Our office is here to assist you in any of your youth group's technical needs. Many have come to realize the great need and importance of electronic communication. What better way to stay connected with your group, that to have your very own place in cyber space accessible to anyone, anytime. Our office has the knowledge and experience to help your youth group take a leap into the 21st century. Below are descriptions of the technical services we offer. Browse through them and contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

• Domain Registration  |  click here to see pricing
  To give your organization that special place in cyber space consider reserving a domain name. Domains names are inexpensive and are a great way for your organization to keep members up-to-date and informed.
  

• Site Hosting  |  click here to see pricing
  Need space to host your site? We have got you covered! For a low monthly fee, our office is equipped to provide you with a shared web-hosting account. You have 24x7 access to your web-hosting account and control panel with the ability to make changes to your site or account settings at any time. (Supported: ASP, ASP.NET, SSI, PHP, CGI, PERL).
  

• Site Design  |  click here to see pricing
  If you're not the tech savvy type, or don't own web design software, perhaps designing your own site is not an option. You'll be happy to know we're here to help with this as well. Our office is willing and ready to assist your organization in creating a site customized to your specific needs.
  

• Email Hosting  |  click here to see pricing
  A great idea for youth board members or adult advisors, this service allows you to standardize your organization's contact information. If someone can remember your organization's domain name, it can be just as easy to remember how to contact your organization's members. All email accounts have a web mail interface, allowing you to check your mail anytime and anywhere (simply visit webmail.yourdomain.com). Your email accounts can also be configured to work with Microsoft Outlook Express or other popular mail clients.
  

• SSL Certificates  |  click here to see pricing
  Are you hosting your website with us? Are you using your site to transmit or receive sensitive data (social security numbers, financial information, etc.)? It may be a good idea to consider ordering an SSL certificate. Many of you have probably noticed the lock or key icon that appears occasionally in your web browser and wondered what this icon really means. The lock or key icon (depending on which browser you are using) is an indicator to confirm that you are accessing a page protected by "Secure Socket Layer" (SSL) encryption. In layman's terms, it means that the data being displayed on the page, as well as any information inserted by a user on the page, is encrypted when being transmitted from the user's browser to the server and vice versa. It is important to note that this alone does not guarantee that data on the server is impenetrable, however is does assure customers that a snooping "outsider" is unable to read the information as it is being transmitted through the World Wide Web.

• Text Messaging System
  The CYO/Youth & Young Adult Ministry Office has contracted with School Reach, Inc.,to provide subscription services for broadcasting text messages, pre-recorded voice messages, and e-mails to membership lists of youth ministry groups and related youth ministry programs. The CYO Office is offering this fee-based service as another resource to enable youth ministers to better communicate with teens regarding Church youth programs. Although one may contract directly with School Reach, Inc., individual accounts would require a minimum of 300 contacts each. Because most parish youth groups would not be able to reach that minimum threshold, the CYO Office has purchased a bulk subscription which allows a parish CYO/youth group to subscribe through us for even a small number of contacts.
  

Contact:
Garrett Fried
504-836-0551 ext. 22
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Some statistics to consider:

     "The average 12-17 year old spends 12-15 hours online weekly."
     -Gallup

     "Young people are not surfing the internet merely because it is in or cool,
      they are using the internet to fulfill fundamental needs (socialization  and ID formation).
      Websites that respond accordingly are the sites teens will visit.
     -La Ferle

     "For 17 million teenagers, use of the internet plays a major role in their relationships with friends, families, and their schools."
     -Pew Internet and American Life Project