Transmission Project

Pete has worked extensively with our Learn and Earn Program. Over the past year and a half he has taught 12 classes and distributed over 100 re-deployed computers to underserved youth in the east end of Houston. Pete has also developed a new Learn and Earn Program with graduating seniors at Milby, Chavez and Austin High School. He will be starting our third class this summer. Through these two programs he has been able to increase our overall volunteer hours. This program is well received by the community and a welcome addition to the total program TFA offers.

Pete has managed our computer re-distribution program and completely overhauled the system. All reporting is now done on-line and in real time. He has also involved his student volunteers and our University of Houston Interns in the process. The most unique feature to the re-distribution program is the way Pete transfers knowledge to the recipients. The organization receiving the computers actually works with Pete and the volunteers in preparing their own equipment for their community technology center. In this way they have enough basic knowledge to keep their equipment up and running. To date Pete has re-distributed well over 300 computers and taught over 100 people in this program.

For the past two months Pete has put together an extensive summer youth program. (flyer available). We should be able to reach over 50 unique community youth ranging in age from new 7th graders to graduating seniors. The programs cover a variety of subjects. Pete has developed all the learning objectives for each course, developed a budget and schedule, and is in the process of recruiting students and volunteers. One of his key program partners is NASA. They have offered to put a second session under Pete’s leadership.

Goal 1: Community volunteers have taught the Americorps VISTA Volunteers enough basic computer maintenance and troubleshooting techniques to sustain the computer lab. A Technical Committee of five community volunteers was formed to help troubleshoot technical problems too large or difficult for the VISTA to fix.

Microsoft Access has been used to create databases to track software, hardware, community and technology contacts, and student, tutor, and parent contacts. Each database has easy-to-use interfaces to update information. Equipment evaluation sheets are cataloged for all incoming and outgoing donations.

A Web Committee was created to re-develop the FOTS website, and contains two volunteer web-professionals. The new website http://www.friendsoftylerschool.org was launched in September 2002. Easy to use templates were created so that future VISTAS and volunteers can easily update the web content and sustain the site.

Goal 2: Open Lab has fostered a lot of insightful learning due to the one-on-one attention students receive from the VISTA and volunteers. In addition to Open Lab, three computer courses have been successfully established. Nine students are currently enrolled in other after-school and evening computer classes. Curricular resources for the computer classes have been identified and cataloged in curriculum binders. Additional classes and projects are being developed for the spring and summer sessions.

Student files were created to track an initial general assessment to measure computer skills, keyboard efficiency, and technology interests. General program assessments occur quarterly.

Goal 3: The computer center has been operating on a five-day week schedule. Basic computer literacy skills are being addressed in current computer classes and Open Lab. Additional classes and projects are being developed by the VISTA in cooperation with community volunteers.

The summer program, Cool Camp, is currently being developed. Software, websites, and volunteer teachers are being identified.

Goal 4: A second lab has been established and maintained for tutors to use during tutoring and mentoring. A software database and computer procedures have been created and posted near computers. An introductory computer workshop was given to tutors, which covered the Digital Divide Initiative and computer center procedures.

In cooperation with Digital Sisters, seven parents attended a workshop on how to effectively use technology as an educational tool for young girls and teenagers. Shireen Mitchell, Director of Digital Sisters, presented this workshop.

Goal 5: Assessment of parents was done over the phone and included getting an idea of technology interests and availability. Based on initial conversation and meetings, a survey has been completed and will be distributed during future workshops.

Saturday Parent Workshops have been developed for selected weekends through April. Each workshop is built around a particular topic that can be covered during one workshop.

Goal 6: Sources have been identified and utilized for receiving equipment donations. A Verizon grant was awarded for the CTC.

Numerous computer programs, resources, and websites have been identified and catalogued in the computer office for future reference.

Many of the volunteers working with the FOTS Computer Center have been found through www.volunteermatch.org. For example, two volunteers were found for the Technical and Web Committee, and an additional volunteer was recruited as a lab helper.

Digital Sisters, a technology program that promotes technology among women and gender issues, has agreed to help FOTS conduct both parent and youth workshops. This partnership increases the capacity of FOTS by offering technology training that addresses relevant differences and opportunities between genders.

The technology program working in conjunction of the Arkansas Delta Dreams program provides individual and special group sessions. Our successes for the past quarter have been the effective training of 15 seniors in basic and intermediate software and hardware. They covered the components of the computer, various basic software applications, surfing the Internet and sending and receiving e-mail. This has prompted many of the participants, whose ages range from 65 to 85, to purchase computer for their homes and/or obtain Internet services so they can “keep up and stay in the know.” One of the participants called our offices when they received their first e-mail communications from their great-great grand child, who is ten years of age. We call this bridging the generation and technology gaps.

Mike Denegal has provided technical assistance to the Family Learning Opportunity Centers (FLOCs) and he’s well respected for his professional technical advice for the organization. The FLOCs began with limited resources, equipment, and program structure. We are glad that Mike has assisted the Community Development Division in growing its resources, researching viable technology funding options, and establishing a line of communication among staff through the message board. Mike displays a high level of enthusiasm for growing the resources and establishing partnerships for SDCTC. He has made sure that both OTS and SDCTC stay abreast on technological trends, resources, policies, and innovations.

Diana has posted over 1,200 services on 4People.org and has been instrumental in helping the database to grow and advance. She has also designed marketing materials, learned to build computers, trained people on computers, written documents, designed web pages, and done lots of editing. With her help, RECA and 4People are advancing at an amazing pace.

At the six month level Diana has completed a great deal of work towards populating the 4people.org database, which includes youth, seniors and family community services. She has developed a web page for another non-profit (Catholic Family and Child Services), and taught a class on beginning web page design. By posting services to 4People and continually improving the database, Diana is helping our online database become a viable community resource. We currently have over 4,300 services listed in Eastern Washington, largely thanks to her efforts and the efforts of the VISTA that preceded her. Diana has been instrumental in helping to design the front end interface of 4People to be first time user friendly. See 4people.tcfn.org.

As an Americorps VISTA member, Clarice was an integral part of preparing for the school district’s “back to school registration drive,” at which time, parents and students attend school orientations and register for classes. Through OTX we serve a school district population comprised of 48,000 students and 104 school sites. For the purpose of the home computer component of OTX-West’s computer reuse program, Clarice assisted in the coordination of this effort to reach 41 middle school and high school sites. Her work included creating and organizing information packets, scheduling meetings with school sites and staffing orientations. Due to the extensive outreach effort, we were able to serve 800 middle school and high school students last Fall.

MAFEI currently has six interns representing the traditional high schools in the District, two of whom have returned from the previous year. As an Americorps member, Clarice serves as a liaison with OTX interns, coordinating work schedules and advising them appropriately regarding work responsibilities.

As a result of her work with issues related to sustainability and donor cultivation we were able to consistently produce and distribute our newsletter and double the revenues generated from our annual event. We were able to add a new cultivation event “Lunch on Us” which has resulted in 120 new prospects/donors for our organization. She also organized and laid a system for grant development accumulating appropriate materials which contributed to the efficiency of grant development.

Amanda increased her Spanish language skills and through our leadership development program began to identify and address her own leadership strength and weaknesses.

From the beginning of her placement Yvette has improved the efficiency and the quality of services delivered to clients of the HPP Technology Center. Yvette has a quiet strength that clients and staff respect and admire. This trait has enabled Yvette to work well with all of the clients of the Technology Center (homeless and formerly homeless families) and with the staff.

Yvette’s work has increased the sustainability of the HPP Technology Center. She has assisted in formalizing HPP’s technology training curriculum for staff and clients. Her work on connecting HPP with educational and vocation al programs in the Bay Area will be enable HPP staff to assist clients in becoming self sufficient. Her excellent work on the resource website for homeless families in San Francisco will enable families and service providers to connect with needed resources.

Yvette managed a team of students from the University of San Francisco to create a resource website for homeless families called www.helping-sf.org. Yvette met with homeless families, service providers and staff at the Homeless Prenatal Program to ensure the relevance of the site content. She continues to update the site to guarantee that the material is up to date. She has already received praise from staff at San Francisco’s Department of Human Services and from homeless family service providers. I was recently at a conference were an Executive Director of CTC referenced helping-sf.org as a model to be replicated throughout the Bay Area.

Rob continued teaching the first half of the NETT Network Associate program. This included 3 to 4 hours in the classroom daily, which was extended somewhat, as the class, approached the Semester 1st and 2nd semester finals. During this period Rob conceived of integrating the in-class instruction with a real world network installation. This was done at the Fenway After-School Program, a program run by the YMCA in a Fenway CDC owned building. The students consulted with the YMCA, reconditioned PC’s, and installed an Ethernet network.

Brandi has been working with CompuMentor and Citizens Housing Corporation for six months. In that time she has provided logistical and planning support, managing a number of CTN workshops including YouthLearn, Writing Great Grant Proposals, Amazing Success Stories, and Youth Media: Digital Storytelling & Animation. Brandi has also been actively involved in the Community Technology Network Steering Committee as a member and secretary. In this role, she has been responsible for keeping members informed about upcoming events and meetings as well as dissemination of meeting minutes and materials. In addition, Brandi has maintained the CTN Bay Area website at http://www.ctnbayarea.org. She has overseen the redesign of the website with volunteers from OPNet’s web design students. In her work as computer technician and consultant at Citizens Housing Corporation she has set up and maintained two computer labs in low-income housing units.