Technical Assistance for Non-profits

CTC Support and Assistance

Organization: 
netCorps
VISTA Name: 
Aliya Abbasi
Program Start: 
9/2005
Program End: 
9/2007
Project Description: 

The VISTA will provide assistance in the form of technology assessments, planning and budgeting, computer repair and refurbishing, securing new and used technology hardware and software through donation and/or purchase, assessing the computer skills of each organization’s staff and providing training to fill in the knowledge gaps, establishing computer networks, both wired and wireless, and enabling the sharing of network resources such as printers and files, setting up email accounts for staff, writing best practice computer/network/security policies and procedures for each organization, identifying funding sources for each nonprofit that will enable them to afford their top-priority technology needs, creating and updating websites, and creating new databases and improving on the data collection and reporting of existing ones. The non-technical services that the VISTAs will provide will be equally important: helping techno-phobes and technology novices ease into the daily use of technology by using a non-intimidating vocabulary and non-judgmental computer-side manner.

Project Outcome: 

To date, this project has accomplished much. Aliya has worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations in Greensboro and the surrounding community, offering direct assistance with technology training, implementation and support. She has coordinated a number of trainings and outreach events, exposing a significant population of nonprofits to this project. She has made connections with other community organizations and foundations, helping to lay the groundwork for making this project a more permanent part of the nonprofit landscape in Greensboro.

Impact Quote: 

Our VISTA experience, a very positive one to date, is helping our organization in a number of ways. Aliya’s placement in Greensboro is allowing us to work with organizations we would not be able to serve otherwise. She is exploring and implementing new strategies that others in our organization can now also use in their own work. She is helping to identify other community resources to take the project beyond its original scope, making sure that the organizations served will continue to benefit long after this project ends.

Outreach and Technical Assistance

VISTA Name: 
Brian Pastori
Program Start: 
9/2005
Program End: 
9/2006
Project Description: 

The focus of the CTC VISTA will be to work with the CEDC staff to reach-out to smaller non-profit groups– many of which are completely staffed by low-income volunteers– to organize very-low-cost and accessible volunteer training programs.

Project Outcome: 

CTC Net VISTA Brian Pastori continued to be a technical assistance resource to the project and to the overall work of the agency that integrates community technology across the board in all of our programs. As we completed our move, we set up the VITA e-filing site and resumed the computer recycle and refurbishing after school program. Brian held an Organizer’s Database workshop and was available for one-on-one technical assistance to the participating groups. We were also able to pilot a videoconferencing project in collaboration with a counterpart CTC in Quiche, Guatemala. Brian coordinated student interns on a variety of CEDC projects and faciliated a team of summer youth to conduct an assessment of youth needs. Brian’s ability to adapt to a variety of projects has allowed us to continue his position after the end of his VISTA assignment. A local private foundation with a particular interest in encouraging their grantee groups to engage youth in programming increased our funding by 50% this year to help underwrite the costs of this newly funded position.

Impact Quote: 

Brian has been instrumental in helping the CEDC achieve its mission because he has a strong commitment to working with our diverse low-income population. Brian has very strong group facilitation, training and community organizing skills in addition to his techlology skills which have been tremendous assets to the CEDC to allow us to further our mission.

Webmaster and Outreach Coordinator

VISTA Name: 
Nicholas Lewis
Program Start: 
8/2005
Program End: 
8/2006
Project Description: 

MAIN is currently seeking an AmeriCorps VISTA member to serve as Webmaster, helping maintain web content on multi-platform network operating center with system tools that include Linux, NT, Apple OS and HTML, Drupal and Civicspace. Additional assignments include working at MAIN CTC/public access sites located in Texas Workforce Center and Bastrop Public Library, plus outreach efforts to engage underserved community members.

Project Outcome: 

As an unfunded 501c3 offering free online support for other nonprofit groups, we have to strive for powerful but low-cost means to deliver services. Nick has helped completely overhaul our online operations, converting some key servers and sites to new automated Content Management Systems (CMS) software, esp. drupal and civicspace. This conversion has proved very complicated and we have a long way left to go, but without VISTA help it simply would have been unthinkable.

Two examples of productive outcomes are a new national community ICT resource project and a local community writing project . Though far from perfect they’re good programs that would never exist without our VISTA volunteer.

Nick helped completely overhaul our online operations, converting some key servers and sites to new Content Management Systems software, esp. drupal and civicspace. Though the very newness of the software has caused unplanned complications and delays, we’re managing to create a great many new content sections and features.

IT Support and Consulting

VISTA Name: 
David Crist
Program Start: 
8/2001
Program End: 
8/2003
Project Description: 

• Work with Lowell Community Technology Consortium member sites to develop their technical support systems (i.e. documentation, system recovery, anti-virus updates, etc.)
• Visit Consortium member sites on a regular basis to train and coach on-site staff and volunteers in PC maintenance and support
• Encourage Consortium member sites to expand upon their current IT infrastructure and incorporate additional mechanisms (i.e. LANs, websites, integrated databases) into their day-to-day operations
• Organize and coordinate materials that represent “best practices” or model programs happening at various member sites while assisting in the documentation of current work

Project Outcome: 

David has been providing support to LTC and other Consortium sites on an ongoing basis and has provided guidance to interns looking to build concrete hands - on skills.

In addition to providing technical support, David has also provided assistance and coordinated the purchase of equipment for Consortium partners engaged in media-education activities

The Wilderness Technology Alliance

Location:
Washington, DC

The WTA pioneers character and technology education programs through service learning. Students and volunteers gain work-based learning experiences by providing valuable technology products and services to their school or local community. Professional skills are gained while marketable products are produced to generate revenues that help sustain the program. The Alliance typically partners with state education agencies, school districts, community organiziations and other formal or informal teaching institutions, to implement its programs.

TecsChange

Location:
Boston, MA

Mission: We provide technology to individuals and groups working for social change, locally and internationally.

We are volunteers, mostly from the Boston area, with software, hardware and computer training skills, as well as non-technical skills. We have a diverse membership and welcome volunteers at all skill levels. Our one volunteer requirement aligns with our mission: to support progressive social change here and in the developing world. Some of us have traveled to and/or worked in Latin America and Southern Africa, using our technical skills to train people in grassroots groups to set up software and hardware systems.

RTPNet

Location:
Raleigh, NC

RTPnet is a volunteer-driven membership-based service of Public Information Network, Inc. dedicated to helping North Carolina nonprofit organizations leverage Internet tools to promote and support their missions.

Our special focus is North Carolina and its Research Triangle but we will serve eligible users anywhere.

Realizing Every Community Asset Foundation (RECA) / Rainier VISTA

Location:
Kennewick, WA

The RECA Foundation has been working to meet the technology needs of the greater Tri-Cities area community since 1992. It has helped to establish over 10 technology centers, built and run The Columbia Free-Net, provided refurbished computer equipment to low income families, and helped to build the technology capacity of our local non-profit organizations.

To use technology in building partnerships with other regional organizations in order to enhance public dialogue about regional issues. Provide access to social and human services resources, consolidate and coordinate those resources in an online environment, and provide information technology support to low income families and other non-profits. The RECA Foundation was the first in the area to offer free e-mail for individuals and free web hosting for other non-profits (Web Hosting). The Foundation started the Columbia Basin Public Information Network (CBPIN.org) in 1994 as a collaborative network of public, private, and government organizations. 2004 – regional management of the www.4people.org Information & Referral database, and an extensive Case Management system.

Edlab Group/Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology

Location:
Lynwood, WA

The EdLab Group (formerly the Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology (PSCTLT) is a private, non-profit center with funding from federal and state governments, private foundations, corporations, and individuals. Our mission is to leverage the power of technology and diversity to transform teaching and learning.

In furtherance of this mission, the EdLab Group has adopted three major strategic objectives:

New Tools for Teaching and Learning: Optimize the performance of educators and other professionals by creating innovative methods and materials and helping others to use them.
Equity: Provide programs and support that address the achievement gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Evaluation: Provide evaluation services to empower programs and organizations to more effectively reach their outcomes and goals.

Pangea Foundation

Location:
San Diego, CA

As the nonprofit leader in SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) impact measurement and reporting services, Pangea Foundation equips impact-driven nonprofits across America with easy-to-learn and easy-to-use Web-based Software-as-a-Service that lets organizations clearly visualize and effortlessly communicate the impact of their programs. We fuse your live data with sophisticated visual analytics to give you Impact Reports that pack more punch, eliminate ambiguity, and make you look professional.

Transmission Project