Community Technology Centers (CTCs) are increasingly emerging around the country to provide low-income, minority, and other disenfranchised individuals free or low-cost public access to technology tools and services, including trainings that may enhance employment opportunities. Federally funded research has demonstrated CTCs to be an effective community-based model, and Congress appropriated $32.5 million in FY 2000 to support CTCs. The Clinton Administration has proposed increasing the budget for CTCs in FY 2001 to $100 million. However, tight caps on discretionary spending may put CTC funding in jeopardy. A coalition of organizations, including Alliance for Community Media, the Alliance for Technology Access, American Library Association, the Association for Community Networking, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Libraries for the Future, National Education Association, National Urban League, OMB Watch, and SeniorNet have come together to support CTCs, and encourage Congress to fund the program at $100 million in FY 2001. Congress Should Appropriate $100 Million in FY 2001 Summary What Are Community Technology Centers? Community Technology Centers are a vital community-based resource providing a broad range of services in locations that are convenient to underserved and disenfranchised individuals. Staff and volunteers provide a supportive atmosphere in which individuals can develop their potential, both at their own pace and within a structured framework that enhances their empowerment. Hours are flexible, and community involvement are integral to individual center program development. CTCs provide educational, employment, and recreational services such as: instruction in basic productivity software (e.g., word processing, database, and spreadsheet applications); access to telecommunications, including the Internet and the World Wide Web; literacy training; homework help; computer assembly and repair; and advanced computer skills such as desktop publishing, multimedia, web page design, and network administration; all frequently undertaken through project-based experiments and activities. CTCs are housed in locally based nonprofits, including churches and other faith-based community groups, youth organizations such as YMCA, YWCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, and 4-Hs, settlement houses, low-income housing developments, social service and community action agencies, museums, community cable access centers, schools, and libraries. They play an important role in developing collaborations between nonprofit and civic organizations, local governments, schools, and businesses, and have consistently delivered results in serving the homeless, chronically unemployed, and teens, as documented by the National Science Foundation-supported and independent studies. Key Reasons to Support CTCs Technology skills are the currency of the information economy and 21st century civil society. By the year 2000, the Department of Labor has estimated that 60 percent of all new jobs are expected to require computer skills. Millions of Americans are eager to participate in the new, technology-based economy, society, and polity. But they need access to computers, along with training and support, to acquire the skills that these jobs and other roles require. Community Technology Centers provide computer access and training to America’s most disenfranchised citizens: the poor, minorities, recent immigrants, the young and the elderly. Today hundreds of small programs are located in community centers, housing projects, libraries, after-school programs, youth development organizations, and other community-based institutions. These programs are reaching Americans who are hard to serve, because of poverty, isolation, and lack of prior success in the educational system and the workforce. But funding for these programs is fragmented, and most are struggling to survive. Expanded Federal support will provide a shot in the arm to these CTCs, and can boost their levels of quality, sustainability, and professionalism. Today, access to computers and information depends on income, education, geography, and race/ ethnicity. Households earning incomes more than $75,000 are more than 20 times more likely to have home Internet access than those at the lowest income levels. Those making less than $20,000 who do access the Internet outside the home are twice as likely to get access through community technology centers. People without home computers are almost 1.5 times as likely than home computer owners to obtain access to computers and the Internet from community technology centers. Currently 62% of those with college degrees now use the Internet, compared to only 6.6% of those with an elementary school education or less. At home, those with a college degree or higher are more than eight times as likely to own a computer and almost sixteen times more likely to have home Internet access than the least educated. At every income level, households in rural areas are significantly less likely, sometimes half as likely, to have home Internet access than those in urban and central city areas. Blacks and Hispanic households are 2/5 as likely to have home Internet access as White households. For more information, see: Falling through the Net III: Defining the Digital Divide,” July 1998; National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce; http:// www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fttn99/contents.html Community technology programs are effective for individuals and in bridging the digital divide. In a survey of more than 800 low-income users of existing Community Technology Centers, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, nearly 90 percent reported that the center had made a difference in their lives -- improvements in their confidence, their outlook on life, and their future prospects; work-related benefits such as improved job skills, computer skills, and educational gains; improved perceptions of technology; social and community benefits; and appreciation for access to hardware, software and support. For more information, see: Impact of CTCNet Affiliates: Findings from a National Survey of Users of Community Technology Centers, Chow et al, July 1998, Education Development Center, Newton, MA, http:// www.ctcnet.org/impact98.htm; Losing Ground Bit by Bit: Low-Income Communities in the Information Age, Susan Goslee et al, Benton Foundation, June 1998, http://www.benton.org/Library/Low-Income/ Community Technology Centers: Impact on Individual Participants and Their Communities, Mark et al, April 1997, EDC, Newton, MA, http://www.ctcnet.org/eval.html Federal support will make it possible for many more Americans to enter the new economy and participate more fully in society and public life through community technology centers. The U.S. Department of Education issued a competitive Request for Proposals in April 1999 and received over 700 applications for grants, with awards to be decided by late August, 1999. Funding for individual projects will range from $75,000 to $300,000, with an estimated award size of $180,000. Special emphasis is placed on Empowerment Zones, Enterprise Communities, and other low-income and distressed areas. What is the current status of federal funding? The Administration has requested $100 million in funding for Community Technology Centers in FY 2001, to be administered through the Adult and Vocational Education Office of the US Department of Education. The $32.5 million Congressional appropriation made for FY 2000 provides a major step in supporting the expansion of existing centers and the initial start-up costs for communities that have no such centers. The program received $10 million in appropriations for its first year of operations in FY 1999. Increased funding will allow for new grants to be awarded, as well as the continuation of the FY1999 and FY 2000 round of projects, supporting up to 1000 new community technology access points across America. Under which authority does the Community Technology Center program operate? The Community Technology Center program operates under the legislative authority of TITLE III of the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 (SEC. 3122) which calls on the Secretary to provide Federal leadership in promoting the use of technology in education, including: the development of model programs that demonstrate the educational effectiveness of technology in urban and rural areas and economically distressed communities and the development, demonstration, and evaluation of applications of existing technology in training and lifelong learning. The program is being administered by the Department’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education. On May 19, 1999 President Clinton and Secretary Riley unveiled the Educational Excellence for All Children Act of 1999 with new provisions in Title III for community technology centers. Funding CTCs Is The Right Thing To Do