SACIA Launches ‘SmartBridges’

STAMFORD — SACIA, the Business Council of Southwestern Connecticut, this week announced the “SmartBridges” initiative to serve youth by assisting providers of IT training and employment opportunities. SmartBridges will offer an information sharing and networking structure for organizations throughout Fairfield County.

The SmartBridges initiative received start-up funding of $50,000 from UBS Warburg, the investment banking division of UBS AG. The funds enabled the expansion of existing SACIA programs for connecting youth and information technology business in Fairfield County.

SACIA’s President and CEO Christopher Bruhl commented, “SmartBridges will strengthen local organizations involved in providing IT training and employment opportunities to youth by breaking down geographic barriers to the sharing of ‘best practices.’ It will also assist cooperative efforts and identify public policy options that SACIA can advocate on behalf of IT opportunities for youth.”

SmartBridges program coordinator Robert Stokes added, “The initiative is part of an emerging national movement to provide technology skills to low income populations and narrow the so-called ‘Digital Divide.’”

The first SmartBridges project will be researching and publishing a directory profiling IT/Youth organizations in Bridgeport, Greenwich, Norwalk, Stamford, and Westport. The resource directory, which will grow over time to include all of Fairfield County, will be published in late September and distributed to school districts, public libraries, selected community organizations, and SACIA member firms. It also will be available on SACIA’s Web site, www.sacia.org, and to the public upon request.

For more information on SACIA’s SmartBridges initiative, contact Bob Stokes at 203-359-3220, extension 313, or email bstokes@sacia.org.

SACIA, the Business Council of Southwestern Connecticut, is the regional business council serving Fairfield County. Formed by the merger of three organizations in 1970, SACIA is a private corporation governed by a volunteer board of directors and served by a professional staff. It has 600 members, who employ more than 30,000 people in Fairfield County. UBS Warburg is a business group of UBS, one of the largest financial services firms in the world, with 71,000 employees in more than 40 countries.