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Media
Kit: Resist Media
Kit: Research Media
Kit: Software |
Past Press Release Struggling Start Up Nabs Two Codie Nominations San Francisco High Risk Teens Are Major Contributors To The Program Ripple Effects for Teens, a software program to help adolescents solve everyday life problems and build social skills, has been named a finalist for the prestigious Codie Award of the Software Publisher's Association in two categories: Best Secondary Curriculum and Best New Educational Product. Winners will be announced in March of 1999. The product, produced by Ripple Effects, a San Francisco start up, features more than 2,000 drawings by two young artists from the Mission District, who came to the company through the OpNet Opportunity Program. It also includes more than fifty true video stories featuring young people throughout the Bay area. Many of them are participants in programs for high risk or disadvantaged youth. Ripple Effects was started by two women, social learning expert Alice Ray, and technology innovator Sarah Berg, who are committed to using new technologies for pro-social ends. They are determined to make their company at least as profitable as the privately run prisons which are forecasting rosy profits based on what corrections executives have described as an "emerging, huge youth market." To date, Ripple Effects has raised more than $1,000,000 in private investment, but hasn't received any funding from venture capitalists. "We are proud of our whole crew, who produced an Encarta sized, multimedia product in just 10 months--less than half the time with a third the resources that would be considered standard for the industry. But we are especially proud of the group of young people who came here with little education, no experience and a whole set of strikes against them. Our success is their success and proves that, given the chance and the right environment, youth from San Francisco's poorest neighborhoods can compete with Ivy League hotshots and the best companies in Silicon Valley," said Ripple Effects President and Ripple Effects for Teens Designer, Alice Ray. |
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