Community News
Atlanta Colleges Forming Digital Community
By Lango Deen
Mar 29, 2003, 14:03

Atlanta University Center, Inc., the oldest and largest historically Black college and university (HBCU) consortium, is working to bring vital knowledge and employment skills to its constituent communities through the HBCU Technology Project. The project is providing information technology, computer operations systems training, Internet/Web technical assistance, and service-learning for tutoring and mentoring of members of community-based organizations in neighborhoods adjacent to AUC's six-campus university grounds. Schools in the consortium include Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morris Brown College, Morehouse College and Morehouse School of Medicine, and the Interdenominational Theological Center.

AUC began the project through a partnership with the Center's University Community Development Corporation -- a nonprofit that coordinates community development projects with AUC schools -- and Seedco, a national nonprofit intermediary founded in 1986. Assisted by AmeriCorps*VISTA members, the Seedco-HBCU partnership provides skilled students who volunteer a few hours each week to help make a positive change in the lives of local residents of low-income communities.

Besides the AUC institutions, six other out-of-state schools participate in the program, including Alabama A&M University, in Huntsville, Ala.; Benedict College, in Columbia, S.C.; Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Ala.; Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Fla.; Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss.; and Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala.

Among the community organizations participating in the project are the Technical Outreach Community Help (TORCH) computer center, which is supported by the National Society of Black Engineers Alumni Extension Chapter in Atlanta; the Lester J. Rodney Mentoring Center, a technology and general academic program for elementary school students; the Reynoldstown Revitalization Corporation, which gives six- to 14-year-olds homework help on the computer and provides other computer skills; Renaissance Economic Development Corp., an after-school program that prepares high school students for the SAT, ACT, and GRE tests; and the Metro Atlanta Resource Center, which offers tutorial sessions on computer skills and on test-taking for higher learning opportunities and job advancement.

For six weeks last summer, AUC also partnered with Helping Teens Succeed, an AmeriCorps program, to provide college-bound teenage students and their parents with the skills to access online information on scholarships and other resources to finish college.

This fall, says Bermira Gates, coordinator of the HBCU Technology Project, efforts are being stepped up by AUC and VISTA to increase volunteerism among AUC students who have project management, event-planning, oral and written communication skills, and a demonstrated commitment to leadership development and community service.

"The HBCU Technology Project at the AUC is about bridging the 'Digital Divide,' which cannot be accomplished without putting in place policies and procedures in the technological arena," says Gates.

For additional information about the HBCU Technology Project, call Bermira Gates at (404) 522-8989, extension 1520, or e-mail her at Bgates@aucenter.edu.