Nonprofit Technology Resources
1508 Brandywine Street - 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19130
215-564-6686 (fax) 215-564-6642
http://www.libertynet.org/ntr/

Learning Through Technology, a project of Nonprofit Technology Resources, addresses the need for computers in the homes of low-income families. Through this report period 1,053 people participated in trainings and obtained computers.

Founded in 1974, Nonprofit Technology Resources has been providing computer services since 1983 to small nonprofit agencies and the people they serve.

The first Learning Through Technology class was delivered in January of 1999. This report covers the period from inception (January 1, 1999) through NTR's Fiscal Year 2000 (ending July 31, 2000).

Program Goals and Vision
The Learning Through Technology program is delivered through community groups and a select list of partner agencies. Any group of between 10 to 20 people can take advantage of this program. This method of program delivery continues NTR's mission of empowering small organizations and permits companies or concerned individuals to become project sponsors and coordinate a group.

In many cases the sponsoring organizations provide additional instruction or act as a "learning network" to help their clients or members increase their computer skills. For this reason, "learning through technology" does not stop at the end of the class. By helping bridge the "digital divide," participants gain opportunities for home learning that can increase school and work-related skills.

In 1999, operating solely with two or three VISTA volunteers as staff, NTR planned to serve 200 people with this program. In Fiscal Year 2000, NTR planned to serve 800. These goals were surpassed in both years. (see "Population Served" below)

To accomplish the goals, Learning Through Technology provides participants introductory computer training as well as working, recycled computers to take home at the conclusion of classes. Objectives towards accomplishment of the programís goals include:

1. solicitation of used computers from governments, firms, and individuals

2. hardware pickup, warehousing and refurbishing of the computers

3. environmentally aware disposal of the unusable components

4. friendly registration methods that work and keep groups on track

5. a flexible curriculum, and training staff capable of serving total novices ranging in age from 6 to 106

6. technical support to serve the students when the equipment they received needs to be replaced

7. clerical support to keep the necessary records of donations, placements, attendance and demographics, and

8. evaluation to guide the programís development and ascertain its usefulness.

Note that pickup, warehousing and refurbishing involve accepting about two computers for each one placed with a client. Machines that can't be made to work are used for parts or simply passed along to a recycling firm. To reach the 2001 goal of placing nearly 2,000 computers, NTR will have to handle 4,000 computers, 4,000 monitors, at least 2,000 keyboards, 2,000 mice and 4,000 power chords, or about 16,000 items total. That is before counting things such as printers, CD Roms, modems and RAM chips.

Population Served
From January 1999 through August 2000, NTR's Learning Through Technology program provided training and computers to 1,053 individuals, mostly (96%) residents of Philadelphia.

The annual figures are :

239 in FY 1999
814 in FY 2000

Of these, 24% were children age 8-20; 65% were adults 21-59; and 11% were 60 years of age and over. Some children participated along with parents or others in their family. Approximately 71% were women (or girls). Almost all participants were low-income. Most (97%) were members of minority groups, particularly African Americans 79%. 1% were Asian and 17% listed themselves as "other."

Participating Organizations
Learning Through Technology projects are delivered by NTR through sponsoring community organizations. Including the "partner" organizations listed below, 48 community organizations took advantage of the Learning Through Technology program during this reporting period. The list of participating groups is available on request.

When NTR raises funds to serve children and families, certain partner organizations provide the class space as well as the low-income clients for neighborhood-based computer training sessions. About 15 organizations have applied for membership in this partnership program. The six partner organizations that received services in FY 1999 and 2000 are:

Funding
The cost for the program is approximately $350 per student. Of this, $250 is the estimated value of donated used computer equipment. The remaining $100 per student represents NTR's costs to refurbish the used computers, install software, and provide classroom instruction, as well as overhead costs such as registration and record-keeping.

Some community groups are able to fund part of these costs for their members. Many collect the class costs from the participants themselves. NTR is not generally aware of how many groups raise funds vs. how many collect the funds from the participants.

Many of the people who most need this service can not afford to contribute to their own class costs. For these families, financial support to NTR has been essential in reaching its audience, particularly children from low-income families. From January 1999 through July 2000, funding for 141 low-income students to attend training and receive computers at no charge was provided by the following foundations:

Among the participants benefiting from the funded classes, 70% were children under 20 years of age. 76% listed themselves as African American while 17% considered themselves to be in the "other" category. 3% were Asian and 0% were White or Latino.

In-Kind Support
Inkind staff support for Learning Through Technology was provided by the Corporation for National Serviceís Americorps*VISTA program and The Mayorís Commission on Aging. The City of Philadelphia, thanks directly to Mayor Rendell, provided free space for the programís development (prior to this report period). Over 55 corporate, and governmental computer donors and 125 individual computer donors have made the program possible by donating over 8,000 items, including monitors, computers, printers, etc.

Funding of LTT for Children and Youth
It is important to note that NTR was able to serve about 253 children and youth (of the 1053 people). Of these, about 21% were funded by their family or the community group that sponsored the class. The rest of the children NTR was able to reach were funded through foundation grants known to have been awarded to (and administered by) the sponsoring organizations (42%) or by grants to NTR (37%). In other words, 79% of all the children served through Learning Through Technology were covered by foundation funding. Reaching this important group appears dependent on such funds.

Evaluation Highlights
Nonprofit Technology Resourcesí Learning Through Technology program is unique in providing a) an introduction to computer use; b) an introduction to the "insides" (hardware) of computers; and c) a working recycled computer to take home. In September, 2000, NTR engaged Stefan Borho, a graduate student of Social Pedagogy at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences in Freiburg, Germany, to conduct a six-month outcome study of this program.

Among Mr. Borho's findings:

• 76% of all the recipients didn't have a computer at home before they took the Learning Through Technology class
  
• 68% expected to wait longer than six months to obtain a computer and 13% would have never bought one
  
• 80% responded that at least one other person uses the computer as well. 52% of these other users are children, 16% are relatives.
  
• 72% felt stimulated or encouraged to continue their education because of the Learning Through Technology class and the computer at home

Mr. Borho also made recommendations for improving the program, which are being incorporated. Please contact NTR if you would like a copy of the evaluation report.

Plans for 2001
As Fiscal year 2001 began (August 1, 2000), NTR's VISTA funding came to an end. At that point the program became fully dependent on achieving fundraising and service goals using paid staff, work-study students, welfare-to-work interns, and local volunteers.

Based on research and experience, the need for Learning Through Technology in the community is still significant. Therefore NTR is planning to significantly increase the number of sponsoring organizations and thus, students in classes in 2001. The goal is to serve 1,941 students. This requires financial support not only for the classes themselves, many groups of potential students canít afford to participate, but also for expansion of service capacity. Expansion plans include the provision of service learning opportunities as well as paid internships for low-income high school students. NTR also plans to continue building support for the program through collaborations with community organizations, educational institutions and volunteers from technology-based industries.