40 Community Technology Centers Funded By Dept. of Education

The U.S. Department of Education has selected 40 awards for the Community Technology Centers program, a new federal initiative to promote the development of model programs that demonstrate the educational effectiveness of technology in urban and rural areas and economically distressed communities. Community Technology Centers provide access to information technology and related learning services to children and adults.

The Department received 750 applications from communities and organizations across all 50 states and two territories in response to the program’s first solicitation last Spring. The 1999 awards are distributed across 23 states and the District of Columbia.



In making its award decisions, the Department gave preference to applications that met one or both of two competitive priorities: projects that expanded or established Community Technology Centers in a federally-designated Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community, and projects that demonstrated substantial community support. Twenty-six of the recipients are located in urban zones and 14 are in rural areas.



The accompanying table (http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/102299t.htm) presents the distribution of Community Technology Center awards by state.



The selected centers will share $9.9 million in federal funding. Each award is matched to some degree by non-federal funding sources. Awards represent a 3-year commitment from the department of Education, provided Congress appropriates funding for the program each year.



The ability of the agency to support new centers this fiscal year is unclear as Congress only appropriated continuation-level funding of $10 million for FY 2000; the Clinton Administration had requested $65 million for this current fiscal year.



For the complete list of award recipients and for more information on the Community Technology Centers program visit: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/CTC/