Villa Tech History
In 1999, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), came to the realization that one of greatest barriers to our low-income predominately Latino residents’ educational development and economic advancement was their lack of technology access. At that time, only 10% of the Villa Victoria families had computers. Moreover, most of these computers were outdated and had no Internet access. The obstacles in Villa Victoria, reflected the tremendous national technology deficit faced by low income and minority communities, which has become known as the “digital divide.” As the national Latino youth development organization Aspira, pointed out, "the Intemet divide between Hispanic households and the national average was 17.9 percentage points in August 2000.”

Seeking a solution for demystifying technology and ensuring digital access, Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion formally established Villa Tech in October of 2000, to provide low-income families with the tools (affordable high-speed internet, and computers in the home) and the supports (community support-desk, trainings, classes) needed to thrive in the digital economy.

Villa Tech is a recently created Massachusetts nonprofit corporation that is applying for tax-exempt status. IBA is a separately incorporated 501(c)(3) and serves as Villa Tech’s fiscal conduit. Villa Tech has had a tremendous impact on IBA’s ability to fulfill its core mission of increasing the social and economic power of low-income families of Villa Victoria, where 80% of residents live at or below the national poverty level with an average gross family income of $16,286.

Villa Tech’s Model
Over the past three years, IBA and Villa Tech, have made great strides in turning Villa Victoria into a model for a thriving urban technology village, as we have:

1. Opened and managed a state-of-the-art community technology center called El Batey;
2. Partnered with Cisco Systems in successfully wiring 399 residential units for high speed Internet access, creating a Wide Area Network (WAN) for our multiple offices and the community, connecting the Network Operating Center (NOC), and installing server and security protection. We then provided over 100 computers, printers and internet service in the homes of Villa Victoria residents turning Villa Victoria into a model for a thriving urban technology village;
3. Afforded the on-site technical support needed to assist families in demystifying the technology;
4. Supported fellow nonprofits with affordable, customized technology services; and
5. Established Pathways Technology Campus in the heart of Villa Victoria through an innovative partnership with Bunker Hill Community College.

1."El Batey" Community Technology Center’s mission is to demystify technology and transform it into a tool for community strength. El Batey provides 23 computers with high speed Internet and offers free public access, job training and classes for over 50 hours every week. 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. 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, IBA 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.

2.Technology Access in Villa Victoria Homes: Leveraging partnerships with Cisco Systems, BANG (Broadband Access Networking Group) and funders such as the Boston Foundation and the Amelia Peabody Foundation, we have wired 399 apartment units, making them ready for high-speed Internet access with the final 36 units expected for completion in the summer of 2004. We are currently providing Internet to 141 apartment units in Villa Victoria--a 32.4% penetration rate, which is steadily rising through grant donations. Villa Victoria residents earn free technology (computers and printers originally from the Fannie Mae Foundation) for their homes following completion of an intensive technology-training course. After receiving the computers, residents pay a low monthly fee ($10) to Villa Tech, which functions as their Internet Service Provider (ISP).

3.Community Technical Support Desk Our community technical support desk sets us apart from many failed attempts to bridge the digital divide. The support desk provides residents with the access to individuals who are knowledgeable in software and hardware troubleshooting. In addition, the tech support desk provides an opportunity for volunteers to become engaged in Villa Victoria and for residents to enroll in internships that facilitate tech job opportunities in the future. We have had over 20 volunteers and interns, including participants from Cisco Certified Networking Academy and Tech Foundation’s Geeks for America.

4. Affordable, Customized Technology Services for Fellow Non-profits: Many community-based organizations are caught in the proverbial nonprofit Catch-22: the lack of IT infrastructure prevents access to the very lifelines of internal and external communication, networking, funding, and other resources needed to survive and grow. In a report called Technology Needs of Boston Nonprofits: A Practitioner Academic Partnership, researchers from Harbinger Partners and the Boston College School of Social Work found support for the argument that there is an “organizational side of the digital divide,” as the authors make it clear that “expense, lack of staff expertise, and out-of-date equipment [are] the major barriers to technology use and implementation” by non-profit organizations in the city of Boston.

Villa Tech provides technical support to other nonprofits and low-income housing communities and has helped clients by assessing their technology needs and identifying solutions to their hardware, software, and networking problems. Villa Tech serves the dual function of enabling other nonprofits to have greater programmatic impact for their constituents, while providing itself with an additional revenue base to ensure sustainability. Villa Tech has supported 15 community-based organizations with affordable, customized technology services, including:

•  Providing consultation to nine area nonprofit organizations and generating six formal contracts with organizations including
• Working with the Chelsea Housing Authority to design and wire and provide training to residents at a brand-new Computer Learning Center which we completed and opened in the Winter of 2004;
• Provide the Internet service and technical support to the job training program Strive/Boston Inc.; and
• Establishing the Community Technology Center for Cathedral Public Housing Tenants Association.
• We are currently working with the CBO, La Alianza Hispana to upgrade their technology services through grants from State Street and Hispanics in Philanthropy.

5. Moving Beyond Bridging the Digital Divide: The Pathways Technology Campus at Villa Victoria: 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 that: “the most significant barriers to digital opportunity facing Latinos today revolve around the lack of skills and training to use network technology.” Inquilinos Boricuas an Accion (IBA) and Villa Tech came to understand that transcending access, bridging the digital divide must focus upon "quality-of-use" rather than "computers per capita.” In other words, with the infrastructure almost entirely in place and residents beginning to use the services, the question that we realized that we must answer is: What specifically are we going to do with the technology so that the experience for residents is truly transformative?

With stark statistics showing unconscionable educational deficits in the community (see below), Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion became determined to lead a coordinated community effort to improve the literacy levels of the entire Villa Victoria community. We then reached out to Bunker Hill Community College to combine their educational pedagogy with Villa Tech’s technological infrastructure and IBA’s human services to help residents escape the vicious cycle of poverty.

IBA’s partnership with Bunker Hill secured a prestigious three-year grant from the highly selective U.S. Department of Education’s Fund to Improve Post-Secondary Education to provide residents with the opportunity to take college-level classes directly in the heart of Villa Victoria, while offering the academic support services, case management, tutoring, and advising needed for them to thrive. The overarching goal of this technology-infused satellite campus is to combine developmental education, career-oriented certificate programs and on-site job training opportunities that will produce a gateway to higher education, self-sufficiency and higher wage jobs for a community that has not had these opportunities.

Our innovative project provides a nationally replicable model of a community-based organization working hand-in-hand with a local community college to create a college campus directly in an affordable housing community that is “wired” for success. Villa Victoria residents’ unprecedented technology access provides multiple opportunities for distance and technology-mediated learning. Villa Victoria residents who need to juggle jobs and family responsibilities are now able to take courses and receive support services on-line according to their own schedules, learning anytime and anywhere.

The IBA/BHCC partnership has successfully enrolled nearly 70 Villa Victoria students since February 2004 in courses that include English as a Second Language, Basic Math, Adult Basic Education, and a “Kickoff to College and Career” Internet class at El Batey. We are also enrolling students into Bunker Hill classes at their main campus, some of which residents are taking on-line. Our ultimate goals, however, are greater. Creating educational plans for all adult residents, we plan establish clear pathways by moving students from developmental education to college classes and finally to certificates and associates degrees in fields, like health care and child development that are in growth mode and still hiring in this sluggish economy. By offering education that prepares students with the skills and training and credentials that employers demand, our residents will begin to get better jobs that pay family sustaining wages. Moving beyond bridging the digital divide, IBA and Villa Tech are now guiding people across that bridge on a voyage to economic self-sufficiency with technology as their vehicle.