Untitled - socium.ge

328 Lisa J. Servon and Randal D. Pinketttools might be useful to them. A great deal of learning occurs during the openaccess hours of the CTC – it simply occurs informally. CTC staff circulateamong users, offering assistance and showing people new websites and softwareapplications. In addition, much learning occurs among drop-in users.CTCs are a new form of community institution where people meet, exchangeideas, and learn.Literacy/TrainingMany CTCs focus on developing the IT skills of program participants. Thosethat grew out of the workforce development tradition directly address theproblem of the jobs/skills mismatch. Literacy and training programs rangefrom basic courses in which participants learn how to use e-mail and developkeyboarding skills, to advanced courses in building computers, HTML, webdevelopment, and media production.There is a strong emphasis among CTCs on education and job preparedness.Some of these CTCs use IT as a tool to deliver traditional material, suchas GED and ESL curricula. Others focus more specifically on computer literacyand IT skills. One example of a CTC that is training people for IT jobs isthe Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) in San Francisco. BAVC’s JobLinkprogram maintains close working relationships with a range of Bay Areaemployers who recognize the quality of the program and are eager to hire itsgraduates. The relationships with employers also enable BAVC to understandand respond to the quickly changing skill needs of these employers. BAVCkeeps current with new programs and continually modifies its curriculum. TheJobLink program places 95 percent of its participants in jobs, such as webdevelopers, HTML coders, and designers, which have an average hourly wageof $30. Employers hiring BAVC graduates range from high-profile IT companiessuch as Oracle to a wider range of service companies such as CharlesSchwab and TravelSmith.ContentFinally, some CTC programming employs IT as a mechanism to create anddeliver content. CTCs that focus on the creation and delivery of content workto address the social impacts of the technological revolution. The goals ofthese CTCs may include: providing information to the community; fostering asense of community or personal effectiveness; encouraging collaboration;developing problem-solving and strategic-thinking skills. CTCs that emphasizecontent have three distinct purposes: creating material that constituentscan use; teaching community members to create this content; and helpingcommunity members connect to important information that already exists on