Transmission Project

Helping teens and young adults in rural Western Massachusetts USA find and follow their own paths to prosperity through entrepreneurship, job readiness and financial education since 1998.

Served over 1,000 young people since inception in Massachusetts, Iowa, Alaska and Canada. Findings from over 500 BizVenture! pre- and post-program evaluations completed to date show that:

100% of our students more than doubled their overall business knowledge
85% identified a special talent they can use to earn a living
91% feel they know enough to start their own business and make a profit
95% plan to go on for more education after high-school
15% are operating a business
60% are holding a job
90% remained in or completed high school
55% performed voluntary community service

Westside Youth Technical Entrepreneur Center (WYTEC) is a non profit 501(c)(3) organization, located in Chicago’s West Garfield Park community since 1999 and was incorporated in 2001. WYTEC serves as a bridge from the business sector to the youth in the community to let them know that they have choices other than drugs, gangs, and violence by providing quality after school programs. Our mission is to teach entrepreneurship, technology, and life skills that will further community and economic progress within our community and abroad.

WYTEC has partnered with the Boston, MA Museum of Science to create an Intel Computer Clubhouse in 2005 and we are one of over 100 Intel Computer Clubhouses worldwide. We are also a member of the Community Technology Centers Network (CTC Net) which provides computer access and other digital media tools to community residents via open access and computer training classes.

Venice Arts’ mission is to ignite youths’ imagination, mentor their creativity, and expand their sense of possibility through high quality, accessible media–based arts education programs. Venice Arts also serves as a catalyst for people of all ages, living in low–income or underrepresented communities, to create and share personal and community stories through photography, film, and multi–media.

UTEC’s mission is to be a “by teens, for teens” safe-haven for youth development and grassroots organizing. UTEC provides a safe and multicultural place of belonging emphasizing the holistic development of Lowell’s young people, ages 13-23, particularly those most often overlooked and labeled as “at-risk.” UTEC reaches out to these young people through intensive street outreach, builds upon their unique strengths within a youth development framework, and creates opportunities to best support them in becoming agents of social change and organizers in the community.

TINCAN provides education and support for social, economic and community development for the Inland Northwest region through the use of information technology and interactive media. We create online content of value to the local community;
develop collaborative training and education utilizing online resources; and
collaborate with local partners to provide access to digital technologies for those who might otherwise not be able to benefit from online information

The Children’s Partnership (TCP) is a national, nonprofit child advocacy organization working to ensure that all children – especially those at risk of being left behind – have the resources and the opportunities they need to grow up healthy and to lead productive lives.

We focus particular attention on the goals of securing health coverage for uninsured children and ensuring that the opportunities of digital technology benefit all children and families. With input from our advisors, we advance our goals by combining national research with community-based activities. We then develop policy and advocacy agendas to expand these demonstrated solutions to underserved communities around the country.

In this way, TCP serves as a “research and development arm” for the children’s movement and expands the reach of child advocacy to new issues and new audiences.

Street-Level Youth Media educates Chicago’s urban youth in media arts and emerging technologies for use in self-expression, communication, and social change. Street-Level’s programs build critical thinking skills for young people who have been historically neglected by public policy makers and mass media. Using video and audio production, computer art and the Internet, Street-Level’s youth address community issues, access advanced communication technology and gain inclusion in our information-based society.

Somerville Community Access Television is a leading public access media center that enables a vibrant and diverse community to express its creativity, explain its ideas, share its cultures, and foster the individual’s right to freedom of speech. SCAT supports and creates community-driven media through education, production resources, and distribution on cable television and the Web.

ScienceQuest supports community based organizations and community technology centers in their implementation of after school science inquiry projects for young adolescents (aged 10 to 14). In the first year of ScienceQuest, over 100 kids from ten different community organizations formulated their own queries, developed research plans, investigated science questions, and designed their own web sites to share the results of their investigations.

ScienceQuest has outlined the following goals for participating youth: to promote excitement about science, to provide opportunities to increase content knowledge, to foster technological skills that will be applicable for school and work, and to offer positive experiences working with a peer team in a safe, after school environment.

To set up a ScienceQuest team, community based organizations need guidelines and resource materials; volunteer coaches need training for working with youth and technology; and youth and parents need to understand the value of the program. ScienceQuest staff work with center coordinators to establish the basic structures needed for setting up ScienceQuest teams. ScienceQuest staff organize a full-day, in-person training to present the curriculum adapted specifically for after school environments. Centers can access downloadable templates, online resources, and training materials, and the help desk offers ongoing technical assistance.