Brief Summary of Concept: Mi Familia, Mi Comunidad will be a partnership between the LACC and the University of Delaware Dept. of Education. UDel Education majors will work with urban, minority youth ages 14 to 17 in the LACC Computer Lab. Youth will create web pages for Hilltop-Westside businesses and organizations, or youth will create a family history or personal history web page. Youth will be expected to master scanning, downloading, word processing, desktop publishing and digital photography.
Target population: Approximately 40 minority youth ages 13 to 17 who live in the Hilltop-Westside neighborhood of Wilmington. Youth are from households with incomes at 125% of Federal Poverty Guidelines ($16,700 for a family of four). Parent/guardians tend to be unskilled workers who lack high-school diplomas. Latino youth are from families where Spanish is spoken at home.
Statement of Problem for which assistance is sought: The LACC began to address the problem of the Digital Divide in 1996, when the agency scraped together funds to purchase four Pentium computers to replace outdated 286 computers in the LACC computer lab. Thanks to additional donations, the LACC computer lab has 10 Pentium computers linked by a server and with Internet access via a DSL line. The agency is in the process of setting up a second computer lab, to be shared by youth and adults. The challenge is to find funds for a computer instructor and to recruit consistent and dependable volunteers to provide structured computer projects leading to computer literacy for the approx. 175 youth, ages 6 to 17, who regularly attend LACC programs.
A partial solution is the existing La Red Magica/The Magic Web, a program for children ages 8 to 12 in partnership with the University of Delaware Department of Education. On weekdays during fall and spring semesters, the LACC computer lab becomes a learning laboratory for education majors enrolled in a practicum attached to a UDel education course. Working with up to three children at a time, UDel students teach children to operate a computer and use a variety of software. The children also receive much-needed mentoring and individual attention.
In a survey of 65 La Red Magica children in Spring 1998, UDel students found that none have a computer at home. Children reported that their computer time at school is limited and that the LACC is their primary place to learn about computers.
The LACC seeks to expand its computer literacy and mentoring program to middle and high-school students, ages 13 to 17. The youth, like their younger siblings, need regular and frequent computer time as well as an organized program to teach and measure computer literacy through individual and small-group instruction.
What the program intends to accomplish for LACC youth:
- Urban, minority youth ages 13 to 17 will become computer literate, learning web page creation
- Youth will work with technology they don’t have at home, i.e. computers, e-mail
- Youth will provide a community service by creating web pages for neighborhood organizations
- Neighborhood organizations and businesses, as well as parents and grandparents, will be exposed to computer technology through the web pages created by neighborhood youth
- Youth will spend time with Udel college students, receiving mentoring and attention from them.
- Youth will learn about college life and how to get into college.
Program Description
During the Fall and Spring school semesters, Mi Familia, Mi Comunidad will become a practicum project for future teachers registered in a UDel education course. The UDel students will come to the LACC four evenings a week to work with teenagers on their Web Page projects. In addition to computer literacy, Mi Familia/Mi Comunidad will involve components of community service, mentoring, peer education, intergenerational understanding and leadership skills.
The project is based around Internet proficiency and web page design. Each youth, assisted by UDel students, will decide on the subject of his/her web page. Web pages must include text, graphics, photography, sound and animation. Youth will be expected to master scanning, downloading word processing, desktop publishing and digital photography. Youth who master a computer skill, such as scanning or downloading, will be listed as "Masters" on the wall of the computer lab and will be expected to teach the skill to their peers.
A youth could interview and create a web page for a neighborhood abuela or abuelo (grandmother or grandfather). A youth might interview his abuelo – who came from Puerto Rico as a teen --about how he adapted to life on the mainland. Excerpts from the interview would be posted on the web page, along with photographs of relatives, photographs of family artifacts, a recording of the abuelo’s voice or his/her favorite song, etc. Another youth might create a web page for the owner of a neighborhood food market. The project could involve creating an advertisement for the store along with an interview with the owner. Another youth could create a Web Page for a neighborhood civic group.
Outcome
During the grant year (Fall and Spring semester), the following will be accomplished:
- Approximately 40 youth, ages 13 to 17, will participate in Mi Familia/Mi Comunidad, and 50% (20 youth) will complete a web page.
- At least 20 youth will be listed as masters in at least one computer skill and will be able to teach their peers who have not yet learned the skill.
- At least 24 UDel education majors will get to know inner-city, at-risk, minority high-school youth before they teach them in the classroom.
For more information about the La Red Mágica program, please check
http://ematusov.soe.udel.edu/LaRedMagica