Slalom Helps Bridge Digital Gap and Preserve Seattle Park by Sponsoring Local Community Service Project

Slalom Helps Bridge Digital Gap and Preserve Seattle Park by Sponsoring Local Community Service Project

Program Brings Seattle Youth Together With Mentors and Sponsors to Donate Community Service in Exchange for Laptop Computers

SEATTLE, WA–(EMWNews – August 22, 2008) – Slalom Consulting, ranked one of the best

consulting firms to work for in the United States by Consulting Magazine,

today announced that it will be sponsoring a first-of-its-kind, “Earn A

Laptop” event on Friday, August 22nd at Interlaken Park. Slalom, along

with program co-sponsors Friends of the Children and Community for Youth,

is expecting as many as 60 pre-registered youth to take part in a community

service event developed to bridge the technology divide and help restore

Seattle’s forested parklands. Children taking part in the community service

project at Interlaken will be rewarded by Slalom Consulting for their time

with a laptop computer pre-loaded with Microsoft software.

The park restoration project at Interlaken Park is part of a citywide

program called the Green Seattle Partnership (www.greenseattle.org), a

public private venture between the City of Seattle, its residents and the

Cascade Land Conservancy. The Partnership is dedicated to restoring all

2500 acres of forested parkland in Seattle by 2025 by removing non-native

invasive plants and by planting native trees and shrubs. The restoration

work is completed largely by civic volunteers.

“Our strong work community was built and is led in part by the Seattle-area

kids of yesterday,” said Brian Jacobsen, General Manager for Slalom

Consulting Seattle. “We wanted to work with grades 4 -12 because they

really are the next-generation foundation for Seattle-area business and

economic development. Every single child deserves a chance to make a

difference and many of them are in desperate need of tools that can help

them succeed. Naturally as a technology and business consulting firm we

felt a strong connection to this cause right away and are invested in

powering tomorrow’s leaders.”

Program details include:

Who: 4th-12th grade students pre-registered with program sponsors

What: "Earn A Laptop" event sponsored by Slalom Consulting

Where: Interlaken Park on North Capitol Hill

When: Friday, August 22nd from 10:30 AM to 2:00 PM PT

Why: To improve the local Seattle community and bridge the digital divide

Kim McKoy, the Executive Director of Friends of the Children, an

organization that mentors vulnerable children living in high-risk

environments, from the time each child enters kindergarten until they

graduate from high school, said, “The kids will be asked to dedicate their

time by tidying up existing greenery, picking up garbage and collaborating

on other volunteer activities. This will provoke not only a sense of pride

in themselves but also for the communities in which they live.”

“Mentoring high school students allows for each student to work toward

academic, personal and transitional lifetime goals immediately following

graduation,” said Henderson Quinn, Interim Executive Director for Community

For Youth. “Hands-on learning experiences like the Interlaken community

project further align with our goals to transition students into productive

and responsible adults within all of our communities.”

Volunteers will check-in with program sponsors and mentors pre-registered

through Community for Youth and Friends of the Children and proceed to

donate time and energy to improving the aesthetics and park restoration of

Interlaken Park. Students are required to volunteer the full day to receive

their prize compensation. At the conclusion of the event, each

participating child will have earned a laptop to help him or her in school,

complete with software essentials, including Microsoft Windows XP and

Office 2003.

About Slalom Consulting

Slalom Consulting (www.slalom.com) is a national business and technology

consulting firm, headquartered in Seattle. Following its motto, “Business

is a Race. Win it.” Slalom’s services range from broad areas including

program management, business process improvement, and software development,

to specialized solutions such as CRM, ERP and Sarbanes-Oxley. Slalom is

best known for its highly experienced, locally-based teams and consultants

who consistently take client projects from strategy through successful

implementation. In addition to Seattle, Slalom has offices in Atlanta,

Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Portland, San Francisco and Southern California.

About Friends of the Children – King County

Friends of the Children – King County strives to fulfill its mission to

help our most vulnerable children living in seriously high-risk

environments develop the relationships, goals, skills, and resources

necessary to thrive. Friends of the Children was founded in Portland,

Oregon in 1993 by Duncan Campbell, an entrepreneur, himself a former

at-risk child. Friends of the Children-King County began in 2000, as a

grassroots effort by Microsoft alumni who wanted to make a positive,

long-term change in the lives of Seattle’s most vulnerable children through

the model initiated by Mr. Campbell.

About Community for Youth

Community for Youth (www.communityforyouth.org) was founded in 1985 by a

group of Seattle residents who were concerned about the number of young

people who were heading to jail and dropping out of high school. The group

was committed to the idea that all students, if given the support of a

dedicated community of adults and peers, had the ability to complete high

school successfully and become productive members of their community.

Community for Youth is more than a mentoring program, more than a dropout

prevention program. For many students, it becomes a lifeline to their

future, showing them that success in school and in life is in their hands.

Contacts: Press: Michael Thomas 206.344.3143 Slalom Consulting: Melissa Coochise 206.438.5700