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Mission:
Building on the national effort to address the digital divide through community-based solutions, the New York City Council and the Economic Development Corporation joined together to provide funding in FY 2002 to establish a "CTC Bank" whose mission is to aid, coordinate and disseminate the technology efforts of the City's 136 Community Technology Centers (CTCs). The CTC Bank is managed by the Institute for Learning Technologies (ILT) at Teachers College/Columbia University in partnership with an expanding consortium of community-based organizations that operate CTCs across the five boroughs.
Project Team:
The CTC Bank is physically located at ILT and formally began its one-year program on February 15th, 2002. The two project staff members - the Project Director (Bruce Lincoln) and the Manager of CTC Services (Nick Noe) - are employees of ILT and will be supported by the technology empowerment team at ILT developed through the HR2K1 and Eiffel Projects.
Core Deliverables:
 | Build a citywide CTC Consortium through the development of a stakeholder advisory committee, bi-monthly working group meetings, and a one day CTC conference at Columbia to be held April 2002; |
 | Introduce a broadband enabled Smart Card system at participating CTCs - thus linking NYC's CTCs and their users together through a citywide intranet that will serve as a platform for data collection, individual document storage, distance learning scholarships, telework, educational, civic, and financial services; |
 | Bolster the Web-based, CTC mapping effort already underway with an array of online CTC resources including a Virtual Online Supply System for block buying, technical support, curricula, funding opportunities, a CTC trainer database, reliable tech service/vending information, public relations materials, a local CTC listserve, a bi-monthly newsletter, and local networking tools; |
 | Produce original research reports, evaluations, and dissemination materials in order to more effectively press the case for sustaining and growing NYC's CTC infrastructure. Periodic reports will also detail effective revenue generating and fundraising strategies as well as successful program designs and management techniques. |
Into the Future:
By joining NYC CTCs together through a broadband enabled network, the CTC Bank will be able to more effectively facilitate information sharing between CTCs and stimulate the implementation of vital capacity building mechanisms. In doing so, the CTC Bank can begin to address the urgent need for protecting our city's economically sensitive technology empowerment initiatives from the limitations of foundation funding and time-limited federal financing. We welcome the opportunity to begin this work and look forward to the challenge.
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