue from OpNet's Training and Consulting Services, and other strategies such as placement fees.

1. We care deeply about the economic, social and personal welfare of low-income youth.


2. We are committed to excellence in everything we do, and strive to provide the very best service to our clients, company partners, and community collaborators.


3. We foster an entrepreneurial spirit: to be successful in this fast-paced industry, we recognize that we need to be innovative, risk-taking, flexible, focussed, fast, strategic, and outcome oriented.


4. We believe continuous learning is a critical success factor. This means we are willing to try new things, learn from what works, change what doesn1t work, and recognize failure as a learning opportunity.
5. We encourage a spirit of initiative: our success will rely on our individual and collective ability to take the initiative to solve problems and create new opportunities.


6. We encourage a spirit of teamwork, while insisting upon individual responsibility.
7. We believe trust and open communication are crucial to building effective teams, and creating an environment that encourages excellence and responsibility.


8. We will collaborate with strategic partners when this is the most effective way to achieve our goals.