Updates of the WV Broadband Opportunities Program . www.futurewv.org
West Virginians Shaping Their Futures
Stories of Impact: Kimball Fire Department in McDowell County
WV Operations Director, LeeAnn Shreve
In 30 communities across West Virginia, volunteer fire departments offer a new service: computer and broadband access with training provided by local computer mentors. More than 1,500 people have become active users of these new educational
access points.
On May 27, 2011, the town of Kimball in the southern coalfields of McDowell County opened their public computer center. Computer Mentor, Adam Balasis, described the creative volunteer effort to create this new space of learning. "The Kimball Fire Department didn't have enough space in their fire house to host the computer center, so we reached out the WV Department of Homeland Security, which donated a used FEMA trailer. Then, another volunteer transported the trailer to Kimball."
At the computer center grand opening, LeeAnne Shreve, Operations Director of the WV Program, met several women who are thrilled with new opportunities to learn. She describes the event.
Bonnie dropped by the grand opening this afternoon and took some time to share a little about her life with us - which has been anything but easy. She spent much of her life in an abusive marriage. She wasn't even able to look people in the eye - she felt worthless. After her marriage, she sometimes worked four jobs at one time just to put food on the table for her children and pay the bills.
Several years ago she decided to make a change in her life. She left her husband and passed her GED (while she was homeless and living at a shelter). She is so excited about this computer center! She can't believe that this opportunity is available to her for FREE. She wants to learn how to type, how use a word processor, and how to use a printer because she wants to write a book about her life - and now she will have the opportunity.
Another elderly lady named Dorothy came by just to see what computers do. She lives close to the lab, but is very poor. She can't read or write and was ecstatic that we welcomed her into the lab. I was happy to share with her that an organization from a nearby town (Welch) will be holding GED classes here and that she could learn to read and write AND use computers and broadband. Just seeing her reaction and the joy on her face made my day. It is a great reminder of why we do what we do.
PC World Blog Highlights the Innovation of the WV Broadband
Program
A recent blog in PC
World had this to say about Future Generations efforts to reduce
the digital divide in rural communities:
Computer Centers in West Virginia's
Volunteer Fire Stations
By: Phil Shapiro
West Virginia is leading the nation in technology innovation. Not the
kind of innovation involved in designing computer chips, but in an
equally important kind of innovation--social innovation in expanding
access to computers, broadband Internet, and computer training.
Other
states have set up public-use computers at public libraries, but that's
not always feasible when the only public library in town is small and
understaffed. West Virginia has come up with the idea of providing
computer access at volunteer fire and rescue departments and has
received a Federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant to
put its ideas into practice.
Data and Multimedia: Computer and Broadband Access in WV
In the summer of 2010, Future Generations Graduate School trained eight community surveyors to conduct 900 door-to-door household surveys to gauge broadband and computer use in our 30 year one project sites. This eight-page report features results of a baseline study to better understand computer and broadband use in West Virginia.
> Small Business Survey Report of Broadband and Computer Use
From October-December 2010, the Future Generations Graduate School conducted a baseline Small Business Survey of broadband and computer usage among 248 businesses in 30 communities across West Virginia.
> West Virginia Fact Sheet 2011
Download this two-page fact sheet as a quick reference guide.
> Project Photo Galleries
Take a look at fire department computer labs from around the state.
> Video of Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, Announcing the Program
In February 2010, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke, announced the $4.4 million grant from the U.S. Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to the Future Generations Graduate School.
Computer Mentor Spotlight: Christopher Neace, Logan County
Assistant
Fire Chief of the Buffalo Creek Fire Department in Logan County,
Christopher Neace, is a West Virginia native who left the state and
returned. “West Virginia is home, it is where my family is,” says
Neace. He moved to Indiana with his mother at age eight, and it was
there that he became interested in being a firefighter. At the age of
15, Neace began his 15-year service as a firefighter while in Indiana
in the cadet program.