Volunteer Activities
New
Jersey Public Policy Research Institute (NJPPRI)
http://www.njppri.org
I
currently sit on the Board of Directors for the New Jersey
Public Policy Research Institute (NJPPRI) and serve as Vice Chairperson
responsible for the Programs Committe. My involvement
with the organization
began in 2003. NJPPRI identifies, analyzes and disseminates
information critical to informed public policy development in and
for the African-American
community in New Jersey and the region. Founded in 1977
by a group of African-American professionals, whom I considered to
be role models
and mentors, NJPPRI reviews and evaluates public policies
that lead to positive outcomes and improved conditions in the African-American
community. Since its inception, NJPPRI has established
a solid record
in analyzing positions on education, housing, tax reform,
and many other issues. NJPPRI has called on and employed a variety
of means
for promoting discussion and influencing public policy,
including timely reports, policy conferences and capacity building.
The
Creating Community Connections Project
http://www.camfieldestates.net
The
Creating Community Connections Project is an ongoing effort
at Camfield Estates, a low- to moderate-income housing
development in Roxbury,
MA, in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT).. From 1999 to 2001, while pursuing his
Ph.D. at the MIT Media
Laboratory, I worked with Dr. Richard O'Bryant, then a
doctoral student in the MIT Department of Urban Studies
and Planning, and residents
at Camfield Estates to initiate this projec. It represented
one of the first comprehensive community efforts to address
the "digital
divide" and demonstrate how low-income individuals, families
and a community can use information and communications
technology to support their interests and needs.
With
support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Hewlett-Packard Company,
RCN, Microsoft, ArsDigita Corporation, Massachusetts Housing Finance
Agency (MHFA), Lucent Technologies, U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD), Institute for African-American Electronic
Commerce (IAAEC), Youth Build of Boston, the William Monroe Trotter
Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, and others,
Richard and I were able to offer every family a new computer, high-speed
Internet access, comprehensive training at the community technology
center on the premises, coupled with a web-based information and communications
system, and an overarching agenda to leverage this technological infrastructure
for the purpose of building community.
Having
completed a formal evaluation of the project, the early
results for the participating families included strengthened relationships
with
neighbors, increased community involvement, improved communication
and information flow at the development, and a positive
shift in residents’ attitudes
and perceptions of themselves as learners. The project
remains active today. The project has been featured on television,
radio, newspapers
and magazines nationwide including Fox News Boston, National
Public Radio (NPR), CNN.com, The Boston Globe, The New York
Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer, among others.
Nonprofit Technology
Enterprise Network (NTEN)
http://www.nten.org
In
2004, I graciously accepted the invitation to join the Board
of Directors of the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network
(NTEN). NTEN aspires to a world where all nonprofit organizations
skillfully and confidently use technology to meet community
needs and fulfill their missions. NTEN is a membership organization
of nonprofit technology and
program staff and technology providers. Its members share the
common goal of helping nonprofits use all aspects of technology
more effectively. NTEN believes that technology can allow nonprofits
to work with greater social impact. NTEN works to enable its
members to do their jobs better and to help their organizations
strategically use technology so that those organizations can,
in turn, make the world a better, more just, and more equitable
place. NTEN facilitates the exchange of knowledge and information
within its community, connecting its members to each other,
providing professional development opportunities, educating
its constituency on issues of technology use in nonprofits,
and spearheading research, advocacy, and education on technology
issues affecting the entire nonprofit community.
Community
Technology Centers' Network (CTCNet)
http://www.ctcnet.org
I
have served on the Board of Advisors for the Community Technology
Centers' Network (CTCNet) since 2002. CTCNet was founded on the recognition
that in an increasingly technologically dominated society, people
who are economically disadvantaged will be left further behind if
they are not provided access to and training on information tools.
CTCNet envisions a society in which all people are equitably empowered
with these tools and is committed to achieving this end. CTCNet is
a US-based network of more than 1000 organizations united in their
commitment to improve the educational, economic, cultural and political
life of their communities through technology. CTCNet provides resources
and advocacy to improve the quality and sustainability of community
technology centers and programs at the local, national and international
level. CTCNet works together with its member organizations to provide
networking, capacity building, program development, and partnership
opportunities.
Institute
for Innovation in Government Technology (IIGT)
http://www.iigt.org
The
Institute for Innovation in Government Technology (IIGT)
appointed me as Chairperson of their Corporate Advisory Board in 2004.
IIGT
provides technical and innovation consulting services
to clients in government, corporate, nonprofit and academic sectors.
The organizaiton
collaborates with global partners to invent, test, transfer
and sustain innovations in communications and information technology
(CIT) systems
applied to critical public policy issues. IIGT iscommitted
to helping citizens improve access to government information, services
and participation
in democratic structures. The Institute helps people think
about the future, build partnerships for change, invent solutions
to information
or service problems, “do more with less”, test new applications
and models, and install systems. Success is measures by
work that sustains improvements in government performance that benefit
citizens.