Diego Barrera is the Program Director for Youth Expressions Technology and Exploration Center (YETEC). He has worked actively with different community technology services in the grand Miami area for the past ten years serving the needs of our community in the technology field, training hundreds of adult and young students, donating computers to members of the community, helping to set up community technology centers and reducing the digital divide gap in our community.  He studied Chemistry
Engineering at the National University of El Salvador 1981. Afterwards, he went to Mexico to study Computer Technology at Mexico City. Then he came to Miami, Florida, where after completing his ESL Classes in 1991 he registered for Computer Science at MDC.

From 1991 to 1998 he worked with different organization as an IT person, providing technical assistance as network administrator, computer programmer and training staff of many private companies in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area. In 1998 he got involved with Community Service Programs at Miami Dade Community College where he worked very close with Mr. Joshua Young, Program Coordinator of Service Learning MDC. He also met diverse organizations which provide help and support to low income communities and volunteer organizations in south Florida. From then on, he registered in many organizations as volunteers. One of them was The Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and the Americas, Inc (FAVACA) where, he was selected as volunteer of the year 2002 for his dedication and participation as a volunteer in Jamaica, at Mineral High Elementary School, training a group of teachers and instructors Microsoft Office and Basic computers. Then, Guatemala City at San Carlos University teaching the students how to repair and program computers and how to create websites and learn the basics in the computers’ field.

At the beginning of the year 2000 he started working with a non-profit organization Mattie Koonce Computer Learning Center in the heart of Overtown Miami-Dade. Where, he worked in combination with Miami Dade Community College and Brown University Program Campus Compact. He was responsible for setting up a computer technology center from scratch to a working computer center with twenty-four computers. Training with basic computer literacy and providing internet access to members of the community. By October 2001, he joined e-Equality, Inc. another non-profit organization close to the Downtown Miami area. He was responsible as IT Coordinator. He was in charge of the computer access center and the Intel Club House. In 2004 he started working at the Center for Haitian Studies (CHS) at the middle of Little Haiti as the Program Coordinator of CHS Community Technology Center.

In February 2006, Diego joined the family of Youth Expressions, Inc. as the Program Director of YETEC, where he is in charge of all the activities of this program. He schedules classes, recruits volunteers, writes grants, and is responsible for training the young and adult members of the community. YETEC mission is to create access to computers for all individuals and to reduce the technological inequities experienced by low-income and disadvantaged citizens and small businesses in economically distressed neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County

Biography of Christopher Norwood

YE-FLOW, Program Manager
 

Chris is the Youth Expressions’ F.L.O.W (Future Leaders of the World) Program Manager, where he works to ensure the overall quality assurance of the program. This includes improving community partnerships and performance opportunities. Chris is also a former board member who has helped to develop the organization over the years. Chris has dedicated himself to community service and has made youth development and advocacy a life long passion. Having lost his parents at an early age, he was exposed to the issue of foster care. That experience taught him that government - and the role it plays in our daily lives - really matters, especially for children. Fortunately, he did not have to enter the foster care system; he was cared for by extended family, friends and the Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church family. He was raised by the "Village" and it ingrained in him the meaning of community and a calling for social service.

Originally from Newark, New Jersey. He studied at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia where he received a bachelor’s degree in Social Work & Community Organization (1995). He pursued a Masters of Public Administration at Cornell University’s Institute for Public Affairs (1997) and a Juris Doctorate from St. Thomas University School of Law (2002).

In 2003, he established the Norwood Consulting Group to further his goal of community building. Norwood's work as a consultant extends to several agencies providing children's services in South Florida. Among them is previous work with the Early Coalition of Miami Dade & Monroe County where he managed a five million dollar quality improvement initiative for the agency. He's worked with several national organizations including People For The American Way Foundation of Florida. People For is a national civil rights organization advocating for public policy that reflects the ideals of equality, democracy and social progress. As the Deputy Director, he managed the state's advocacy efforts, which helped to defend the Class Size amendment from Legislative dilution and restore rights to former felons. He served as the Florida Director for Lawyers for Children America, where he provided free legal services to Miami Dade's abused and neglected children.

While with the Children’s Trust of Miami-Dade County he served as a consultant during its start-up period and as its Community Advocate later on. The Children’s Trust is a leader in Children’s Advocacy through its strategic funding of children's services in Miami Dade and an extensive lobbying effort for children's issues. He is most proud of his work there that resulted in the creation of Florida's Universal Pre-K program and Florida Kid Care expansion. Recently, Chris has consulted with The Ounce of Prevention Fund and the State of Florida to replicate the Harlem Children's Zone in Miami. In 2008 the Florida Legislature passed a monumental bill that creates Children's Zones throughout the state, this legislation mandated a $3.6 Million pilot project for the Miami Children's Zone.

Civic Activities: Florida Council on The Social Status of Black Men & Boys (Chair), Miami Dade School Board Student Services Advisory Committee (Chair), Charlee Homes For Children Board Member (Current), South Florida Council of the Boy Scouts (Board Member, Calusa District Chair), UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights (Geneva, Switzerland) Speaker & Participant (2000), Youth Expressions Board Member (Former), Miami Dade Courts Foster Care Review Panel Member (Former).