Goodwill Supports Denver High School Students

On Thursday February 23, Goodwill Industries of Denver held a Career Panel discussion for students at South High School. CiviCore Project Manager Michaela Cullen was honored to be on the panel and support Goodwill, a long time CiviCore client. During this hour long discussion Michaela and several other volunteer panelists shared information and stories of their individual career paths and the important role that education plays in meeting their professional goals.

During the question and answer portion of the discussion, Michaela asked each student what their dream job was and their plan for making that dream a reality in the future. Michaela was impressed by each student’s ability to quickly identify what their career focus is and what they need to accomplish in order to meet their professional goals and dreams.

Prior to meeting with the students, Goodwill's Ruthann Kallenberg briefed the panelists of the high school drop-out rate in Denver, which is now an overwhelming 50 percent.

The panel discussion proved to be insightful for Michaela. After getting to know the students, it is even more apparent to Michaela the important work of Goodwill. This organization and others like it continue to support and encourage students to stay in school by highlighting the importance of education and following your dreams. The difference Goodwill is making within our community is evident and continues to drive Michaela’s passion in her own career.

Tech4Good Denver Event - January 17th

CiviCore's Dave Ryan is on the Advisory Board of Tech4Good in Denver. The organization is having an event on January 17th on "Getting Started with Technology Planning". Please come if you are able and learn about technology planning!

CiviCore Launches Education Evaluation System

CiviCore is excited to announce the recent launch of an education evaluation system for CSR Colroado, a partnership between Denver Public Schools, the University of Colorado, and Padres y Jovenes Unidos. Here's what Pam Buckley of the University of Colorado had to say about working with CiviCore:

“CSR Colorado – Read, Lead, Succeed” is a joint partnership between Denver Public Schools, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Padres y Jovenes Unidos. CSR is a set of strategies that improve reading comprehension, vocabulary, and content learning for middle school students. The project is funded through a U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) grant. The partnership contracted with CiviCore to design a database for measuring CSR implementation. CiviCore quickly developed a system that is easy to access, efficient, and effectively captures information essential to monitoring the project’s success. Throughout the development phase, CiviCore staff was professional and responsive to the needs of all partners on the grant. They met deadlines and were flexible in creating a system that is customized to capture the data requirements of a very complex federal project. The system recently went live and we have had no major complications or problems. Our users are pleased with how easy and intuitive it is to enter data, and how quick and useful it is to run customized reports (that we are already using to inform and guide our implementation). We thank CiviCore for their fantastic work!

CiviCore Launches Volunteer Management Database for Second Harvest Heartland

CiviCore is proud to announce the recent launch of a volunteer management system for Second Harvest Heartland, the largest hunger relief organization in the Upper Midwest. Last year, Second Harvest Heartland collected and distributed more than 60 million pounds of food to those in need. They utilize thousands upon thousands of volunteers to accomplish this feat, and enrolling, scheduling, and managing volunteers on this scale is a logistical challenge.

We are proud to announce the recent launch of a CiviCore Volunteer Management System that helps Second Harvest Heartland deal with this logistical challenge. Potential volunteers may browse through opportunities, enroll as individuals or as groups for shifts, and "check in" on-site through our unified, web-based system. Staff members can manage the entire process and produce powerful reports through. Here's what Jessica Hultgren, Director of Volunteer Services, had to say about working with CiviCore:

"Partnering with Civicore for the development of our volunteer management system has been a solid decision all the way around. Our processes necessitated a significant level of complexity and we chose Civicore because they offered the right balance of stability and adaptability at a competitive price. We were also extremely impressed by Civicore's commitment to customer service and their genuine desire to build and maintain a long-term relationship with their clients.

I was pleasantly surprised by the development process, as well. Admittedly, I did not think that Civicore was going to be able to accurately assess our needs without visiting us on site. But I was amazed at their intuitive ability to ask the right questions at all points in the process. In many instances, they were able to identify needs that we hadn't even considered. They demonstrated extreme patience and were great listeners as we worked through all the intricate process decisions required for a system of this nature.

Ultimately, working with Civicore has proven to be extremely positive. Our IT Director agrees and has said, on many occasions, Civicore is one of the most professional, connected and responsive software developers he has encountered. Thank you, Civicore!"

We'd like to thank Jessica Hultgren, Matthew Steiner, and the rest of the team at Second Harvest Heartland for the fantastic work that they do. We look forward to helping them continue to grow.

New Hire at CiviCore - Rob Acker

CiviCore is proud to announce the recent hiring of our newest Project Manager here at CiviCore, Rob Acker.

Previously, Rob worked for two years as an instructor for Readak Educational Services, teaching in schools around the world in more than 30 countries. He has also worked in the Political Research Department of Project Vote Smart. This combination of research and education experience makes Rob a great fit here at CiviCore.

Rob received his B.A. in Political Science in 2009 from College of the Holy Cross, located in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Welcome aboard, Rob!