Lowell Community
Technology Consortium
2/21/01 (Goodwill Industries / 1705 Middlesex Street)
12:30 pm
Hosts: Carol Amick & Brock Hedrick
Present: Jane Benfray (GLFRC), Eduardo Czarnobai
(LTC), Rida Eng (Charter School), Vikki Fanning (House of
Hope), Laura Franklin (UTEC), Kristina Ickes (LifeLinks),
Samkhann Khoeun (CMAA), Sr. Christine LaCroix (Holy Name),
Chris Landry (YWCA), Dan MacNeil (LTC), Maryellen McEleney
(New Beginnings), Chris McClure (Pathfinders / Milestone),
Tim O'Connor (St. Julie Asian Center), Felicia Sullivan (LTC),
Dan Toomey (CIRCLE –UML)
Guests: Tony Abate - AARP
Introductions / New People
- New folks: Laura Franklin - Media & Technology Coordinator,
UTEC; Sr. Christine LaCroix - ESL Program Coordiantor, Holy
Name
Announcements / Updates
- CFW&C will be hosting a community presentation / dialogue
on March 13th on how to best support Spanish
language users in our centers. Time TBA.
- New DoE partners are : The Caleb Group, Pathfinders /
Milestone, and Recruitment Resources Consulting
- Greater Lowell Family Resource Center, New Beginnings,
Weed & Seed and others are working to build and update
a web accessible community information database. Surveys
will be going out soon and everyone's contribution is needed
- The Consortium is looking for space to run the professional
development training series (UPDATE: we have most likely
secured space at the CMAA)
- The MCSE and PC and Support training programs will be
starting soon. Contact Dan MacNeil (dan@ltc.org) for MCSE and Eduardo Czarnobai (eduardo@ltc.org)
for PC Support.
- Acre Youth Center's Seed Tech site is up and runnign.
Open lab hours are M & F, 10am-12pm. First local resident
is trained and a group of home schoolers are using the space.
- Consortium has received word that we are now a regional
partner in the PowerUp program. Four sites (CFWC, Girls,
Inc, Recruitment Resources, and UTEC) will be rolled out
first. Upon their successful completion, the next 8-9 sites
will be scheduled.
- Eduardo and Dan will be taking a break from scheduled
rounds at various Consortium member sites until training
and lab setups are complete. In the meantime, Felicia will
be visiting location on a less frequent schedule to assist
with similar things.
Software Piracy and Becoming Legal:
Kristina Ickes, LifeLinks
- Very informative and thorough presentation on this issues
surrounding have fully licensed software. Presentation outline
will be posted to the Consortium website within a week or
so (http://www.lctc.org) and additional handouts can be picked up at LTC in
Felicia's office (246 Market Street)
- Discussion sparked an energetic conversation about places
to find software deals (i.e.
http://www.compumentor.org and http://www.giftsinkind.org and inexpensive deals
can be found at http://www.pricescan.com in their softwarescan
section), to policies about staff / client downloading,
to what to do if an organization like the Business Software
Alliance appears at your door ready to see if you are legal
or not.
- The basic advice of the group came down to: inventory
your software and find out what is legal and what is not,
get rid of everything that is not legal and / or purchase
licenses to make you legal, create and enforce a policies
that keep people informed of these issues and make illegal
install a no-no, and if the BSA or anyone shows up at your
door - demand a warrant
- It was recognized that this was an awful lot of material
and issues to address in such a short time.
Contact:
Kristina Ickes
LifeLinks
145 Lexington Ave
Lowell, MA 01854
978-459-6179
ickesk@yahoo.com
Guest Presentation: Tony Abate,
AARP Senior Employment Program
- AARP has a Senior Training and Employment program that
will place senior citizens in NPOs to work at least 20 hours
a week in a position for up to one year at no cost to the
NPO.
- NPOs can not use this resource to displace existing workers
and must commit to supervising and training the senior re-enter
the workforce
- AARP also has a program that is an employment initiative
that will place seniors in jobs on a trial basis (up to
30 days) to determine a fit with the employment environment.
Again this trial basis is at not cost to the organization
- AARP is looking to expand into Lowell and is looking for
seniors to recruit for this program (must be 55+, low-income,
and have US residency) and to form partnerships with Consortium
agencies to place these seniors
Contact: Tony Abate
27 Water Street / Suite 104
Wakefield, MA 01880
781-246-5307
scwakefieldma@aol.com
Next Meetings
- Consortium Meeting - Wednesday, March 21 @12:30 - Location
TBA
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