Partners for Youth hosted the Metro C.A.T.S. Celebration Ceremony on Dec. 15, 2022, at Lexington Traditional Magnet School (LTMS) for students who participated in the eight-week coding and computer literacy course. Metro C.A.T.S. (Computer Access To Succeed) is a partnership between Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Metronet, the University of Kentucky and Fayette County Public Schools. It is a computer literacy program for low-income, at-risk youth to have access to coding workshops, job training, skill building, and hardware so that they have exposure to new interests that give them a competitive edge. Metronet provides free gigabit-speed internet service and computers to be used for Metro C.A.T.S programming. Programs are held at the Charles Young Center located at 540 E. Third St. each fall semester for eight weeks.
Participating students were presented with completion certificates and four students won perfect attendance awards. The University of Kentucky National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) teaching assistants also received a partnership certificate for their work in the program. Partnership certificates were presented to Ms. Philnisha Lindsey for her collaboration and work with the LTMS students and to Lexington Police Officer Jon Washington for his continued assistance and support at Charles Young Center. With support from the Walton Family Foundation, the 16 participating students received wireless earbuds, robotics kits, engineering books and more. These items will help create technology access and further learning.
Partners for Youth (PFY) is a Lexington-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit which acts as a clearinghouse for community contributions, including money and in-kind assistance to those programs serving young people. PFY assists in coordinating these services for programs to work as cooperatively and effectively as possible to have the greatest impact in supporting youth. PFY was founded by Mayor Pam Miller in early 1995 after the accidental shooting and killing of an African American youth by a white police officer in October 1994. In the wake of this tragedy, the public discussion quickly took aim at the apparent despair felt by segments of our city’s youth. In response, PFY was formed to make resources available to youth in these forgotten segments of the Lexington population. PFY works to empower the community to support the most vulnerable and valuable youth in Lexington, Ky. The mission is “to promote positive youth development and to prevent juvenile delinquency through collaboration and capacity building.”
Metronet is the nation’s largest independently owned, 100% fiber-optic company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana. The customer-focused company provides cutting-edge fiber-optic communication services, including high-speed Fiber Internet, full-featured Fiber Phone, and Fiber IPTV with a wide variety of programming. Metronet started in 2005 with one fiber optic network in Greencastle, Indiana, and has since grown to serving and constructing networks in more than 120 communities across Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin and Missouri. Metronet is committed to bringing state-of-the-art telecommunication services to communities — services that are comparable or superior to those offered in large metropolitan areas. Metronet was named in the top 50 small and medium companies on Glassdoor and has been honored with a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, recognizing Metronet among the Best Places to Work in 2020. Metronet was recognized by PC Mag as one of the Top 10 Fastest ISPs in North Central United States in 2020 and the Top 10 ISPs with the Best Gaming Quality Index in 2021. Broadband Now recognized Metronet as one of the Top 3 Fastest Internet Providers and Fastest Fiber Providers in the Nation in 2020, and #1 Fastest Mid-Sized Internet Provider in two states in 2020. In 2020, Metronet was awarded the Vectren Energy Safe Digging Partner Award from Vectren.
