Illinois
America's Second Harvest
Type of Grant: TOP
Amount of Grant: $400,000
Non-Federal Support: $638,036
Date of Grant: October 1999-September 2002
Project Partners: Microsoft, Cisco, Lotus, SCT, i2 Technologies
Contact: David Prendergast
Phone: (312) 263-2303 Ext. 165
Email: dprendergast@secondharvest.org
With initial funding from TOP, America's Second Harvest launched a million dollar program to equip 130 food banks with high-speed Internet access and established an online ordering system linking food banks with local shelters and soup kitchens. America's Second Harvest is a national network of food banks that provide food via 50,000 local agencies to 26 million Americans annually. With financial assistance from TOP along with corporate sponsors like Microsoft, Cisco, and i2 Technologies, America's Second Harvest has brought the efficiencies of "business to business" e-commerce applications to the doorstep of nonprofits.
The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma City, for example, provides food to 500 organizations in the western and central parts of the state and is one of two food banks that participate in a pilot project to test the online ordering system. Once shelters and soup kitchens are able to go online to view available food items and place orders, turnaround time is expected to decrease dramatically from three weeks to three days.
Steve Moran, Assistant Director of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma City, says organizations selected to be part of the pilot program are thrilled with the new online ordering system. He says, "It is critical to get products in and out quickly so that agencies can plan balanced diets and have access to a wider variety of fresher food like green peas or roast beef." Without the TOP money, this would have probably taken an additional two years to accomplish because, as David Prendergast, VP Technology at America's Harvest, puts it, the amount required for a project such as this is so large, private backing alone would not have been sufficient to cover all the costs.
Illinois
DePaul Learning by Association Community Technology Center
Type of Project: CTC
Amount of Grant: $739,635
Non-Federal Support: $560,024
Start-end date: September 1999-October 2002
Project Partners: DePaul University, Learning by Association, The Vincentian Endowment Fund of DePaul University, the Illinois Reading Council Literacy Support Fund, Columbia College
Contact name: Dr. Roxanne Owens
Phone: (773) 325-4329
Email: rowens@depaul.edu
The technology centers in Chicago's Humboldt Park and West Town neighborhoods reopened in May 2000 after an infusion of funds from a CTC grant. The reopening was marked by the installation of 15 new state of the art computers and high-speed Internet connections. The centers provided training to low-income residents in basic computer use, web browsing, word processing and email. During the school year, children are taught to use computers to do research projects, an exercise that helps improve their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. Summer offerings for children include the "Los Montros del High Tech" program in hardware and software training.
Fourteen-year-old Christian Bustos signed up for the Los Montros del High Tech program and used his newly acquired web design skills to help civics teachers at the local school create an online quiz to test students on the Constitution. Later, while surfing the web at the CTC, he discovered Flash, a program to create interactive multimedia web content. After learning the software from a volunteer teacher, he created a web site for himself using Flash. He eventually wants to work as a videogame designer.
Dr. Roxanne Owens, Assistant Professor of Education at DePaul University, says that the partnership between the University and Association House, a community service organization, would not have been possible without the CTC grant.
