Contact: Linda Saris
Salem CyberSpace
Phone: 978 740-6667
Email: lsaris@salemcyberspace.org

For Immediate Release


SALEM CYBERSPACE LAUNCHES TEEN ENTREPRENEURIAL WEB DESIGN BUSINESS
CyberCorps teens complete first web site for
Second Congregational Church, United Church of Christ

SALEM, Mass., (May 9, 2006) – CyberCorps, a teen-run web design business, launched through Salem CyberSpace, a nonprofit computer technology learning center, announced that it has completed its first major project. . The Second Congregational Church, United Church of Christ located in Beverly MA hired CyberCorps to develop its new web site www.beverlysecond.com. CyberCorps team members designed the web banner, logo and navigation and took all the church-based photographs.
         “By working with CyberCorps we got a great web site while staying within our church mission to reach out to economically disadvantaged communities. Working with these teens to design our church’s web site showed us what the next generation can do. The final product absolutely surpassed our expectations. The entire site was built in less than two months – and these kids go to school full time. We would unreservedly recommend CyberCorps to anyone needing web or graphic design services and any organization that has community service as part of its mission ”, commented Reverend Alan Froggatt of Second Congregational Church of Beverly.
          In addition to this site, all of the CyberCorps team members have worked on other web site projects including North Shore Mediation, St. Josephs Food Pantry, Grace Church of Salem and the North Shore Youth Career Center. Three of the CyberCorps team members worked on the North Shore Youth Career Center.
“These teens delivered. We gave CyberCorps a blank slate with two requirements – handicap accessibility and a design that teens could identify with. CyberCorps developed a colorful and unique abstract design with flash animation. They delivered everything we asked for and more,” stated Donna Condon, Manager, North Shore Youth Career Center in Lynn, MA.
CyberCorps (www.cybercorpsofsalem.com) is run by 4 teens from Salem High School who developed their web design expertise during the summer of 2005 through a jobs program at Salem CyberSpace funded through the FirstJobs initiative of the North Shore Workforce Investment Board.
          “Watching these teens improve in their design, technical and business skills has been the most rewarding experience of my career to date. We believe this is the only teen-run business on the North Shore,” stated Linda Saris, Director of Salem CyberSpace and former Senior Vice President of RSA Security, Inc. of Bedford MA.
Most of the teens of CyberCorps come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and attend Salem CyberSpace’s CyberYouth program for homework help, academic enrichment and career guidance. CyberCorps plans on hiring additional teens as the business expands. The CyberCorps’ founding team members are Kathryn Maristany, age 17, lead designer; Martin Ozoria, age 15, lead photographer; Robert Monegro, age 16, team business manager; and, Miguel Cruz, age 16, the team illustrator, photo editor and flash animation expert.
          “Every time we finish a new web site, we learn something new that we can apply to other web sites. Doing flash animation, photo editing, adding handicap accessibility for the visually impaired separates us from the amateurs working out of their college dorms. We also have learned a lot about running a business,” expressed Miguel Cruz.
           The CyberCorps teens are mentored by Kevin Roy, President of Bayline Media LTD, a Beverly-based web design business and Ana Duarte, a graphic design student at North Shore Community College. In addition, an Advisory Board meets with the youths quarterly to offer both business and creative advice. The members of the Advisory Board are Jay Spahr, Executive Vice President – E-Commerce, Salem Five Bank, Tom Pasquini, Senior Designer, Digital Bungalow, and Jim Forrest, Creative Director, Peabody Essex Museum.
          “The quality of the designs produced by CyberCorps is impressive. They are the best bargain in town”, stated Jay Spahr, Senior Vice President for E-Commerce, Salem Five Bank.


About Salem CyberSpace and North Shore Community Action Programs

Salem CyberSpace (www.salemcyberspace.org), located at 98 Lafayette St. in downtown Salem, is a program of North Shore Community Action Programs (www.northshorecap.org), a 501 c (3) nonprofit organization. NSCAP is the designated anti-poverty agency serving Salem, Peabody, Danvers, Beverly and 25 cities and towns north of Boston. Its mission is to help low-income people become economically self-sufficient while encouraging the larger community to recognize and eradicate the social and economic barriers that stand between poor families and their economic independence. The goal of Salem CyberSpace (SC) is to help low-income and unemployed people, as well as the organizations that serve them, to learn new computer skills to effect positive change for themselves, their families and their communities. The specific goal for CyberYouth is to provide academic tutoring and digital arts-based experiential learning to build technical skills, self-confidence, teamwork, and leadership skills which will ultimately lead to better academic performance and expanded post-secondary and career choices.
           Salem CyberSpace’s youth programs operate, in part, with funding from the Microsoft Foundation, the New England Technology Foundation, the Amelia Peabody Foundation and the City of Salem through the Community Development Block grant.

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