Brooklyn - On Thursday, February 10th New York State Assemblyman Karim Camara of the (Brooklyn-43rd), presented a check in the amount of $25,000 to Medgar Evers College Preparatory School for expanding computer technology and technological upgrades. This award is part of an overall campaign that Assemblyman Camara embarked upon to improve technological capacity in schools to reduce the digital divide that still persists.

Assemblyman Camara was successful in securing $250,000 in state funding to be disbursed among the schools within the 43rd Assembly District. This funding, explicitly for the purpose of technology improvements, will ensure that the children of the 43rd District are as prepared as possible for a global world where technological competence is a required skill.

Camara, who sits on the Assembly Education Committee, said "The appropriation of this funding is to demonstrate my commitment to help children achieve their full potential through the use of technology in education and to ensure that children of this district are as prepared as possible for the global competitive markets to which they will be entering. It is increasingly clear that having access to technology in our school system is essential to opportunity and prosperity in the global economy. And developing the individual student through education is our best hope for developing and helping revitalizing long-neglected communities."

Assemblyman Camara chose Medgar Evers Preparatory because under the visionary leadership of Principal Dr. Michael A. Wiltshire the students have excelled at tremendous rates, it was cited by the Daily News as "one of the best in Brooklyn" in 2007 and 2008". Dr. Wiltshire said, "In 2010 we won the National Inspirational Award given by the College Board to three of the most outstanding schools in the United States. The $25,000 funding will be a tremendous assistance in refurbishing one of our computer labs that is used for the Advanced Placement Computer Science Program."

Further, the school uses a collaborative agreement between the High School and Medgar Evers College of the City of New York to allow its students to take college courses for credit, the programs aim is to allow students to achieve an Associates Degree while enrolled in High School. Its approach to education is so innovative that Medgar Evers Preparatory was cited by President Obama in his 2009 speech to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People where Obama called their approach to education innovative and lauded the collaborative partnership.