IT Access and Education Projects at Massachusetts CAAs: Profiles
When MASSCAP launched its Information Technology (IT) Project in 1999, just two of Massachusetts 25 community action agencies (CAAs, or CAPs) had special efforts underway to bridge the digital divide among low-income people whom they serve. In little more than three years, nine more CAAs in the state have begun IT access and education projects in low-income communities they serve.
Following the first two CAAs with these projects (ABCD in Boston and Montachusett Opportunity Council in Fitchburg) have been Tri-City Community Action in Malden; Community Action, Inc. in Haverhill; Worcester Community Action; Greater Lawrence Community Action; Franklin Community Action in Franklin County; Hampshire Community Action Commission in Hampshire County; North Shore Community Action in Salem; Valley Opportunity Council in Chicopee; and Citizens for Citizens in Fall River. And still another, Quincy Community Action, soon will begin a project of its own.
Start-up funding for most of these projects came from grants in 2000 and 2001 to MASSCAP from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development and from the U.S. Department of Education’s Community Technology Centers program. However, each CAA has also contributed resources of its own and has obtained other local support. Most of the projects involve some form of local coalition.
While many of these new projects share common features, each one is different, tailored to the needs of its local community. Summaries of the projects (as of spring 2003) follow.
Tri-City Community Action Program’s (Tri-CAP) Cyber Café @ Malden Square
3 Pleasant Street, in downtown Malden, MA
Hours: M-Th, 9 am–8 pm; F, 8 am–5 pm (10 workstations for drop-in access, and a classroom).
Tri-CAP’s Cyber Café in Malden, a city located in the metropolitan area north of Boston, has been the most successful of the IT Access and Education Projects in the MASSCAP Network in terms of numbers of participants. Opened in May 2001, the Cyber Café now has 2,500 “members” (or unduplicated participants). It gains an average of 80 new members per month, and serves 80-100 people each day.
Services. The primary service is free Internet access and free e-mail accounts that are used for professional and/or employment-related activities, as well as recreational ones such as researching family trees, hobbies, etc. Classes in computer basics and one-on-one tutorials are available for people new to IT. Numerous other services are available through the seven-member Community Technology Access Coalition that conceptualized, launched, and now oversees the Cyber Café. They include: support and services for the elderly; access to and updates on civic matters; a host of human services and early childhood education; opportunities to learn video technology; housing search help; pro bono legal services; fuel assistance; and a wide range of employment services, from skills assessment and on-line classes to job search assistance.
Members of the Coalition include: Tri-CAP, AARP Senior Employment Services, The Career Place, Youth Tech Entrepreneurs, Malden Access Television, Murray Associates, and State Representative Christopher G. Fallon.
The goals of the Cyber Café are to provide:
- IT access to the community, especially residents who do not have ready access or are unskilled in its use
- An informal, welcoming environment to help overcome the fear sometimes associated with new technology
- Various forms of instruction to increase IT competencies
- Pre-employment services to those interested
- An opportunity for social interaction through technology and the Cyber Café environment.
Future plans include: developing sustainable funding; expansion of education, employment, and training opportunities; increasing the number and types of classes offered; continuing outreach to seniors in the community.
North Shore Community Action’s (NSCAP) Salem CyberSpace
98 Lafayette St., Salem, MA
Drop-in Hours: M-Th 3–8 pm, and Fri/Sat 1-5 pm. Classes take place on mornings, evenings, Saturdays (20 workstations).
North Shore Community Action’s (NSCAP) Salem CyberSpace project, located within the Salem Point neighborhood of the coastal city of Salem, Massachusetts, opened in the summer of 2002 after a period of extensive planning and local coalition-building. The Salem Point neighborhood is a residential community made up of approximately 4,000 individuals. An estimated 75 percent are Hispanic (28 percent indicating that they speak little or no English), and 35 percent live below the poverty level.
Services. Salem CyberSpace is open 28 hours per week for drop-in access. It provides six courses, three of which are also offered in Spanish. These include: Introduction to the Computer (available in Spanish); Word Processing (available in Spanish); PC Repair (available in Spanish); Web site Design; Internet Skills; Resume Writing/Searching for Jobs on the Internet. The classes are offered mornings, evenings, and on Saturdays.
Members of the Coalition that established Salem CyberSpace include: NSCAP, the Salem Harbor Community Development Corporation (CDC), Salem Public Schools, North Shore Career Center (part of Southern Essex Workforce Investment Board), Salem Access TV, Salem Point Neighborhood Association, and Grace Church of Salem. Other groups that are participating in the project include the Salem Public Library, Massachusetts Rehabilitation, The Center for Independent Living, Catholic Charities, and Salem Family Investment Center.
The goal of Salem CyberSpace is to bridge the digital divide for the low-income community by providing:
- access to the Internet for content relevant to their lives
- opportunities for job skills development
- access to technology for personal improvement such as learning English
- and through IT, academic enrichment and school-to-career learning for teens
Current and Future Plans. In the last six month period, NSCAP and its partners for Salem CyberSpace have begun collaboration with Salem Public Schools and private industry to provide a multi-media summer program and an after-school program for youth entering 9th grade and 10th grades. These programs will be designed with School-To-Career objectives. The project is also working to launch another new effort in 2003, involving a job skills program called “TechWorks,” which is a collaboration among Salem CyberSpace, NSCAP’s Adult Basic Education Program, and local employers. It seeks to identify and recruit single parents working in low paying unskilled jobs and to provide training to them that will move them onto a career ladder and/or an educational path. Employers would allow paid time off to attend the training. Development of this program began in the past six months.
Web site. Salem CyberSpace also has created its own Web site: www.salemcyberspace.org
Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, Inc.’s (GLCAC) Technology Center
350 Essex Street, downtown Lawrence, MA.
Hours: M-Th, 9 am–5 pm, and is available to different segments of the community during the day. In the mornings it opens for Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. In the afternoon it is open to after-school programs serving youth.
The Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, Inc (GLCAC) Technology Center is located in Lawrence, a small densely populated city of 69,240 in the Merrimack Valley of northeastern Massachusetts, which now is primarily made up of first and second-generation Latino immigrants. Many families are low-income, high-need, high-risk, requiring a broad range of social services. While some recent immigrants quickly become integrated into community, many remain isolated, out of touch with community resources. The city has 8,470 youth between the ages of 12 and 18; 77 percent of them are from families below 185 percent of poverty. These youth were the original target population for GLCAC’s Technology Center, which opened in 2001.
Services. The Technology Center has established linkages with several after-school programs and has used them as the cornerstone for promoting computer access to the youth of Lawrence. By linking with existing after-school programs, such as Upward Bound, Gear-Up, the Higher Education Resource Center (HERC) and the Lawrence Teen Coalition, GLCAC has been able to develop tailored activities with the staff of these programs and create situations where the students learn through repeated structured visits. The Upward Bound Program has been using the GLCAC Technology Center as a after-school homework resource center on a regular basis since February 2002. It has also used for special projects, such as doing online work with the Peterson’s college guide. In November 2002, for example, high school students from the Higher Education Resource Center utilized the Center for a two-day training on preparing college financial aid packages on-line.
In the past year GLCAC expanded its outreach to adults to maximize utilization of the Center when it is not serving teenagers. It opens the Center mornings accommodate local Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English as A Second Language (ESL) classes. By linking with existing ABE/ESL programs, it has exposed more low-income Lawrence citizens to the “Digital Age Skills” necessary for advancement in education and employment.
These local programs include GLCAC’s Head Start program and the Lawrence Adult Learning Center. The purpose of opening the Center for use by these programs is two-fold. First, it is to use the computer as a learning instrument to help participants learn English and pass the GED exam. Second, it is to teach and encourage participants to learn the basic computer skills that will be essential for further educational and employment opportunities. The GLCAC Head Start Program uses the Technology Center to teach fathers of Head Start children basic computer skills. The classes cover basic Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, Internet browser and e-mail skills.
Franklin Community Action Corporation’s (FCAC) Family Focus
Greenfield Family Center, 90 Federal Street, Greenfield, MA
Hours: Tuesday mornings; open for the Even Start program, M and W, 9 am–3 pm (11 workstations in the computer lab, plus children’s playrooms, child care rooms, and a classroom).
FCAC’s Family Focus project was launched in early 2001 to increase computer literacy skills for families with young children living in Franklin County, a predominantly rural area in the western part of Massachusetts. The project has drawn participants from FCAC’s Head Start and childhood education programs.
Services/Activities. Currently, Family Focus has two areas of activity. Volunteers at the Greenfield Family Center assist parents in learning how to use computers. Parents can set up e-mail accounts, search the Web for jobs or child-related information, use the computers to write resumes, or use other software programs. The other area of activity involves Greenfield Even Start, also housed in the facility, which provides learning opportunities for young parents who lack a HS diploma or GED. The project helps these young parents with computer basics, and permits them to use computers three days weekly to do on-line job searches or type papers for their classes to obtain GEDs.
Goal. To increase computer literacy skills for families with young children who lack them and who live in Greenfield and the surrounding area.
Future Plans. These include expanding computer literacy classes for Even Start participants as well as either providing computer training for local community members or having other trainers/agencies use the facilities to provide such training.
Web site: www.fcac.net E-mail: familynetwork@fcac.net
Valley Opportunity Council’s (VOC) Computer Education Center
152 Center Street, Chicopee, MA
Hours: Various groups have regularly scheduled hours for classes at the Center (8 workstations).
VOC’s Computer Education Center opened in the summer of 2002. It is located within a mixed residential and commercial neighborhood of Chicopee, an older industrial city with a large low-income population, situated in western Massachusetts. VOC initially has focused on generating participation in the new Center by clients in several of its other programs. These include participants in VOC’s large WIC Nutrition program, its Adult Education Program, and its senior citizen programs.
Services. VOC’s Adult Education Program uses the Computer Education Center for GED and ESL training, utilizing phonics software, word processing, and Internet resources. During summers, the Center offers participants in this program as well as other community members a series of computer literacy clinics. The topics covered are: basics of the computer, file management, word processing, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint, e-mail, and the using the Internet. VOC’s WIC Nutrition program holds group education sessions of clients in the Center five days a week and mixes using the Internet for obtaining food and nutrition information and determining food stamp eligibility with some computer basics. VOC’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) utilized the Center from January through April by holding free tax preparation sessions that were open to all in the community.
Goal. The Computer Education Center works to enhance services to low-income clients of VOC’s programs through the use of technology, to offer them with basic computer training, and to provide more advanced IT training and exposure to those VOC staff who have gaps in IT skills.
Future Plans. VOC’s Adult Education Program is now planning to develop a long-distance learning option for those studying for the GED. The Computer Education Center will allow those participants opportunities to study and practice taking the exam. Other new projects are also being explored and developed.
Other IT Access & Education Projects at Massachusetts CAAs
Up-to-date summaries of the projects at seven other Massachusetts CAAs that are part of the MASSCAP network will be added to this site as they become available.
The MASSCAP IT Access and Education Network meets four times each year, allowing members to exchange information and present progress reports. These meetings also involve guest speakers on topics of interest to the projects in the network.
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