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Alternative Paths to Human Resources (AmeriCorps, Volunteers)

Page history last edited by kami@... 7 years, 10 months ago

Description: 

One of the biggest expenses of any nonprofit is staffing but people are essential to meeting the mission of closing the digital divide. Can a video really show someone how to use a mouse or open a web browser? 

Joel Krogstad from SPNN will share details about their use of AmeriCorps volunteers for the last decade. Community Technology Empowerment Project (CTEP) has leveraged over $3 million in federal funds from the Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS) to promote digital inclusion in Twin Cities Minnesota since 2004.  He will be joined by Kami Griffiths of Community Technology Network. They use a variety of volunteers, stipended volunteers and subsidized staff to provide nearly 7,000 training hours annually in the Bay Area. Bring your own stories for the collaborative discussion.  

 

Location: Room 312

Date: Wednesday May 18th, 2016

Time: 2:15-3:15 PM

 

Facilitators:

Joel Krogstad

Program Director, CTEP AmeriCorps

Saint Paul Neighborhood Network

 

Lisa Peterson-de la Cueva
Program Coordinator, CTEP AmeriCorps
Saint Paul Neighborhood Network

 

Kami Griffiths

Executive Director

Community Technology Network

 

LINKS FOR CTEP

 

Please read our federally approved 2013-16 grant, which goes into greater narrative depth on all the topics below. We will update our next cycle grant when it becomes available.

 

WHAT CTEP DOES

 

  • Started in 2004 as a recognition that many public computer centers had infrastructure but lacked a human element that allowed community members to learn technology skills.

  • CTEP now has 35 full-time AmeriCorps members teaching technology literacy skills for social, civic and economic empowerment across 30 different library, workforce centers, and adult basic education sites in the Twin Cities metro area.

  • All of our members certify community members in Northstar Digital Literacy Certifications, which is used both as a way for community members to verify that they have technology skills to potential employers, and also serves as a main programmatic outcome for CTEP to its funders

  • Our members collaborate and share curricula and other digital inclusion resources through the Technology Literacy Collaborative.

 

CTEP’S IMPACT

 

  • Last year 1,614 CTEP participants earned Northstar Technology Literacy Certificates, and 759 went on to receive employment.

  • Convening and movement building: placing a wide network of AmeriCorps members in a relatively small geographic area who can physically meet allow our members and their site supervisors to form a network of digital inclusion organizations. All of our members are required to complete a group civic engagement project with 3-5 other members at other sites where they create a public product designed to address digital equity in the Twin Cities.

 

HOW CTEP IS FUNDED

 

CTEP is AmeriCorps program that receives about two-thirds of its cost (~$400K) from the Corporation for National & Community Service, and another third ($245K) from its program partners who pay $7000 each to host the CTEP member for the year. We also receive a small amount of foundation support every year, our main current foundation partner is Otto Bremer Trust ($40K).

 

 

  • What do you want your AmeriCorps program to do:

    • Instruct, direct service with public and can include capacity building (AmeriCorps State and National); or

    • Only build capacity without direct instruction and focus on training and leverage volunteers (VISTA)

       

  • To apply for an AmeriCorps grant, first seek out the state commission office for AmeriCorps in your state. Find your state commission here. Have a conversation with them to discuss your idea for creating a program. Also available are Planning Grants which can help give you funding for a year to build out your proposal. Typically, federal grants are due in January, and funding is announced in June. But often times, state commissions will want to see letters of interest and grant drafts by early fall. Consult your state commission for specifics in your area.

     

  • To apply for federal funding you will need to align your programming with national performance measures that CNCS is looking for. Probably this will relate to economic opportunity or educational achievement. For us, we chose economic opportunity, and our main measures are how many people receive technology literacy certifications from our members (03), and how many of those then go on to receive employment (010).

     

  • Innovate but no need to re-invent the wheel: CTEP can share its program outcomes, methodology, and research to help you build a model and rationale for your program. CNCS requires that your interventions be based on research, you can look at our research which shows that our intervention of using AmeriCorps members to teach digital literacy skills had higher outcomes than a comparable program by the MN Workforce Centers in employment outcomes.  You will need to provide strong data for a local need for digital inclusion in your area.

     

  • Find partners in your area that would like to host AmeriCorps members. Create a host site application that they can complete. Here is our application and instructions.

 

HOW CTEP TRAINS/SUPPORT MEMBERS

 

A mandatory week-long pre-service orientation includes an introduction to AmeriCorps and its values, CTEP program goals, different streams of national service, service year expectations, training on direct service and reporting, and stages of the AmeriCorps Member experience. Members of the St. Paul Community Literacy Consortium train AmeriCorps Members to teach the Northstar curriculum and to conduct assessments with fidelity in a proctored environment and test Members on their mastery of the material. Consortium representatives return for training as needed to support Members in deepening their skills. CTEP’s curriculum develops Members’ transferrable skills in the following core areas: Teaching and Instruction, Leadership and Training, Technology, Volunteer and Project Management, and Cultural Competency. CTEP's twice monthly all-day Corps Training Days further deepen these competencies by featuring essential topics such as Digital Literacy Instruction, In-Depth Reporting; Job Placement Training; How to Conduct a Site Capacity Assessment; Managing Difficult Situations and Lab Management; and Cultural Diversity Training and Orientation to Communities Served. The training venue rotates between partner sites to familiarize Members with different agencies within our network. All mission critical training in basic computer instruction, cultural competence, and job coaching is covered within the first month of service, with later trainings focusing on Life After AmeriCorps and public presentations of their service. “Every Corps Day was valuable to attend,” said Derek Sandkamp, a CTEP Member at Saint Paul Public Library. “It is clear that the CTEP program is not just about teaching the public computer skills, but also about helping us--the Members--gain teaching and employable skills, knowledge, and connections.”

 


 

ABOUT COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY NETWORK

 

Programs that utilize volunteers:

  • Ready, Set, Connect: youth trainers in Oakland library. 8-month program, they get $150 monthly stipend and completion bonus of a laptop. We also utilize corporate volunteers who provide training for youth as part of their professional development. Link to report.
  • SF Connected: volunteer trainers of all ages, but mostly retirees and service learning students from USF, working in 26 senior centers. We have 4 staff who go out into centers, but only 1 FT and 1 PT are focused on training (one is bilingual in Cantonese and the other in Russian). The other 2 are program managers who each have 10-12 partner locations they oversee and manager all the volunteers at those locations.
  • Affordable housing: lead paid trainer (15 hrs/wk) and volunteers from community to assist. Share volunteer managing responsibility with the housing developer.
  • Twitter NeighborNest: paid trainer leading classes for clients from area social service agency (Compass Family Services) and volunteers from Twitter assisting. We train and support the volunteers and Twitter is responsible for recruiting and tracking hours.

 

Training for trainers:

10 Principles for Working with New Computer Users 

Elder-Friendly Computer Tutoring Tips

Internet Safety Final

Outreach Strategies - handout

 

 

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