Overview
"El Batey" Community Technology Center’s mission is to demystify technology and transform it into a tool for community strength. Our CTC provides 23 computers with high speed Internet and offers free public access, job training and classes. El Batey is an active member of the Ciy of Boston’s Timothy Smith Network, which ensures long-term sustainability through regular software and hardware upgrades. Overall, our organization is a  recipient of CTC NET’s Connections for Tomorrow Grant and we were a national finalist for TechFoundation’s TechGrants Spring 2004 Awards. With these awards, they acknowledge nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations that are making innovative use of technology to better pursue their missions.

El Batey’s IC3 (Internet and Computer Core Certification) trained staff provides basic computer training classes to Empowerment Zone residents, including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and Internet Explorer. In 2003, El Batey greatly expanded its project-based learning programs to improve computer literacy among the low-income families and youth in Villa Victoria through ScienceQuest,a program designed to promote excitement about science in a safe, after school environment and WiredWoods, an innovative, educational program we use to empower underserved youth to succeed in the digital age. In 2004, we also helped over 100 people file their taxes for free at El Batey, ensuring that qualifying low-income residents of Villa Victoria get the Earned Income Tax Credit while offering the option of investing that money through the South End Credit Union.

Taking advantage of Villa Victoria residents’ unprecedented access to technology, IBA has partnered with Bunker Hill Community College to initiate a technology-infused college campus directly in the heart of the community. Funded by a three year $550,000 grant from the United States Department of Education’s Fund to Improve Post-Secondary Education, our partnership provides residents with the opportunity to take college-level classes while offering (both onsite and online) the academic support services, case management, and advising needed to thrive. We have successfully enrolled nearly 70 students since February 2004 in courses that include English as a Second Language, Basic Math, Adult Basic Education, and a “Kickoff to College” Internet class at El Batey.

Overcoming Obstacles:
In an era where "going digital" has gone from being a catch phrase to a way of life, Latinos in particular have lagged behind. While the popular conception of the digital divide focuses upon the relative inequality that poor people and minorities have in accessing computers and the Internet, the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute and IBM make it clear in their 2002 report Latinos and Information Technology: The Promise and the Challenge that “the most significant barriers to digital opportunity facing Latinos today revolve around the lack of skills and training to use network technology.”1

As an agency, Villa Tech understands that transcending access, bridging the digital divide needs to focus upon what this report terms "quality-of-use" rather than "computers per capita.” This digital deficit encompasses not only access to the Internet, but also a lack of the computer education, training and connections to digital social capital (exposure to IT professionals and mentors) that are so critical to being successful in the information age. In other words, with unimpeded access to technological resources, we have come to realize that to truly prepare low-income families for the digital economy and raise their standards of living it must move beyond bridging the digital divide and instead guide low-income people across that bridge on a voyage to economic self-sufficiency with technology as their vehicle.

The need for a truly digital education is underscored by a recent study by the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC) which points out that even workers with a high school diploma who lack the “New Basic Skills,” the required skill set in which “to secure a middle class job, workers must be able to solve complex problems, think critically, communicate effectively and use computers and other technology”face significant barriers blocking them from accessing the jobs of the new economy. 2

Young people have flocked to the El Batey computer center but too often they have been merely surfing the web or playing online games. We want to continue move youth from being the users to the creators of technology, and feel that incremental project-based learning projects will be more effective. We have piloted a number of these programs during the summer (WiredWoods, Science Quest) and we are working to increase our focus on engaging youth with creative and fun entry points to developing the "computer programming and multimedia skills [which will become] a viable way to earn a livable salary."

The project-based learning activities are designed to improve participants’ academic performance by enhancing leadership, literacy and computer skills, while at the same time introducing youth to the career opportunities and mentorship available in computer technology and the media. This approach to learning is supported by research that demonstrates that the use of computers can improve educational achievement and increase motivation to stay in school. With our highly developed infrastructure, it is critical that we will use it to inspire under-represented Latino/a youth to pursue educational and career paths in science, math and technology through partnerships with local universities and businesses.

Partnerships:
El Batey has established project-based learning partnerships that will help move us to the proverbial next level. These include Science Quest, an Educational Development Center program, WiredWoods and the Intel Computer Clubhouse both described below.

Recently, we have established a partnership with WiredWoods which we are hoping to expand. WiredWoods is an innovative, educational program that helps underserved youth succeed in the digital age. WiredWoods teaches program staff to implement their multimedia curriculum, which teaches technology and reinforces literacy in a fun and engaging way, along a train-the-trainer model. In 2003 WiredWoods ran at eight sites in Eastern Massachusetts (including Villa Victoria) working directly with 300+ materially disadvantaged, racially diverse middle school (age 10-14) girls and boys. During the summer, we implemented a 7-week training and a studio program to empower young people create a web page on a community issue that they cared about and wanted to raise awareness about in the broader community. Students learned to work with different digital cameras, download software, use a USB cord, download pictures, set up folders, and use Adobe Photoshop as well as basic HTML. One of the problems that we had was that when the summer was over, we did not have the staff that had the training and the time to keep the program going. We want to empower the VISTA to fill in this gap.

Equipment and Technical Support
As mentioned previously El Batey is a city of Boston Timothy Smith Technology Center and our computers and printers exceed the minimum standards described in the RFP. We have 15 compaq computers with Pentium 4 Processors and 512mg ram and Windows 2000 operating systems and 6 HP computers with Pentium 3 Processors, 128 and Windows 2000. Through Villa Tech we have the technology sophistication and human resource power (information systems technicians) required to trouble shoot and fix problems that may arise during programming hours.

Impact
Focusing specifically on the ways in which the “digital divide” affects the Latino community, the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute argues:

The creation of wealth worldwide—as well as for individuals and families—is now inextricably linked to knowledge and technological innovation. For the Latino community to advance its social, political, and economic agenda, it must be a player in this new world. To participate, Latinos must be proficient in the basic tools of technology, such as computers and their applications. But to achieve proficiency, they must also achieve a much higher general level of education and adapt their cultural norms and behaviors to an entrepreneurial, fast-moving and global approach to business and life. 3

Helping the Latino community to bridge the digital divide and become full players in the national economy will have far reaching consequences. As reported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, “by 2025, the United States will have the second largest Latino population in the world. One of every five jobs will be held by Latino workers…If the nation can double the rate of Latinos earning a college degree, it will generate $27 billion more for the U.S. economy every year.”4

1,3 Tomas Rivera Policy Institute. Latinos and Information Technology: The Promise and the Challenge, p. i. Claremont, California: 2002.
4 www.idra.org/enlace/statistics.html.