Occasional Update September 2003

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Technology For All
Occasional Update - September 2003

"We Bring Technology to Underserved Communities"

Here's a quick update of news and information regarding Technology For All and our collaborative efforts to bring technology and the opportunities it provides to underserved communities. We hope this assists in your understanding of what we do to make the world a better place. Important information for Community Technology Centers (CTCs) and other nonprofits doing community technology is located at the bottom. If you like this newsletter, please e-mail it to a friend.

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News and Updates

Community Technology: A Catalyst for Community Improvement - Thursday, November 6, 2003 - Featuring Elsa Macias, Ph.D., this one day conference at the Misión Milby CDC (2220 Broadway in the East End) will focus on the utilization of the tools of community technology as a catalyst for community improvement. Dr. Macias is Senior Research Fellow with The Tomas Rivera Policy Institute and will share some of her findings from "Connectados", her recently published research on community technology centers in Los Angeles. To register and to obtain more information about the conference go to http://www.houston.techforall.org/feature.html In addition to the presentations by Dr. Macias, featured workshops will include, "ABCs for Grant seekers" led by Scout Carr of the Beaumont Foundation of America, "Top Ten Resources for CTCs", led by TFA's Dr. Will Reed, and a panel on "Best Practices from Houston Area CTCs". Persons interested in reviewing a PDF copy Dr. Macias latest research "Connectados: Connecting L.A's Underserved Communities" should go to http://www.trpi.org/PDF/Conectados.pdf This conference for CTCs, nonprofits, foundations and others interested in community technology is sponsored by TFA-Houston with support from Misión Milby CDC, Continental Airlines and the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast.

2003 Community Technology Center of the Year to be Recognized -- During the November 6 Conference, TFA-Houston will recognize the 2003 Community Technology Center (CTC) of the Year. The 2003 CTC of the Year will receive one round trip ticket to Seattle and the paid registration the 2004 CTCNet Conference in Seattle in June 2004. At least two organizations will be recognized with honorable mention awards as well. CTCs established for one year or more that wish to self-nominate their organization for CTC of the year are asked to prepare a digital and hard copy of a narrative with pictures that includes the following information regarding their CTC: 1) Name of the Organization; 2) Contact Information for the organization and for the person preparing the nomination; 3) Detailed information regarding the population and community needs served by the organization; 4) Programs and activities offered by the organization to address the needs of its constituents and the community; 5) Organizational successes; 6) Best practices of the organization that might be of interest to other Houston area community technology Centers. In addition, Houston area CTCs self-nominating their organization for 2003 CTC of the year must complete an updated CTC data sheet. A digital copy of the data sheet can be obtained by request from Pam Gardner by calling 713.961.0012 or by email (pam.gardner@techforall.org) The absolute deadline for 2003 CTC of the Year nominations is 12 noon, Wednesday, October 22, 2003. Nominations can be delivered or mailed to: Technology For All-Houston, 2220 Broadway, Houston, Texas 77012.

AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps CTC VISTA Project Staff Start --- During 2003-2004, we are fortunate to have four persons who will devote one year of their lives working with community technology efforts in Houston. In addition to Ken Yu, Hilda Puente, and Pete Rodriguez who were mentioned in the last "Occasional Update", TFA-Houston has developed a relationship with the Houston READ Commission, through which Michelle Perry will be working with TFA-Houston for the next year as well. Her role through the READ Commission appointment to TFA will be focused on the provision of direct client services. This will include teaching classes at TFA-Houston's Mision Milby CTC and doing training with the leaders and volunteers of other CTCs around the city. Michelle is a recent graduate of Texas A & M and is excited to be joining the TFA team. Please welcome Michelle, as well as Hilda, Ken and Pete!

STREET U Begins - With major funding from the Brown Foundation and others, STREET U, the Houston Workforce Development Initiative, is underway at the Misión Milby Community Technology Center with "Level 1" (Basic Computer Skills) training taught by The Telecom Opportunity Institute (www.ttoi). In addition to TTOI, collaborating program partners on the project include the Houston Area Technology Advancement Center, (www.hatac.org), Technology For All, Technology For All-Houston and the Houston office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (www.liscnet.org). If additional funding is secured, Decision Information Resources (www.dir-online.com) will provide evaluation services for STREET U to enhance its effectiveness and scalability across the city. The goal of STREET U is to help Houston develop a more diverse and better trained workforce in collaboration with community technology centers and community development corporations across the city. During the first year, our specific goal is to help 400 persons at 7-10 CTC sites gain the technology and life skills they need to earn a livable wage.

Learn and Earn Program Begins at Mision Milby CTC, COMPUTER DONATIONS NEEDED! --- As a part of our outreach at the Misión Milby CTC, TFA-Houston is implementing a new series of Learn and Earn (a Computer) classes. Less than 10% of Milby and Chavez High School students have computers at home. In order to improve that percentage, our AmericorpsVISTA staffers are starting the first of a series of Learn and Earn classes with High School students on October 7. Over a period of eight weeks, students will participate in hands on classes that will teach computer hardware installation, repairs, trouble shooting, and the installation of software. At the end of each of the eight week class session, students will take home a refurbished computer with a Windows 2000 operating system, SimHouston software and other shrink-wrapped software as donated. Our hope is to distribute at least 150 "Learn and Earn" Computers to high school students by the end of the year. To accomplish that goal, TFA-Houston is looking for individuals and corporations to donate Pentium III class computers for the project. TFA-Houston is also looking for cash donations to purchase 56K modems for some of the units as well as discounted dial-up ISP services. For more information or to participate as a sponsor of the project, please contact Will Reed at 713.961.0012, x102 or email Will.Reed@techforall.org . Similar computer donations are also needed for the Learn and Earn component of the STREET U initiative.

Online Request for Computers Deadline is Today --- Three times a year TFA-Houston receives online requests for computers from community based organizations wishing to establish or upgrade community technology centers. Today at 5 pm is the deadline for the current online request process. Organizations making online requests will then be scheduled for a site visit from a TFA-Houston staff person in order to fully review the request and make an informed decision regarding the request. For more information click here.

CTC Brown Bag -- Wednesday, October 22, 2003 -- Topic: Community Partnership Opportunities

(Fourth Wednesday of each month except November and December)

12:00 noon to 1:30 pm @
Misión Milby Community Technology Center
2220 Broadway
Houston, Texas 77012
Call 713.961.0012 to reserve your "Brown Bag."

Are you looking for a place to connect with others doing community technology? Do you need new ideas and resources? Technology For All-Houston hosts a brown bag lunch on the fourth Wednesday of each month on topics of relevance to community technology Centers (CTCs). This month’s topic is “Community Partnership Opportunities.” Do what you do best and partner with organizations that do what they do best. Partnership Opportunities to be represented will include financial literacy programs, small business entrepreneurship programs, and educational providers. Come early and visit! Bring your own lunch or if you want to order lunch, call Pam Gardner at 713.961.0012 (or email Pam.Gardner@techforall.org) and reserve a box lunch for $3.00. TFA will provide the drinks. Join us on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm at the Misión Milby Community Technology Center

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Important Info for CTCs and CBOs

Race, Place and Information Technology --- Karen Mossberger and Carolyn Barger have just completed a new article on the role that environment plays in influencing information technology access and skills. The literature on concentrated poverty and racial segregation suggests a number of environmental effects in poor urban neighborhoods, but this has never been examined in the context of technology disparities. One of the puzzles that emerged from recent research on the “digital divide” was that African-Americans, and to a lesser extent, Latinos, had more positive attitudes toward information technology than similarly-situated whites, and yet they had lower rates of access and skill. To better understand the effects of placed-based influences the article examines survey responses using individual-level demographic characteristics, individual variables merged with county level socioeconomic and demographic data, and individual level variables merged with these same factors measured at the census tract level. For a complete copy of the article go to: http://intel.si.umich.edu/tprc/papers/2003/184/raceplace4.pdf

IT and Society --- IT and Society is a web journal that studies how technology affects society. The two most recent journals located at (http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/itandsociety/) devote the editions to research on the Digital Divide. For organizations looking for research to enlighten and support your community technology efforts, these two editions contain a wealth of material.

Teaching Teens to Teach --- The America Connects Consortium has just placed a new curriculum resource on its website, including written and video materials, for Teaching Teens to Teach in community technology centers. You can find it on the ACC web site at http://www.americaconnects.net/research/FLOCCurriculum/FLOCCurriculum.asp . Congratulations to For Love of Children for an excellent job on this product! It's available free of charge to support the work of community technology providers.

Virtual E-Government Conference --- A Virtual Conference on E-Government and the Digital Divide will take place November 3-14, 2003. For more information and to register for the FREE conference go to http://www.egov4all.org . The conference is sponsored by the Benton Foundation in conjunction with the American Library Association Office of Information Technology Policy, the Association for Community Networking, Athena Alliance, BytesForAll.org, the Council for Excellence in Government, CTCNet, the Information Technology Technical Assistance and Training Center (ITTATC), La Sociedad de Información de las Américas, One Economy Corporation and Thinkofit.com. About the conference: There has been much interest in the US and abroad in utilizing the Internet to improve communications between governments and citizens. The Internet has great potential in giving individuals greater access to their governments, while at the same time improving efficiencies and cutting bureaucratic red tape. But the reality is that a sizeable portion of society lacks both access to the Internet and the skills to use it effectively. As state, local and national governments expand their e-government activities, millions of underserved citizens fall further behind, effectively becoming cut off from the people and institutions that serve them. Governments, in conjunction with the private sector and civil society, must develop sustainable strategies for ensuring that all citizens can reap the potential benefits of e-government. We must also work to ensure that public information and services remain accessible to all, especially people with disabilities, understandable to low-literate citizens and readable for non-English speakers. E-Government for All will convene key stakeholders in government, research, business and civil society to tackle the challenge of implementing e-government while simultaneously addressing the digital divide. Participants will interact via the Internet and conference calls over the course of the conference, participating in virtual keynotes, panel sessions and community forums.

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Websites of Interest to CTCs

Smithsonian Education Portal--- The Smithsonian Institution's vast cultural resources are now available online, thanks to the launch of SmithsonianEducation.org. The site features content from 16 Smithsonian museums, the National Zoo and the Smithsonian's world-class research centers. The site is subdivided into areas designed for educators, families and students, with nearly 1,000 educational resources searchable within the site's database. Online lessons and teaching tools were developed in alignment with national education standards. "We created the new site to be authoritative, inspiring, and relevant," says the Smithsonian's Stephanie Norby. The site is produced by the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, the central education department of the Smithsonian Institution.
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org

Teach-nology - The Art and Science of Teaching with Technology --- Teach-nology is what it claims to be — a Web Portal For Educators. While it has some content for a fee, the free site has more than 200,000 reviewed sites with links to something for all teachers and administrators. Some of its major headings are Teaching Themes, Lesson Plan Center, Free Worksheets, Best Teacher Sites, Education News, Monthly Motivator, Educator Web Tools, Rubric Generators, and Teacher Resources. Top Ten Areas is great too. All of these major headings have sub-headings.
http://www.teach-nology.com

Literacy Resources --- For the last year and a half, the Department of Education's CTC program has had a focus on adult literacy. The America Connects Consortium has collected resources for our web site, and although some are more suitable for adults, many will work with youth. Check it out at: http://www.americaconnects.net/resources/default.asp?topicid=25#Literacy Two especially good resources are the Adult Literacy Resource Institute (http://www.alri.org), and the ACC Promising Practices briefs on adult education and project-based learning, at: http://www.americaconnects.net/research/default.asp?subid=34

CTC Curriculum --- In addition to TFA's online content many community technology centers are looking for other freely available sources of online content for basic computer classes etc. Technology For All recommends that CTCs take a look at the following free resources.

Goodwill Community Foundation www.gcflearnfree.org

Verizon Foundation Voucher http://foundation.verizon.com/06003a.shtml

Join CTCNet today - TFA and TFA-Houston affiliated community technology centers are encouraged to join the community technology centers network. For more information, go to www.ctcnet.org .

Remember our Program Partners --- For a complete list of TFA and TFA-Houston program partners, click here.

We welcome your feedback! Contact Will Reed at 713.961.0012, x102 or by email at will.reed@techforall.org .

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TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL/Technology For All-Houston

This newsletter is produced by Technology For All especially for our donors and friends.

Technology For All (TFA) and Technology For All-Houston (TFA-Houston) are Houston based non-profit organizations focused on bringing technology and the opportunities it provides to underserved communities. TFA has supportive relationships with over 300 community based organizations in 56 US cities. Since 1997, TFA-Houston has assisted 170+ community based organizations create and develop community technology centers that bring technology and the opportunities it provides to Houston's underserved communities. TFA-Houston operates its own CTC at Mision Milby in Houston's East End. To make a donation go to https://app.etapestry.com/happ1/Technology%20For%20All/OnlineGivingCreditCard.html. To learn more call 713.961.0012 or email info@techforall.org.

If you do not wish to receive the Technology For All occasional update send an email to Will.Reed@techforall.org with the words "please remove" in the subject line.

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