Iowa
Senior Citizens Internet Project
Type of Grant: TOP
Amount of Grant: $499,651
Non-Federal Support: $520,590
Date of Grant: October 2001-September 2004
Project Partners: Legal Services Corporation of Iowa and the Iowa Association of Centers will work with the Iowa Association of Area Agencies on Aging, Iowa's thirteen area agencies on aging and 100 senior centers.
Contact: Charles Leist
Phone: (800) 532-1275
Email: cleist@iowalaw.org
With funding from TOP, the Legal Services Corporation's Senior Citizens Internet Project will place computer kiosks in 85 senior centers in Iowa. A self-help portal will provide training in basic computing, email and Internet search skills. Each computer has a desktop icon linking the senior centers to the Corporation's legal aid web site, the Department of Human Services and local area agencies on aging.
This is the only project of its kind in the region that brings the benefits of the Internet to senior citizens who live independently. The project helps residents in senior centers, in underserved rural and urban areas, resolves problems involving healthcare, housing, pension and other public benefits as well as end-of-life planning issues. The legal aid web site will give senior citizens the resources to deal effectively with government agencies, nursing facilities, landlords, and guardians.
Iowa has the largest percentage of people over 85 of any state. With worker migration from rural to urban areas, the elderly population in rural areas is left without access to public services that are typically concentrated in urban areas. Project Coordinator Charles Leist estimates that the total number of people reached during the course of the project could exceed 20,000. The project time line calls for the opening of the first 10 locations in August 2002, with the remaining 75 sites opening in January of 2003.
Iowa
Beatbox Type of Grant: CTC
Amount of Grant: $300,000
Total Non-Federal Support: $195,000
Date of Grant: 2001-2002
Contact: Julie Babbs
Phone: (641) 472-9784
Email: thebeatbox@zxmail.com
Beatbox, a program sponsored by Fairfield Youth Advocacy in Fairfield, Iowa, provides classes in basic web design and digital film production. Additionally, young people are given the opportunity to participate in the Cisco Certified Network Professional Program and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSC) certifications. Prior to receiving support from the CTC program, Beatbox was a youth recreational center. It's new technology program, the "Btech," paid for by a CTC grant and in-kind contributions from the community, now provides a space where youth between ages 9 and 23 can socialize, engage in creative activities, and enhance their education through technology.
Beatbox provides a comprehensive group of classes to equip underserved young people to succeed. Twenty-one-year-old Roland Wells is a volunteer who mentors and trains students at the center. Danny Peterson, a 22-year-old GED graduate used to be a construction worker, but after a MCSC class, is now applying for a job at a digital photography studio-an option that will more than double his income.
The Beatbox program has been very successful, attracting an average of 100 teens per day who take classes, play games or surf the Internet at ten open access workstations that are fully occupied from 11 am until 1 am. According to Beatbox program director Julie Babbs, this would not have been possible without seed money provided through a CTC grant. "Local grants are absent because they simply cannot afford it. Five years from now, however, they will see the value in investing in community technology centers."
