Neighborhood Networks in a Class of Its Own: The Center Classification Process Explained

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Description:

Center staff might not know it, but their center may have already fulfilled the requirements to attain Certified Classification or Model Classification status. Participants find out during this session that provides an overview of the Center Classification process and highlights the benefits and incentives for reaching each level. Also, discussed during this session, is how Center Classification impacts center sustainability and how Neighborhood Networks centers which have achieved advanced levels are using their new status to achieve greater results.

Presenters:

Steven McLaine
Project Manager
Neighborhood Networks
Phone: (301) 495-4337

Becky Taylor
Director CWA-Cayce Learning Center
Phone: (615) 248-4029

Steve McLaine has more than 11 years of experience in community technology centers, online communities, nonprofit technology, technology policy, and low-income communities. As Neighborhood Networks project manager, he oversees communications, program development, special projects, and the Neighborhood Networks Web site for the Initiative. Previously, Mr. McLaine served as the assistant director of Young Scholars' Institute, a nonprofit learning center that provided educational, cultural, and recreational activities to inner-city public school students. Mr. McLaine earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Virginia, and a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University. His master's practicum, "Minority and Low Income User Satisfaction at Community Technology Centers," is currently posted on the CTCNet Web site, and his work on ethnic online communities was featured in Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice, which was published by Routledge in 2003.

Becky Taylor has been working with Neighborhood Networks centers since 1998, when she opened the Pulaski Neighborhood Networks Computer Learning Center in Pulaski, Virginia. In 2000, Ms. Taylor moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and became the director of the CWA-Cayce Learning Center. Currently, Ms. Taylor oversees the center's programming and administration. Ms. Taylor works to address the needs of all residents in the CWA Plaza Apartments and James A. Cayce Homes, including the growing Somali population. Ms. Taylor earned a degree in public and urban affairs from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).

Presentation