On Technology's Cutting Edge
by A. Victoria Hunter
You’ve heard the naysayers: Inner-city kids are lost because their schools can’t provide computers and their parents can’t afford to buy them.
But have you heard Bruce Blaisdell, executive director of Cooper Community Center in Roxbury, Mass.? Mr. Blaisdell and others at the center are scrambling the naysayers’ message. Recognizing the community’s need for computer access, the center, which is supported by United Methodist Women’s undesignated giving, is providing hands-on computer training.
When Mr. Blaisdell came on board at the community center about a year and a half ago, there was one computer. Now the center’s 32 full-time and 30 part-time employees, most of whom live in the service area, work on 20-plus computers. Another 20 computers in six classrooms are available to children in preschool and after-school programs.
Access to computers and other technology, including access to electronic media, can be key to low-income individuals and communities getting ahead. While wealthy school districts can purchase state-of-the-art equipment, poor districts, which include many urban school districts, cannot, leaving students in the poorer districts at an increasing disadvantage in college admissions and job placement.
The gap in technology literacy between the two groups of students is compounded by the fact that many of the students in the wealthier districts have computers in their homes, while the poorer students do not.
Programs like the one at Cooper Community Center are working to correct the imbalance. Located in a low-income neighborhood, 80 percent of the families served by the center earn $22,000 or less a year. Having the computers available at the center gives children, youth and adults in the community access to technology important to success in school and in finding and advancing in jobs.
"It’s pretty clear the computer has become an everyday tool," Mr. Blaisdell said. "It’s important for these children. They have less access to technology."
The computer program began with everybody connected with the community center committed to working to upgrade technology, Mr. Blaisdell said.
"We hired reasonably-priced computer consultants and were able to get some reconditioned computers. Other computers were donated by the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries and United Way.
"Two year-olds have access as well as 6-12 year-olds," he said. "We teach kids educational games, letters and numbers. We use the computers as tools for literacy. We make them available to families who learn in the training lab."
Cooperating for community
Mr. Blaisdell and key people at two other neighborhood institutions -- Mandela Apartments and the Church of St. Augustine and St. Martin, a _____________ church -- formed the Tri-Site Collaborative to compete for Boston’s Timothy Smith Fund, a grant to improve community. Their motivation was to provide computer access for their area.
Their joint proposal as Tri-Site Collaborative was approved making them one of 15 inner-city community sites with computer centers to be upgraded every two to three years for 20 years.
Cooper Community Center will get 12 work stations; the Church of St. Augustine and St. Martin, six; and the Mandela Apartments, 20.
"This represents tremendous potential," Mr. Blaisdell said. "We can offer computer training to staff, to children in our after-school program, and to adults in the community, including seniors."
He sees using the computers to prepare residents for better jobs, to enhance their academic skills, and to create flyers to encourage them to vote.
Tri-Site Collaborative met the challenge of finding the staff to do the training, Mr. Blaisdell said. Cooper Community Center, Mandela Apartments, and Church of St. Augustine and St. Martin are offering training at different times so their graduates can train the next round of students.
Radio means empowerment
Radio has been around so long, we hardly think of it as technology. But Sharon Maeda, associate general secretary for mission communications for the General Board of Global Ministries in New York City, said radio can be essential for development of community.
"True empowerment of people at both grassroots and national
levels depend upon a consistent, accessible means of communication," Ms. Maeda said. She cited BBC World News and the Voice of America as examples of the power of radio in shaping public opinion in the former Soviet Union.
"Our goal is to support our mission partners in using communications technology for the empowerment of people," Ms. Maeda said. "Radio is a cost-effective media that enables people to maintain their own language and culture and lift up their faith in ways that reach out to the whole community."
Radio can build community even in a city as large and diverse as New York City, said Bernard White, acting program director and co-host of WBAI radio in New York City.
"Just give out the phone number and you can get an indication of what’s brewing," he said. "People will ask to talk about it."
WBAI radio has been a strident voice on such subjects as education, police brutality, workers’ rights and the prison industrial complex. It often questions New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani’s statements and policies. A number of ethnic groups are represented in its programming.
WBAI is part of the Pacifica string of five radio stations. The station, which broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week without commercials, has been around for 40 years. It often challenges the status quo. For example, while much of the city celebrated Columbus Day, WBAI celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day.
Community radio isn’t necessarily positive, Mr. White said.
"You can have a community of Nazis or the right wing," he said. "To avoid this, the secret is to be diverse in programming."
Not accepting advertising also helps keep stations focused on the welfare of the community served, he said.
"We can speak the truth without fear of someone withdrawing ads," Mr. White said. "Because WBAI is a community station, it has an obligation to talk to those issues that affect our listeners’ lives. Of course a listener might stop or cancel their check. We’ve had that happen. "
Because most WBAI listeners are poor, it can be difficult for some to realize the need to subscribe to keep the station on the air, Mr. White said. But he is optimistic:
"We’ll go on for quite awhile as long as we remain relevant."
A. Victoria Hunter is senior writer for Response.