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Date: Fri, 24 Jun 94 16:02:42 CDT
From: [e-mail] (Dave Hurst)
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Subject: National Youth Center Electronic Network Project Narrative
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National Youth Center Electronic Network Project Narrative

Introduction:

The National Youth Center Electronic Network Project is a demonstration
designed to help the leaders, staffs, and clients of community youth
centers serving low-income neighborhoods improve the lives and
opportunities of children and community members through the power of
information technology and worldwide electronic communications. The project
will electronically link youth centers across the country enabling these
agencies to improve the development and delivery of youth services and
programs. In addition, use of electronic networks will introduce the
concept of electronic communications into low-income neighborhoods in
meaningful and useful ways, treating the youth center as an information
superhighway point-of-entry.

Establishing internal electronic networks will improve service delivery of
youth programs, education and training within local youth centers.
Establishing national and international electronic links to other youth
centers will allow youth in low-income neighborhoods to interact with
others outside of their neighborhoods to improve their educational and
social development. In addition, the project will establish repositories of
information through which youth center staff and youth from low-income
communities can share experiences and identify successful programs and
services. This access can expand staff members perspective on the problems
they and the members of their communities face daily.


Background:

The ultimate measure of the success of the National Information
Infrastructure (NII) will be the degree to which it fosters improved
communication among all the citizens of the United States, particularly
disadvantaged youth, in meaningful ways to enhance educational, cultural,
political, and economic opportunities.

The national focus on the information superhighway has neglected the
community to which the electronic superhighways could deliver the most
benefit -- low-income, disadvantaged youth.  Current youth-oriented
computer access models are struggling to address the fundamental issues of
equitable access, training, integrated curricula, and networking. Youth
from low-income communities are faced with even greater obstacles to
computer access -- including low literacy levels, a poverty of general
resources like libraries and social contacts, and very limited exposure to
computers and networking technology.  Without training for and access to
national resources like the NII, these youth will become further alienated
from society and less able to participate in the United States economy.

Youth centers are where our toughest problems -- violent crime, lack of
education, unemployment -- will be met head-on by the grass-roots efforts
of people with the greatest personal stake in their resolution. Community
youth centers historically draw youth from the streets and neighborhoods
into using their resources. They can build on this success to change the
existing electronic communications model from "build it and they will come"
to "show them and they will learn."


A Model for Collaborative Electronic Communications Projects:

The sites chosen to be pilots for this Project are New Haven, Connecticut,
and East Palo Alto, California, two cities which share a myriad of problems
and a wealth of opportunities. Despite resources that include Yale
University and nationally recognized theaters and research hospitals, New
Haven suffers from rampant unemployment, a high school dropout rate
hovering near fifty percent, significant drug-related gang activity, and
its status as one of the country's poorest cities. East Palo Alto shares
similar problems. For example, 87 percent of its elementary school children
qualify for free or reduced school meals and 80 percent of their families
receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). In 1992, the city's
homicide rate surpassed those at New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.  Like
New Haven, East Palo Alto also has significant resources available because
of its proximity to Stanford University and Silicon Valley and a wealth of
local nonprofit organizations dedicated to serving its predominately poor
population.

Each city's needs and potential have been acknowledged nationally. Both
East Palo Alto and New Haven are eligible for Community Empowerment Zone
status and are making applications for this designation and for support
from the Americorps Division of the Corporation on National and Community
Service. New Haven was a successful bidder for a HUD Urban Resource
Development grant.  East Palo Alto is part of a county-wide program
receiving support from the same HUD program.

The project will establish several models for the application of community-
based electronic networks and services. Leadership, Education, and
Athletics in Partnership (LEAP), a proven youth services delivery agency
operating multiple youth centers in the New Haven, Connecticut area, will
serve as the lead project agency. It will provide a model of the impact of
electronic communications on service delivery, education, and training in a
community service delivery agency with little previous exposure to
electronic networks and applications.  Plugged In, a proven youth and
family computer learning organization providing services at multiple youth
centers in the East Palo Alto, California area, will serve as a facilitator
of computer learning for the youth. The ability of Plugged In to provide
its youth with computer and electronic communications training via a
national youth center network will serve as a model for youth center
outreach in an electronic context.

The Morino Institute and its Community Technology Assistance Center will
facilitate the establishment and operation of the national youth center
electronic network and maintenance of a national youth center information
repository. This effort will serve as a model for electronic network
providers to become active in providing services to disadvantaged and low-
income communities. The KRH Group will serve as Project Facilitator.


Objectives:

Electronic communications must be readily accessible to low-income
communities and should make use of existing electronic communications
networks. Therefore, the project seeks to:

1. Improve how community institutions and their staffs communicate, both
internally and externally, by providing a meaningful and usable vehicle for
exchange of techniques, successes and experiences;

2. Develop technology leadership and expertise within and through the youth
centers;

3. Engage the youth these centers serve in the use of electronic
communications to help them reach out, to learn and develop, at the same
time that they provide the ongoing support critical to the effort;

4. Encourage communications software vendors to develop products to meet
the needs of these communities;

5. Provide a compelling model of success that will attract major sponsors
and innovators.


Process:

The project will address these objectives by networking selected community
youth centers across the country and by developing local expertise to
facilitate the use of electronic communication technology.  This pilot
effort will take the following steps:

1. Train youth center staff in the use of electronic communications and
emerging computer technologies.

2. Develop and implement curricula focused on electronic communications and
emerging computer technologies for use in youth centers serving low-income
communities.


These curricula will address:

    a. electronic literacy, including technical skills;

    b. educational skills, including reading, writing, mathematics,
       and research;

    c. social skills, including group dynamics, self-esteem
       development, and expansion of the children's known world.

3. Build a repository of information about youth center programs,
curriculum models, drug abuse programs, counseling, intervention programs
and training courses, to be accessed and supported by youth center staff,
clients, and the community at large.

4. Establish a national network linking youth centers across the country to
facilitate both access to the repository and communication among youth
center staffs and clients.

5.  Build community electronic leadership skills through the training and
employment of high-school-aged low-income youth in youth centers.

6. Sponsor an annual youth center networking conference at which youth
center staffs and clients will share programs, ideas, and experiences
regarding the application of networking technology in community youth
centers.

The project will build on existing youth center programs across the country
and on existing electronic networks. It is designed to increase
educational, social and technical skills among low-income youth and to make
fundamental changes in the way that youth center staff, youth and families,
and youth center sponsors communicate among themselves and with youth
centers throughout the country. This project will increase electronic
literacy and research skills among populations most at risk of being left
out of the information society, will facilitate the delivery of services to
these populations, and will foster and support the sharing of information
about youth programs across multiple geographic and social communities.


Service Delivery Model:

LEAP operates educational and social development programming for 7 to 14
year-old children in seven sites in Connecticut -- five in New Haven and
one each in Hartford and New London -- all serving low-income communities.
LEAP's educational model targets child literacy, and the organization is
nationally recognized for its development of educational curricula focused
on low-income black and Latino youth. Through donations of building space
from Yale University and computer hardware from foundations, corporations,
and individuals, LEAP opened a computer learning center on July 1, 1994.
This center utilizes computer technology to develop academic skills and
computer proficiency for children. Electronic communication technology is
central to the development of both of these objectives.

The LEAP Computer Learning Center will serve as the model of a community
youth center utilizing electronic communications technology. It will
provide the following services in this project:

1. Test networking models developed by the other partners;

2. Develop curricula for use of the network with 7 through 14-year old
children, focusing specifically on

    (i) electronic communications to foster reading skills,

    (ii) electronic communications to foster social skills;

3. Train and employ local public high school students from low-income
neighborhoods to develop teaching and mentoring relationships with younger
children relating to electronic communications technology;

4. Provide its expertise in building community leadership skills generally.


Facilitation Model:

Plugged In designs and operates computer literacy projects for local
community-based youth service providers in East Palo Alto. Serving over 300
children in its own facility and in neighborhood-based community youth
centers, Plugged In staff runs collaborative learning projects that use new
technologies, providing training and technical support for staff at Boys
and Girls Club facilities in the area. Already implementing network based
projects with many of its children, Plugged In is uniquely positioned to
expand these efforts and serve as the model for introducing electronic
communications technology to existing community youth centers.

Plugged In will:

1. develop curricula that teach electronic literacy skills;

2. provide training and support for youth center staff and young community
leaders;

3. develop collaborative projects which allow for joint learning
experiences between students in the different youth centers.


Provider Model:

The Morino Institute will serve as the model for national network service
providers to offer technical assistance and support to community youth
centers. Standard 'worldware' software (word processing, electronic mail,
educational programs) will be employed to facilitate youth center
operations, to introduce electronic computer communications into the youth
centers, and to deliver services to the communities. The Institute will
link the centers electronically via the Internet to share the resources,
ideas, successes, and techniques that have been collected in an information
repository. Through these links, center staffs and youth from low-income
neighborhoods can draw information about programs and activities that will
be of direct interest and application. The Institute will manage the
network and provide assistance in its operation and expansion.

The Morino Institute will:

1. Build the national youth center electronic network;

2. Build the repository of information on youth centers and related
programs;

3. Establish and provide technical support for the electronic network;

4. Host an annual youth center networking conference at which youth center
staffs, clients, and sponsors can share programs, ideas, and experiences.


Knowledge Base Model:

Through the efforts of the project partners and additional advisors,
significant expertise and knowledge will be collected. This knowledge will
include operations methodologies and implementation strategies developed by
Plugged In; curricula and service delivery materials created by LEAP; and
funding, technical assistance, and collaborative efforts identified by the
Morino Institute. This information will form the foundation for a
repository of community youth center knowledge.

Information for the repository will be generated from a sweep of the
existing information about youth center programs, education and training
courses, services, and use of computer technology and applications. The
repository information will be indexed and formatted to be easily
accessible by youth centers and the general public in standard text as well
as electronic formats. The sweep will be coordinated and facilitated by the
Morino Institute. Youth center staffs and clients will provide significant
support in the collection, indexing, and maintenance of the repository
information. The Morino Institute will physically manage the repository and
provide electronic access to it.


Services:

The primary services resulting from the project are a national youth center
electronic network and a national youth center information repository.  The
network will insure that the communications links established among the
youth centers during the project will endure beyond the end of the project
and that a vehicle will be in place to increase the number of youth centers
that can be linked in the future. The information repository will be
supplemented with additional knowledge immediately relevant to clients and
staffs of community youth centers, including drug abuse prevention
programs, counseling and intervention programs, and training courses.


Systems:

The project will employ several systems in meeting the objectives of the
study. First, the project will use the existing service and program
delivery systems of the selected youth centers. These systems will be
enhanced, as needed, through deployment of electronic networking and
communications applications. Second, the Project will use existing national
and international electronic communications systems such as the Internet
and commercial electronic networks to link youth centers across the United
States. Third, the Project will use the electronic networking services of
the Morino Institute to operate and manage the youth center electronic
network and the youth center information repository.

The Internet and commercial electronic networks are proven vehicles for
linking distributed sites electronically for communications and information
sharing. The Morino Institute has the capabilities and skills to manage and
operate the proposed youth center network. Awareness and deployment of
electronic networking within the youth centers will vary; however,
regardless of the experience of the youth centers in the use of networking
technology and applications, the use of electronic networking as proposed
will be guided and supported by more experienced youth centers as well as
the institute.


Financial Information:

The total budget of the Project is $431,264. LEAP will contribute $82,460
of in-kind equipment and personnel support. Plugged In will contribute
$19,500 of in-kind personnel support. The Morino Institute will contribute
$103,000 direct cash and in-kind support to the Project. The NTIA request
is for $203,554, or 47% of the total Project budget.


Summary:

This project defines the public information network model for the community
youth center in terms which match the needs of a large segment of the
American public. The demonstration project also ensures that research in
community networking is problem-driven, dealing with real problems
affecting real populations and providing real outcomes. Those who are most
directly affected by the outcomes will have daily control over the design
and operation of the electronic networks.

The model that emerges from this project addresses networking processes as
much as networking architecture. It includes community empowerment as much
as community information. It seeks community outcomes as much as community
presence. If this pilot demonstration effort is successful, additional
community youth centers in additional communities across the United States
will be added to the model to demonstrate scalability of infrastructure and
impacts.


"One reads about the global community, but the Internet enables (students)
to walk the walk, not just talk the talk."

Anonymous -- The Internet in K-12 Education

Carnegie Mellon University

For even more information, contact director Bart Decrim at
[e-mail]