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Ever wonder what your company does with all of your old computers when they're replaced with new ones? Most of the time they're thrown out, or the parts are recycled. Fortunately, there's also a whole nonprofit sector dedicated to getting used tech into the hands of those who need it—particularly in an education setting. Computers for Youth is one such organization: It's a national nonprofit dedicated to creating home learning centers for low-income school children.

CFY takes computer donations (of 30 or more full systems), repurposing the machines into home learning centers. These are set up with free Internet access, educational software, and ongoing tech support. Various schools apply for the program; when one is selected, CFY sets up a training session with the recipients (usually 6th graders) and their parents, and then sends them home with their new home learning centers. CFY believes that 6th grade is a critical age in which parental support begins to diminish due to increasingly difficult assignments that children bring home, which is why the organization tends to focus on that year. As CFY states, "The home holds the greatest untapped potential for improving children's academic and life-long success." (I share that belief—if my dad hadn't helped me through my 7th-grade algebra problems, I don't know how I would have survived.)

I had the pleasure of attending CFY's 2nd annual Tech Leadership Awards ceremony, on Tuesday night at The Lighthouse, Chelsea Piers in New York City. To honor industry leaders and youths, the CFY Tech Leadership Awards included the Family Learning Software of the Year, CIO of the Year, Digital Leadership, and Social Entrepreneur awards.

Click through to see who received awards. (Pictured is Gail Pierson, Chief Education Officer for software company Riverdeep—one award recipient.)

The Winners:

Family Learning Software of the Year
ClueFinders 5th Grade (Riverdeep)
ClueFinders is educational software filled with math, language, science, social studies, geography, and problem-solving games and exercises. This winner was selected based on the software's academic improvement abilities and family friendliness. A committee of NYC students, the CFY Software Specialist Team, was involved in the selection of the winner, along with a panel of software experts, and education executives across the nation.

CIO of the Year
Becky Blalock, CIO of Southern Company
This award honors commitment to social responsibility among IT executives, which Blalock demonstrates with her leadership in technology and commitment to many causes. She led fundraising efforts at TechBridge to provide affordable technology for other nonprofit organizations. Blalock currently is the Chair of Leadership Atlanta and is the technology leader for the 2007 campaign for United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.

Digital Leadership Award
Bruce E. Aust, Executive Vice President of NASDAQ
Aust was recognized for his leadership of NASDAQ's Corporate Services program, global business development, and relationship management of the 3,200 companies listed on NASDAQ. Aust's influential leadership role in the technology industry coupled with his dedication to philanthropic work, such as with the AIDS Foundation and Alzheimer charities, earned him the honor for his commitment to corporate responsibility.

Social Entrepreneur Award
Craig Newmark, Founder of craigslist
Newmark won for his attention to social needs in creating craigslist, a non-commercial Web site consisting of free classifieds and forums, and for promoting community and social advocacy.

After the awards ceremony, I spoke with Louis Edwards, the Director of Technology at CFY, about the donation and set-up process. All donated systems are wiped following government standards. To support the users, CFY hires an in-house support team, which provides 60-plus hours of helpdesk support each week. CFY also holds 4-hour training sessions with recipients. Edwards expressed that there is nothing quite like watching the children learn to use the home learning centers and seeing their excitement when taking them home.

I also got some insight into what it's like at home for some of these recipients from Kallen Tsikalas, Director of Research & Learning Services at CFY. Tsikalas told me a great story about a 7th grader who shares her donated system with her father and 6-year-old brother. The student uses the home learning center's math programs and word processor to do her homework. Her father uses the computer to read news from his home country, the Dominican Republic. He also reads Internet articles in English to improve his language skills. Her brother loves using one of the installed programs that converts text to speech. He has his sister type Dr. Seuss books into the program so that he can hear the books read out loud.

Currently, CFY services New York, Philadelphia, and Atlanta; it's projected to expand to five cities by 2010. This year, the 10,000th family will be served through CFY. If you or your company is interested in making a donation, go to the Computers for Youth website for more information.

Post by Gina Suk