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.