Lowell Telecommunications Corporation (LTC) is Lowell’s community technology center and cable access organization. LTC provides, at a nominal cost, the opportunity for training, facilities, equipment and resources for those living, working or attending one of Lowell’s two institutions of higher education.
LTC is applying for a VISTA for the purpose of providing services to assist LTC in reactivating one of its formally most valuable programs. Lowell Community Technology Consortium (referred to as LCTC or the Consortium) has not been operational for the past few years due to a number of reasons but primarily due to key staff turnover. Nevertheless the need for the Consortium is even more critical now as in the past as evidenced by a recent UMass Lowell survey that found almost all of the targeted social service agencies have had significant funding and staff cutbacks in the past three or four years. Fortunately LTC again has the staff expertise and determination to restart this valuable community resource. I
The Lowell Community Technology Consortium was a collaboration of organizations and individuals using technology to serve the citizens of Lowell, Massachusetts. Over twenty non-profit organizations participated in the Consortium collaborating in the development of technology, labs and training programs to educate and enrich the lives of Lowell residents. The members of the Consortium worked in community organizations that served a variety of populations in Lowell including youth, seniors, homeless individuals, several language groups, and individuals with mental disabilities.
The Consortium's goals and ultimate successes were:
• the building and maintenance of computer labs at our member organizations, providing access to software and the Internet
• free and low cost project-oriented classes to teach the skills of effective communication technology.
• the sharing of information and resources to improve organizational capacity for local care-giving non-profits.
Those goals were relevant to the needs of our community in the 1999 through 2004 era. The focus at the time was to provide access to computer access and computer skills to the underserved. That focus remains but has evolved along with the advancements in information technology and has expanded along with the need for providing broader electronic communication skills and accessibility to the current staff, clients and members of Lowell’s community helping organizations.
Pressing needs to be addressed in addition to those above include:
• the addition of public affairs and public service outreach production support
• web based outreach support.
• radio, TV and print outreach support.
LTC is an active member of numerous collaboratives and networks including CTCNet, the ACM (Alliance for Community Media), NAMAC (National Alliance for Media Art Centers, and NYMAP (National Youth Media Access Project).