A portion of the students, staff and professionals attending the 2010 Black Family Technology Week luncheon held at Northeast High School.

This story also appears on Northeast news site NEast Philly and is reprinted here with permission as part of a content partnership. See more photos here.

More than 200 students, staff, technology professionals and partners listened to the musical stylings of a high school choir last week. But everyone was there to promote technology literacy.

Held at Northeast High School, the sixth annual luncheon was again the signature event of the 11th annual Black Family Technology Awareness Week, which has some lingering events over the next few days.

Hosted by the Secondary Robotics Initiative Department, IBM and the Mayor’s Commission on Technology, the luncheon aims to highlight particularly the technology work of young people, particularly nonwhite and other youth less likely to be involved in tech, and connect them with IT professionals of color.

“The event was held at Northeast because they have a technology lab and a stellar robotics program,” MCOT representative Kyasha Tyson told Technically Philly.

In addition to IBM, students interacted with representatives from Black Data Processing Associates, Emelle mE, Urban Youth Racing School, the Oglesby Group, Urban STEM Strategy Group and the Genaera Corporation.

In addition to the school’s choir, last Wednesday’s event featured Northeast High’s robotics club, a former hot rod association world champion and, yes, former Eagles linebacker, 610 WIP personality and online sports news entrepreneur Gary Cobb.

Smith, 67, passed from complications related to pancreatic cancer. She is survived by her daughter Narissa Wallace, who is married with two children.

Supporters can celebrate Smith’s life at a memorial service to be held at 10 a.m. Sat. Jan 23, inside the Community College of Philadelphia’s Bonnell Building auditorium on 17th Street between Callowhill and Spring Garden streets. The internment will be private.

In addition to her many titles and roles, Smith was the Philadelphia coordinator for Black Family Technology Awareness Week, representative of her passion to bridge the digital divide.

In lieu of flowers, Smith’s family requests that any display of sympathy be sent to a scholarship named in her behalf that honors literacy:

Carole I. Smith Scholarship Fund / GPUAC (Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition)
1207 Chestnut Street, 7th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Checks should be made to payable to “GPUAC / Carole I. Smith Scholarship Fund.” For more information contact the Mayor’s Commission on Technology at 215.686.8150.

This has been updated here.

Carole I. Smith, a radio personality, columnist, entrepreneur and educator who advised the city on technology policy, passed Monday evening, a friend told Technically Philly today. She was 67.

Educated at Yale University, Occidental College and Temple University, according to an archived biography, Smith was most recently the executive director of the Mayor’s Commision on Technology, hosting a monthly Web cast and weekly radio show in that capacity.

Comment from her family or the mayor’s office was not immediately available. This story will be updated as information comes in. Cause of death was not disclosed.

On Wednesdays on 900 AM WURD, Smith hosted Carole’s Technology Corner, discussing mostly national gadget and trend stories with various guests from the region and beyond.