paper -
54 Developing Partnerships to Combat the "Digital Divide"
Gina
Jones, University of Maryland
Sonja Kueppers, University of Maryland
In 1999, the University of Maryland, Office of
Information Technology (OIT), and Byteback, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
that provides computer training for unemployed and under-employed District of
Columbia area adults and youth in order to increase their skill sets and
marketability began a partnership.
The partnership began with meetings at the university
between senior management and Byteback, then middle management and
Byteback. OIT managers then developed
an outline of feasible partnership roles and a follow-on visit to the Byteback
organization was made. The partnership
became a reality during that follow-on meeting and OIT has hosted two
"externships" of Byteback graduates since then.
This paper will hopefully provide a model to any
organization concerned about the "Digital Divide" and interested in
developing a relationship with a local non-profit agency by discussing the
development of that partnership process by addressing the following topics:
- How the Office of Information Technology, University
of Maryland, and Byteback began their relationship.
- How we formed the roles that we could envision
building upon that would benefit that partnership.
- How we structured "externships" for
Byteback students and what our goals for those externships were.
- Administrative issues that had to be addressed and
resolved.
- Management issues that had to be addressed and
resolved.
- What we would do different if we knew then what we
know now.
- The successes of the partnership.
- The future of that partnership.
The intended audience would be any organization concerned about the "Digital Divide" and interested in developing a relationship with a local non-profit agency.