Ann Arbor Active Against ALS (A2A3) Web Presence

We recently had the priveledge of working with this great organization to establish a web presence. A2A3 needed not only just a web page, but also mechanisms for getting out the word on events, keeping the site current with blog entries, and sending newsletters to subscribers.

Visit them at: http://www.a2a3.org

This organization is taking on ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in a novel way: raising money to fund research by getting people physically active and having fun. A2A3 helping fill a gap in ALS research; from their website:

“Currently, there is no cure or effective treatment for ALS, although approximately 30,000 people throughout the United States have the disease. Initiatives to help fund ALS research are especially urgent because this research remains dramatically under-funded. Pharmaceutical companies have not invested their research dollars in ALS because they believe too few people suffer from this disease.”

Allen Creek Greenway Conservancy Web Presence

The Ann Arbor Allen Creek Greenway Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is rallying the community around converting the railway line that runs along Ann Arbor’s west side into a greenway. The greenway will not only provide an amazing walking and biking route, but will also link together several new large parks that will benefit Ann Arbor visitors and downtown denizens alike.

Web Clubs at Abbot and Wines Elementary Schools

Part of our mission at CTO is to give back to the community through education. We feel that by teaching kids about technology, we’re planting a seed that will continue to grow as they get older and start to explore career options. It also helps them to be more prepared for the careers of the future, which will all eventually require technical expertise of some kind.

We are running two “web clubs”, one at Abbot Elementary School (here) and one at Wines Elementary School (here). The kids are learning to design web pages both for themselves as well as for teachers in their school. Some of the topics discussed are:

• What kind of content goes on a web page?
• What does it mean to be safe on the web?
• Embeddeding images and music
• Game programming using Scratch