| SEInfo | |
| SYNERGY ENTERPRISES, INC. | May/June 2010 |
 | |
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGEPrachee J. Devadas, President/CEOMental Health America, formerly known as the National Mental Health Association, announced that this year's Mental Health Awareness theme is "Live Your Life Well." At SEI, we believe that living lives well is not an option but a priority. We are dedicated to improving the lives of people from all walks of life across the globe. That's why we remain committed to a host of projects aimed at early intervention in the areas of education and health. From our fellowship program with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to our early childhood intervention contract with the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, SEI's projects create knowledge and skills that help the greater good prevail so that all people have a chance to live their lives well. In the wake of several natural disasters and catastrophic events, including earthquakes in Haiti and China, a tornado in Mississippi, and an erupted volcano in Iceland, mental health and illness have received international attention. An April report published by The Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health notes that "extreme weather events can create added stress to vulnerable communities already experiencing social, economic, and environmental disruption." Through Debt Relief International, SEI will continue to support Haitian earthquake survivors and in turn ensure that all survivors have a chance again to live their lives well. (Click here to view an interactive map of the type of aid Debt Relief International has provided to Haiti.) NEW contractsSEI to Continue Providing Support to ED Peer Reviews Through New Bridge ContractContinuing a more than 4-year working relationship with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, SEI was selected to provide administrative and logistical support for Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) peer review activities. Activities include training peer reviewers, conducting Web-based and teleconference peer reviews, designing and producing guidance documents, tracking grantee application submissions, and conducting the discretionary grant program competition for RSA. More>> recent achievementsSEI's You for Youth Team Featured in Special Edition of the Afterschool Matters JournalIn support of a contract with the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC), five SEI employees, including senior program associates, division directors, research associates, and a writer/editor, developed a prototype of You for Youth (Y4Y), an online community designed to support the professional development of afterschool practitioners. The Y4Y learning module topic areas will include working with youth; creating engaging learning environments; creating partnerships with schools, families, and communities; managing a 21st CCLC program; and leading program staff. These and other features are outlined in "Right Time, Right Place: Building an Online Community for Afterschool Practitioners," an article featured in the April 2010 issue of Afterschool Matters. More>> SEI CARESNhi Nguyen, Contracts Administrator at SEI, has supported and participated in many activities both with the communities at large and the local Vietnamese American community specifically. "A passion for entrepreneurship—to teach, to learn and to experience it," is what motivates Nhi to work with
Nhi organizes cultural and youth activities with local communities. As vice president and board member of Ket Doan, she has helped the organization raise more than $7,000 to support the Ketsana Typhoon and Haiti earthquake victims. She has also helped lead Ket Doan's effort to host the annual cultural and educational summer camp for 100 high school and college students and young working professionals. With Boat People SOS and others, she coordinated the "Journey to Freedom: The Vietnamese Refugees' Retrospective" candle light vigil in memory of people who lost their lives at sea in search of freedom. We at SEI are grateful to have community-minded people like Nhi on our team. | NEW STAFF, NEW EXPERTISESEI Hires Two New Management Associates to Support Evaluation ProjectsTo support SEI's evaluation-based contracts with the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity, SEI recruited two new senior-level management associates.
Employee of the Quarter Sippy Joseph, Chief Systems Architect for SEI's Division of Information Technology, was recognized on April 13 as SEI's fourth Employee of the Quarter. Sippy has been an integral part of SEI's Division of Information Technology for more 2 years. He has consistently enhanced SEI's mission of excellence through innovative, highly technical, state-of-the-art development techniques that have impressed clients on numerous occasions. Sippy is not only an excellent software developer but also a database administrator, hardware and network engineer, and tier 1/2/3 support person. Consistently sacrificing his off time, Sippy goes out of his way to ensure that internal and external client needs are met and to support network or client software development and other pressing tasks. Not only is he self-taught in the area of geographic information systems (GIS) development, which is increasingly becoming a value-added product offered by SEI, he has dazzled prospective clients and partners with his knowledge and development abilities in Arc GIS and Adobe Flex technologies. A dedicated member of the SEI team, Sippy personifies SEI's commitment to customer service. |
| Contact Us! Janelle A. Williams, Editor | |
