FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:

Merrill Stewart                                                           

Director of Public Education & Communications     

The Children’s Home, Inc.                                                                

(813) 864-1536                                                                                    

mstewart@childrenshome.org                                                                                              

 The Children’s Home, Inc. partners with eDean!

TAMPA, FL SEPTEMBER 12, 2008 ---  Have you heard of eDean?   If you have not heard about eDean, or Electronic Dispatch for Emergency and Academic Notices, it is a visual communication tool improving the way universities communicate with students, faculty, staff and campus visitors. The Children’s Home is excited to be one of the sponsors of the system that is currently in use at the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida, Tampa campus. This fall USF students have been greeted with this new information and alert system.  eDean provides students with a visual communication of school information and alerts, 24/7 in locations such as the library, dining facilities and academic areas.

There are 40” LCD screens located in high traffic areas through out the USF, Tampa campus, that display important information such as: news, weather, academic calendars, performing arts schedules, social calendars, sports schedules, and special event times and locations. In an emergency, eDean displays information and provides critical direction. More than 38,000 of the 45,000 students enrolled at USF attend classes on the main campus.

The system is provided to the University at no cost. Community businesses support the system with their sponsorship and receive a business message on the displays in return. In addition, companies can support a local charity, such as The Children’s Home, by running messages for the charity on the system in exchange for their sponsorship dollars.

A Tampa company, Electronic Digital Media, launched the service this summer and has displays installed at the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida. Installation is pending at Saint Leo University, Manatee Community College, Florida Tech, and the University of Houston. Current sponsors of eDean include OAI, ACF, WingStop, Dillard’s, Washington Mutual, USF Bookstore, USF Federal Credit Union and charities, The Children’s Home and The First Tee of Tampa Bay. For more information on eDean, call (813) 888-8796 or visit www.childrenshome.org, and click on Partners.

About eDEAN:

eDean^SM is a visual communications tool for colleges and universities that uses LCD displays to provide students, faculty, staff and parents with campus news and events, weather and emergency alerts. Supported through sponsorship messaging, eDean is a no-cost solution for colleges and universities to integrate their student communications and reduce paper waste. Using a web portal, eDean allows school officials to update campus news and send out emergency notifications within seconds. Created by Electronic Digital Media, a Florida-based company, eDean is currently in use at University of South Florida and the University of Tampa. Installation is pending at Saint Leo University, Manatee Community College, Florida Tech, and the University of Houston. For more information on eDean, call (813) 888-8796 or visit www.edean.tv

About The Children’s Home: (please note that the “T” is capitalized in The Children’s Home)

As the oldest charity on Florida’s west coast, The Children’s Home, Inc. operates a variety of child-focused and family-centered programs throughout Tampa Bay. Its mission is to create a community where children and families feel loved, nurtured, and safe. In addition to caring for nearly 100 abused or neglected children through its residential treatment program each year, The Children’s Home, Inc. has assisted over 25,000 children through its therapeutic, family and school support services and placed 6,000 children with loving foster or adoptive families. It is accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA) and was named the 2004 Non-Profit of the Year by the Tampa Bay Business Journal and the WEDU Be More Award© 2005 Non-Profit Organization of the Year.

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