MASSCAP’s IT Project: Highlights from 2002
The year 2002 marked continued progress in the work of the MASSCAP Information Technology (IT) Project, begun in 1999. Highlights included a major conference, the opening of more IT Access and Education Projects at Massachusetts community action agencies (CAAs), and a study of the issues that confront CAAs in collecting, compiling, and reporting data from their wide array of programs and program data systems.
The “Digital Age” Conference
In April, MASSCAP held a major conference, co-sponsored by the Asset Development Institute of the Heller School at Brandeis University. The event, entitled “The Digital Age: The New Challenges for CAAs, Community-Based Organizations and Low-Income People,” took place on the Brandeis campus in Waltham, Massachusetts, and drew 250 people from CAAs and other groups from within Massachusetts and New England, as well as several other states.
The conference focused on two major aspects of the Digital Age. One is the challenges that a technology-driven “New Economy” presents for low-income people attempting to gain access to IT and acquire the skills to become economically self-sufficient. The other is the problems and possibilities that the IT revolution and its impacts poses for community-based organizations, such as CAAs.
Participants at the conference heard from two distinguished keynote speakers: Robert Reich, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor and current Brandeis professor; and Mel King, longtime civil rights and community activist who in recent years has worked to widen access to technology for low-income people in Boston. They addressed the changing economy, the role of IT, and the issues at stake for low-income people.
Several other panels followed up on these themes. One, including an economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, a representative of Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC, which has produced important recent studies on the new economy), and the Majority Leader of the Connecticut House of Representatives, examined current trends and issues in an IT-driven economy. Another panel featuring workforce development experts focused on workforce investment initiatives and job requirements in the New Economy. Another panel covered public policy related to closing the digital divide, and it included a speaker from the Benton Foundation.
The conference also offered a wide range of workshops, divided along several tracks, that were led by MASSCAP members, speakers from other participating organizations, and other experts. (See “Digital Age” conference program listing all the workshops and speakers.)
“The Digital Age” also served as a regional training event for the America Connects Consortium, and one of the conference’s tracks featured a series of workshops focused on efforts to expand access to IT, coupled with lively discussions about future directions. Still another track included workshops on IT planning, development, and integration within community-based organizations.
The event offered participants from Massachusetts CAAs, CAAs from other states, and other groups a chance to learn about and to discuss current issues related to the conference’s themes. It also resulted in ideas for future efforts in a number of areas, and opened doors to new collaborations among CAAs, and between CAAs and other groups. Support from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development and from The Boston Foundation helped to make the conference possible.
IT Access and Education Projects at Massachusetts CAAs: Continuing Expansion
In 1999, when the MASSCAP IT Project began, just one Massachusetts CAA (ABCD in Boston) had a specific project to widen access to IT for low-income people. Another, Montachusett Opportunity Council (MOC) in Fitchburg, had one on the drawing board that got under way early the next year.
In 2000, MASSCAP began an effort to encourage other CAAs in the state to launch such projects, realizing that many low-income people were on the wrong side of the Digital Divide and that their lack of access to IT was a significant impediment to their learning IT skills necessary to survive in the emerging New Economy. MASSCAP sought and obtained grant monies to seed initiatives by the state’s CAAs (which together reach over 300,000 low-income people through other programs) to address the issue.
Since then, nine more Massachusetts CAAs have begun IT Access and Education projects, most with the help of grants obtained by MASSCAP along with their own funds as well as the support of other local partnering groups. In 2002, several new projects opened: Salem Cyberspace, based in Salem and established by North Shore Community Action and a broad coalition of local groups; a project by Hampshire Community Action Commission in a rural town in the hills of western Massachusetts developed in conjunction with a program at UMASS/Amherst; a project by Valley Opportunity Council in the city of Chicopee; and a project for senior citizens established by Citizens for Citizens in Fall River.
Other IT Access and Education Projects at Massachusetts CAAs completed their first full year of operation. These included the Cyber Café at Malden Square, organized by Tri-CAP, the CAA in Malden, together with local partners, which had 2,000 participants sign up as members in its first year. Another was The Teen Tech Center, an educational project designed for inner city youth in Lawrence, which involves a range of community, youth, and education groups led by Greater Lawrence Community Action Council. In the western part of the state, Franklin Community Action Corporation’s project also continued.
And two IT Access and Education projects that began in 2000—at MOC in Fitchburg and at Worcester Community Action--obtained separate federal grants to expand their work. One of these involved adding new IT access sites, and the other integrating IT into adult basic education.
The continued development of several existing IT Access and Education Projects at Massachusetts CAAs as well as the start-ups of some of the new ones were made possible through grants to MASSCAP from the U.S. Department of Education Community Technology Centers program and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. Funds contributed or raised at the local level by the CAAs involved and their community partners also have been critical to these efforts.
More on all of these projects, including updates on recent developments and links to those with Web sites, will appear soon on the MASSCAP Web site.
Other Milestones of 2002
The IT Mentors’ Program. MASSCAP, working with The Learning Community Group, designed and piloted a statewide training program for “IT mentors at CAAs,” or CAA staff with more advanced IT skills who can assist their less-skilled colleagues within the workplace facing computer-related problems. This training program aims to improve overall staff IT skills, and also to reduce the routine troubleshooting demands on the limited number of IT/MIS staff at these agencies, who typically are burdened with many other tasks. In 2003, the trainings will be repeated for other potential IT mentors at CAAs.
Study of Data Collection and Reporting Systems at Massachusetts CAAs. Also in 2002, MASSCAP’s IT Project took an in-depth look at the issues of client data collection and reporting at the state’s CAAs. Community action agencies are made up of numerous programs, such as Head Start, child care, fuel assistance, housing, education and job skills training, health services, food and nutrition services, and more. Each of these programs typically is funded by at least one federal, state, or private source, which has its own client data collection requirements and often, its own software for reporting. CAAs are required under the federal Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) to pull together client data on an agency-wide basis from all these data collection systems within their programs. However, this can be a complex task, due to program differences in the type of data collected and in program software. The study involved site visits to 10 CAAs to examine their data systems and the obstacles they face, and to identify the specific issues involved. MASSCAP has presented its findings to the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the state’s CSBG grantee. A new DHCD-MASSCAP task force is now focusing on the key issues.
|
