Community Connects Program

One computer at a time – Community Connects increases computer access where the digital divide is the greatest. In 2008 alone, almost $500,000 has been invested in communities ranging from Terre Haute to Fort Wayne, from Indianapolis to Lafayette, and from Carmel to Westfield. This effort has been supported by numerous City Councils, Town Councils, Boards of Supervisors, County Commissioners, Mayors and Town Managers, including the Indianapolis and Fort Wayne mayors.

Community Connects provides Computer, Internet, and Internet safetytrainingmaterials in three languages. Through Net Literacy’s other core programs such as Computer Connects, student volunteers repurpose computers to support the Community Connects program. As an example, Net Literacy partnered with the Techpoint Foundation, Asset Forwarding, and nFrame helped Save The Youth (www.savetheyouth.org) by providing funds to enable this anti-gang youth center to expand their facility by 4,000 and build both a 24 seat computer lab and a dance studio.

Community Connects also partners with organizations like the Indianapolis Housing Agency and the Fort Wayne Housing Agency, to provide or expand Section 8multiple dwelling unit computer labs for their residents. At the Indianapolis Housing Agency (www.indyhousing.org) after computer labs were constructed, students learned how to teach and mentor other residents and taught them computer and Internet skills. Students learned job skills, life skills, and had an opportunity to engage in community service within their community.

One of the most significant Community Connects initiatives has been the thousand

s of computers repurposed bystudent volunteers and donated to public and charter schools. Where the Community Connects program meets the Computer Connects program, students spend their summers working to repurpose computers so that schools receive thousands of computers. The schools

use the computers in various ways. Many of the schools use a portion of the computers to build computer labs so that students have access to writing labs oractivity specific labs that focus on science or multimedia. Schools also loan computers to students whose family do not have a computer at home,much as they would loan a text book to their students. Dozens of schools have received computers through this program – and Community Connects is making a difference in the schools and in students’ homes.

Community Connects, made stronger through thepartnerships that Net Literacy has with over 200 organizations that support its mission. Net Literacy’s Community Connects program is increasing computer access and computer and Internet literacy and supporting the mission o

f our partners.

Student volunteers have also learned job and life skills while giving back to their community, as they have built dozens of websites for nonprofits not previously having an online presence (www.indynonprofit.org) and have strengthenedcommunities by building community portalsto bring neighborhoods together (www.neareastside.org).

Community Connects programs enable students to use technology to make a difference in their community. During a summer program, students researched community portals throughout the country to determine the way they felt most effective to make an Indianapolis’ Near Eastside website an engaging and relevant community portal. They conducted over 40 video interviews with dozens of state and community leaders, categorized hundreds of pictures, websites, and documents, and built a community portalfor use by the residents in the Indianapolis' Near Eastside. Working with the Near Eastside Community Organization (

NESCO), the Boner Center, IPS, the United Way, the City, members of the Indiana State House and Senate, and over a dozen other nonprofits that are part of the Near Eastside's many new initiatives, the students decided to structure the website into six sections: (a) Our rich past, (b) Near Eastside Today, (c) OurFuture, (d) Resources, (e) Community Challenges, and (f) Get Involved!

Additionally, three "nested" websites were constructed for nonprofits that support the Near Eastside (Community Choice Federal Credit Union, Food Inc., and I-AD) and did not have an online presence. The students decided to build the website in Word rather than Dreamweaver,

so it could be more easily modified by NESCO. Doran Moreland from US Senator Bayh's office visited the students and Representative John Day addressed the students explaining how the legislature enacting legislation that would impact the Near Eastside. Senator Bayh's office will issue thepress release announcing the Net Literacy summer programs to help increase media coverage and promote the concept that empowered students can make a difference and impact complex societal issues. Senator Merritt and Chuck Coleman discussed Near Eastside issues for over an hour, after Senator Merritt's video interview. Visit www.neareastside.org and www.NESCOcommunity.org

Another Community Connects summer program had the objectives of teaching high school students how

to program in Dreamweaver, teaching students about the nonprofits that enrich their community, pairing each student with a nonprofit that did not have an online presence, teachingstudents the business skills necessary tocreate a website for the nonprofits, and then, each student volunteer worked with a nonprofit to build a website. An umbrella website was also constructed, and can be viewed at www.indynonprofit.org.

On the first day, the objectives of theprogram were reviewed. A discussion of the tactics that would be used to achieve the goals followed. After a question and answer session, the students began to learn how to program in HTML, which is the foundation on which Dreamweaver is constructed. On the second day, the students were divided into four teams. The teams chose names and team leaders, except that one of the teams decided not to choose a team leader, but to make decisions by consensus. During the remainder of the first two weeks, the students learned how to program in HTML and then the fundamentals of building a website using Dreamweaver. After the fourth day, the students mastered the basics of HTML and Dreamweaver training commenced. An unexpected result of the HTML training was that approximately half of the students modifed their personal webpages on Black Planet and MySpace by using HTML to obtain effects that weren't possible with the templates provided by these "community websites."

The Dreamweaver instructor made the learning engaging, by challenging the students with individual and team based games (individual and team based timed flash cards, a team based "family feud" game, building a one-page personal website that the students collectively judged, and a team-built website that was a collaborate effort and was also judged by the students). To foster a competitive spirit, the teams winning games earned points (toward winning laptops) and daily snacks that they could eat during the breaks. During the first two weeks, the students also learned about local nonprofits that enrich our community, as 16 of the 20 nonprofits visited the computer lab and discussed the need that their nonprofit met, and how they met this need. Based upon the points that the teams had won, the teams choose their nonprofits, and subsequently decided upon which team member would take "ownership" of building which nonprofit's website. The nonprofits were extremely responsive and most met twice with the students to comment and make suggestions on the websites that the students were building in their behalf. They also sent hundreds of emails and dozens of calls, making comments, providing additional information, and asking questions. These were responded to so that the information could be integrated into the websites during the afternoon classes. An umbrella website was also created - to

serve as a home for the 20 websites built by the students, to thank the Community Development Law Corporation for helping Net Literacy and the hundreds of other nonprofits that CDLC has assisted over the years, and to thank the businesses, nonprofits, and grantors that helped make the summer program possible. As part of the summer program, IUPUI provided a service learning "pizza and coke" lunch for the nonprofits, to explain a program where IUPUI students help nonprofits and earn course credits towards their degree. The IUPUI students gain "real world experience," an opportunity to give back to their community, and the nonprofits gain technical and other support at no cost. During the last week, the students received a presentation from Purdue University focusingon how to apply tocolleges and how to finance their tuition - with an emphasis on how to apply for merit and need-based scholarships. During the last day of the program, the websites were judged by the CEO ofQuest Information Services, a representative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Academic Dean for Technology from Arlington High School. The Principal of Arlington High School also attended the last day's judging, and addressed the students. Based upon the students' scoring of team

websites, the games, the judges performance of the websites, and our evaluation of the students' leadership, team work, and focus during the summer program 10 laptops were awarded to the top students.

After the program concluded, the nonprofits were contacted to help them procure a domain name and choose a hosting service. Some of the nonprofits had other needs that were within Net Literacy's scope (such as needing computers to expand a computer lab for their members), and we expanded our relationship to meet these needs.

The nonprofits wrote "thank you" letters to the students and Net Literacy wrote testimonial letters to the students praising them for their community service work this summer. The letters were mailed to their homes so that the students can share them with their parents. CDLC also created certificates of accomplishment for the students.