Closing the Technology Gap
Giving Around the World
In Brazil, Dell sponsors The Digital Citizen Project, a social initiative developed by Pensamento Digital Foundation whose goal is to use technology to help youth from low-income populations gain marketplace skills. Through the Adopt-a-Student program, Dell employee volunteers provide social and educational support. The volunteers interact with the students through e-mail and a virtual learning environment and in person through the Introduction to the Business Word course and meetings with the students.
Apart from investing and developing business in China, Dell also actively fulfills its responsibilities and obligations as a responsible corporate citizen. To help close the technology gap between the children of rural migrant workers and the Internet Age, Dell began to donate computers to schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Xiamen and Chengdu. By end of 2008, 19 Dell Learning Centers were established in China. On 25 February 2008, at an open day for visiting the eye hospital train co-organized by the Lifeline Express and Dell, apart from sending volunteers to support the event, Dell also invited Beijing citizens to visit the train to promote the love and contribution of the hospital that was well received by the public. Dell’s donation of RMB250,000 yuan also won the public acclaim. Through this program, Dell delivers on its corporate social responsibility and helps more cataract patients regain eyesight.
Dell Malaysia had more than 2,900 registrants in the third annual Dell Champion Road Run/Walk — almost triple the number of those in the inaugural run. These employees from Penang and Cyberjaya participated and gathered pledges totaling $65,000. In the last three years, the event has raised more than $142,500 for the Malaysian AIDS Foundation’s Pediatric AIDS Fund.
As part of our effort to improve digital literacy, another focal point in fiscal year 2009, Dell provided a grant to expand the Dell Learning Center at the Cerebral Palsy (Spastic) Children’s Association of Penang. A new network server and 10 additional Dell computers expanded learning opportunities in the classrooms; this new equipment was added to the 20 Dell computers, printers and assistive-learning devices already at the center.