The Academy in partnership with the City of Rochester has successfully delivered the KidTech Program since 2000.  Using our project-based curriculum, KidTech provides a 10-week fundamental computer skills training program for children and youth (6-17 years of age). 

Since its start in 2000 KidTech has grown from serving 60 to over 360 children and youth per year.  We’ve also grown from 2 sites offering 1 session per year to 6 sites offering up to 3 sessions per year.  On April 21, 2008 we started the 25th session of KidTech.  As of June 30, 2008, 2041 children enrolled in KidTech, 1840 (90%) graduated. All KidTech families received a free remanufactured computer system (one per family household).  Pre and post-training assessments revealed improvement rates of 47% - 86% in File Management, Word-processing, Internet, Graphics, and Spreadsheet skills.

The average number of persons living in a KidTech home was 4.3 persons (a range of 2-10 persons per household).  The average family income was $16,426.00.  83.1 % of these households were female headed households. 77.1 % of these families received some form of public assistance.  

The Academy designed and developed the KidTech Program, created the KidTech Curriculum, provides all the teaching, remanufactures all the take-home computers at the Academy’s CommuniTech Computer Remanufacturing Center, and provides technical support for all participating KidTech Sites.