Project: CAMINOS Pathways Learning Center
Grantee: CAMINOS Centro de Capacitacion
Grant Year: 2000

CAMINOS/Pathways Learning Center is a new community organization, initiated in February of 1999 and based in the Mission District of San Francisco. The Three Guineas Fund partnered with CAMINOS to help immigrant women to expand their access to computer technologies and to open up opportunities for self and economic improvement. Program participants include a predominantly Spanish-speaking community with a large population of recent immigrants who are at low or extremely low-income levels.

The women who go to CAMINOS learn many levels of computer skills ranging from touch typing and microsoft office to web design, internet skills, computer repair and troubleshooting. Classes are taught primarily in the Spanish language, although enrollment in English classes is a requirement for admission into any CAMINOS program. This summer CAMINOS students will initiate a computer repair shop that will include free or low-cost repairs for low-income families who usually are the recipients of used computers. This will allow the women to have ample opportunity to practice and sharpen their skills before obtaining full-time employment or initiating their own computer repair business.

The Board of Directors, composed primarily of constituents, views the training, education and job support programs as a means of empowering participants toward lifelong productivity. The organization aims to assure that these women not only enjoy economic security, but also contribute to their communities and strengthen their family life. The Three Guineas Fund awarded a $30,000 grant over two years to CAMINOS.

For more information on CAMINOS Pathways Learning Center, please visit http://www.caminossf.org/ call (415) 824-0682, or write to the following address:

CAMINOS/Pathways Learning Center 1470 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110