LCTC Minutes for January 17, 2001

Present: Holly Brauner (Caleb Foundation), Andy Chandonnet (YWCA), Judith Dickerson-Nelson (CMAA), Gregg Croteau (UTEC), Sr. Janet Deaett (St. Julie Asian Center), Kristina Ickes (LifeLinks), Samkhann Khoeun (CMAA), Chris Landry (YWCA), Dan MacNeil (LTC), Montha Mal (MRC), Maryellen McEleney (New Beginnings), Chris McClure (Pathfinders / Milestone), Kevin Mullen (New Beginnings), Osvalda Rodrigues (MAPS), Mickey Sin (MRC), Mara Tam (CMAA), Dan Toomey (CIRCLE –UML), Ed West (MRC)

Guests: Craig Davis (Learning Community Group), Carlin Llorente (EDC), Sophia Mansori (EDC), Maura McCall (Cisco Systems), Gena Pirtle (Cisco Systems), Dona Gartrell (Learning Community Group)

CMAA will have a graduation party for ESL and Technology Students on Feburary 10^th.
CMAA will have a media celebration at the Tsongas Center on April 14^th
The City will have a public hearing about the AT&T franchise on January 25^th @ 6pm in the Council Chambers - the life of centers such as ours depends on advocating for additional services and funds as part of the City contract.
Tanya Bonner has begun production of the documentary on the Digital Divide in Lowell
Students from the St. Julie Asian center have their newsletter out. They wrote and designed the publication
St. Julie is looking for childcare volunteers between 9 and 12 Monday - Friday to cover for their technology classes
YWCA Triangles program for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens will be starting up
There are still 2 spots in the Train-the-Trainer workshop that LTC is hosting.

After an overview of the Consortium’s history, Gena and Maura layed out Cisco’s philanthropy program.
The two arms of Cisco’s philanthropy program are the Cisco Foundation (for cash / grant awards) and the Community Investments (for technology and employee contributions).
Their three main areas of giving are education / workforce development, training through Cisco networking academies, and employee driven giving and volunteering
70% of Cisco Foundation’s giving is to education and workforce development programs
They also give to improve the technological infrastructure of NPOs
Cisco believes that social change happens through technology and are interested in working with community collaborations
Apart from requests from individual organizations for support, Cisco is interested in working with the Consortium of human resource development, bringing human / knowledge resources into the community through Cisco training and employee volunteer, improving the technology infrastructure of our organizations and the Consortium as a whole
There was a commitment to continuing a conversation with Cisco about a long-term partnership with the Consortium and its members.
Gena urged members to look into the special equipment / technology grant initiative for New England that will put $2.5M dollars worth of technology resources into the community
Contact info:

LCG presented a range of services geared towards building the education and information infrastructure of NPOs and community technology centers
LCG provides everything from in-class instruction to quick guides and CD-ROM support to on-line information sharing tools.
LCG works with schools, communities, and NPOs and strives to provide customized solutions for technology and education environments.
Future discussions through the Education Working Group will determine the need and interest in pursuing services and tools such as those offered by the LCG
Contact info: