Southern Maryland Applied Research and Technology Consortium Inc

The Southern Maryland Applied Research and Technology Consortium, Inc. (SMARTCO) is a volunteer not-for-profit 501(c)(3) community service organization providing computer related and other services to individuals residing within Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s Counties, the State of Maryland, and to qualified organizations nationwide. The organization is registered and certified in the State of Maryland and by the Federal Government. The computer related services include providing refurbished computer hardware and operating software to eligible public, private and parochial schools and qualified community service organizations and individuals. . We accept equipment donations from government, corporate and personal entities. The Technology Transfer Act of 1995 governs the distribution of government donations of ADP equipment.

SMARTCO has experiences in providing computer hardware refurbishment training and computer software and computer operations training to the under-employed, unemployed and underserved individuals residing within the Southern Maryland region. SMARTCO recycles one-hundred percent of the ADP equipment that is either no longer operational, or is too old to efficiently run the computer operating systems found in today's marketplace. SMARTCO volunteers recycle the chassis and case of the computer processing unit, all board level components and the monitors. As is typical, in 2005, SMARTCO recycled over one hundred tons of computer equipment. SMARTCO’s services provide support to, and operate in unison with community service organizations, public, private and parochial school systems, and the St. Mary’s County Library’s Internet access program which provides access to the Internet for the unemployed and underserved individuals in the Lexington Park, Maryland area. SMARTCO has also collaborated with community services organizations such as the United Cerebral Palsy of St. Mary’s County, the Jobs Connection office, numerous headstart programs and others, providing computer training and hands-on computer experiences to individuals with special needs.

SMARTCO is a one hundred percent (100%) volunteer organization, no individual, officer or otherwise, is paid, or receives a salary from the organization.

In addition to the computer-refurbishing program, SMARTCO operates a Computer Technology Learning Center (CTLC) for training unemployed, under-employed, and under-served individuals, senior citizens, primary and secondary school teachers and students, in basic computer literacy and computer refurbishment skills. SMARTCO has been offering basic computer literacy training since 2001. Over one hundred twenty (120) students have completed the curriculum and have gone on to achieve some remarkable results.  Examples are available upon request.

SMARTCO has been engaged in computer refurbishment activities since 1995. SMARTCO has issued over 25,000 personal computers and peripherals to clients, most of whom are located within the southern Maryland area. Computer and communications equipment has also been donated to eligible clients throughout the state of Maryland and to areas of need within the United States, such as the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. The Microsoft/TechSoup consortia have recognized SMARTCO as a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR). The MAR certification allows SMARTCO's volunteers to install current versions of the Microsoft operating systems, and provide the certificates of authenticity and end-user license agreements to our clients.