An Alexandria nonprofit that teaches trades to underserved youth received 100 refurbished laptops and $10,000 from AT&T and Human I-T today (Thursday).
Apprentices at Cornerstone Craftsman will each receive one of the laptops after they graduate from high school. The donations were made by AT&T after Garrett McGuire, the company’s regional director of external and legislative affairs, spoke with Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins about workforce development.
“I want to give credit to Mayor Gaskins,” McGuire said. “In talking with her, we were trying to find a good organization that is supporting workforce development in the city of Alexandria, and Cornerstone Craftsman obviously came up.”
Led by founder and executive director Roberto Gomez, Cornerstone Craftsman teaches skilled trades to dozens of underserved Alexandria teens. The nonprofit was founded in 2021 and has garnered widespread praise for its approach in steering children to successful careers.
AT&T made the donation through an initiative to provide $5 billion in laptops throughout the country by 2030, in hopes of “bridging the digital divide.”
“It’s a huge impact,” Gomez said of the donations. “It’s one thing to teach young people construction skills that will get them employed. It’s a completely separate process to actually walk them through the application process, build a resume and learn how to communicate via email. It’s all about getting somebody career-ready.”
Gaskins said she first met McGuire through his work with the Chamber ALX and AT&T’s sponsorship of the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program.
“We’ve stayed in touch and made sure that he continues to be engaged in helping the city think about how we prepare tomorrow’s workforce,” Gaskins said. “It seemed like a great partnership to be able to help facilitate.”
Kate Comfort, the chair of Cornerstone Craftsman’s board of directors, also thanked AT&T for the partnership, which she said is “vital.”
“It directly enhances the quality of our training and allows us to offer more resources to our pre-apprentices,” Comfort said. “This investment ensures that our graduates are not just job-ready but are prepared for long-term career success as they enter the workforce and become the next generation of skilled craftsmen.”
