Lowell Sun - Monday, November 17, 2003
MICHAEL LAFLEUR, Sun Staff

LOWELL - The Lowell Telecommunications Corporation broadcasts a little bit of everything over local television airwaves, providing outlets for public access programming as well as municipal government coverage.

Now, the agency would like to expand that mission to the Internet.

"Just like we provide a venue for people to come and put their videos on the air, and people can share information in that way, we're trying to move that into the virtual realm," said Felicia Sullivan, LTC's director of community programming.

Sullivan and LTC have been laying the groundwork for their current initiative over the last three years, since receiving an $826,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education in 2000.

Working with 17 other local nonprofit organizations, LTC formed the Lowell Community Technology Consortium, added nearly $1.5 million to the mix from its own budget and in-kind donations, and with nearly 40,000 hours of volunteer time, set about creating a citywide network of computer labs.

Besides the Community Software Lab at LTC headquarters on Market Street, 19 computer labs 481 computers, all with high-speed Internet access have been built for Lowell agencies such as the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, Lowell Transitional Living Center and United Teen Equality Center.

Paul Savage, now an AmeriCorps worker (as part of the Volunteers in Service to America, or VISTA, program) for the Caleb Foundation, was one of the 1,600 people who has received computer training from one of those labs.

Before he walked into the Community Software Lab in late 2001, Savage had been a Chinese-food delivery driver and unsatisfied with his work. Now 36, he runs computer labs for the Caleb Foundation, which builds and manages low-income housing throughout New England, in his second year as a VISTA worker.

"If it wasn't for LTC, I wouldn't be where I am today," he said.

Although the federal grant expired last month, all of the centers created with the money are still operating. LTC officials now are turning their sights to expanding the community groups' access to the Internet.

"The grant we just had was focused on individual people getting skills and getting access," Sullivan said. "Now what we're trying to do is create a community space that is for everyone in the community."

Working with several volunteer programmers from UMass Lowell's Computer Science Department and local community organizations such as New Beginnings, a job training and life-enrichment program LTC already has launched the Merrimack Valley Hub Project.

Viewable at www.mvhub.com , the Web site is essentially a databank of numerous agencies throughout the region and the services they provide.

Sullivan said the plan is to turn the Web site into a so-called Web portal, much like the city of Lowell's Web site, where local community groups can offer such services as on-line enrollment forms and create resources for their own use, such as Web-based databases that would be available in-house.

One such example is a project now under way at UTEC, an agency that offers support and programs to city youths in an effort to steer them away from gang involvement or drug use.

LTC funded the creation of UTEC's computer and video-production labs and is helping the agency to build a comprehensive database of clients it serves, tracking their involvement and attendance in agency programs.

"The great thing about it is they really tailored the database to us," said Gregg Croteau, UTEC's executive director. "It becomes so much easier for us to do all our reports because all the information we have to track is connected to the database. For us to do that would have cost us way more than we ever could have afforded. It's awesome."

For more information about the technology initiative or computer training programs available in the area, call Sullivan at (978) 458-5400.

Michael Lafleur's e-mail is mlafleur@lowellsun.com.