Project Background

Mapping NYC's 136 CTCs
In January 2001, the not-for-profit organization MOUSE (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education) partnered with the New York Public Interest Research Group's (NYPIRG) CMAP division to produce a detailed print and web-based, interactive map that plots the 136 Community Technology Centers (CTCs) located in the five boroughs of New York City. The web-based map includes:

• Icons for the location of all high schools, elementary schools, and middle schools in the five boroughs;
• Icons for all public libraries in the five boroughs;
• Superintendency, zip code, and Community School district delineations;
• URLs (where available) for CTCs and district-by-district school report cards;
• Address and contact information for all CTCs;
• Search functionality (geographic area, zip code);
• A Help menu;
• A searchable database of over 26 different types of free/low cost technology-training programs at NYC CTCs.

The mapping project was significant because, for the first time, the extent of recent technology empowerment initiatives could be seen together with the glaring gaps in technology access that had not been addressed. Most importantly, however, one could plausibly discern the outline of an advanced community-based network that might be able to take advantage of some of the telecommunication and intranet efforts increasingly vital to corporate America's expansion.

CTCs Present Their Case
In February 2001, ILT, along with representatives from MOUSE, the Abyssinian Development Corporation, and several local CTCs, presented testimony to the New York City Council on local digital divide efforts in the hopes of securing municipal support for CTCs. Accordingly, ILT laid out the framework for the CTC Bank while MOUSE presented several findings from its January 2001 study of NYC's CTCs and the results of its mapping project. Two critical conclusions were promulgated: first and foremost, that many of NYC's CTCs face significant sustainability problems, especially as some CTCs see their time-limited federal grants elapse; and second, that CTCs are often built and then operated in isolation from one another and without the benefit of the accumulated expertise of well-established CTCs.

The sustainability crisis was highlighted by the fact that 57% of NYC CTCs reported facing severe funding difficulties while 63% of those facing difficulties said that they anticipated funding short falls within the next three years.

Furthermore, MOUSE's research demonstrated that many cities, including Austin, Seattle, and Atlanta had approached their CTC's sustainability problems by leveraging municipal funds - either through general revenue expenditures or franchising agreements.

Municipal CTC Funding Efforts 2000-2001:

In particular, the need for an intermediary body able to coordinate services, advocate on behalf of CTCs, and share critical information was highlighted by representatives from ILT, ADC, and Playing2Win who argued that significant economies of scale could be gained from all of the technology empowerment initiatives that had been built out over the past six years. Indeed, by the end of 2000, New York City had had more CTCs funded by the Department of Education's CTC grant program than any other state or city, 33, while more than 100 CTCs had been opened, primarily through local funding sources, at other CBOs, library branches, parks department sites, and housing developments. Unfortunately, most of these CTCs had been built in isolation from one another and thus without taking advantage of the knowledge base built out through other technology empowerment efforts. Adding to this situation, the Department of Education reported that by January 2001 they had received applications from NYC CBOs to build out almost 100 additional CTCs across the five boroughs. Although many of these CBOs have been forced to look outside of the federal government for funding, especially since the Department of Education lacked the appropriations to fund so many projects, the explosion of interest in building CTCs crystallized the central point that the local CTC movement was beginning to articulate - specifically, the need for organization, collaboration, and electronic networking along the lines of what other municipalities had done.