The Delivery Agency Consortium is composed of United Way of the Lower Mainland, Volunteer Vancouver, Vancouver East Community Skills Connection, Tradeworks Training Society and the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology. A Community Advisory Committee will assist with identification and implementation phases and be composed of representatives from broad networking groups that focus on youth, seniors, First Nations, disabilities, low income and other groups, especially those that are otherwise isolated.

Throughout its six-year history Vancouver Community Network has built on its strong partnerships and collaborations with Lower Mainland organizations and agencies. Providing Internet services to organizations is a core VCN service to the community. Vancouver Community Network range of training programs build community capacity and sustainable use of the Internet.

The 604 Connect! Delivery Agency Consortium will identify a large number of voluntary sector organizations through its member and affiliate groups, a community advisory committee, direct community outreach and a publicity campaign. Organizations will be assessed for program eligibility and interest in receiving the VolNet Service Package. Completed applications will be compiled and forwarded to Industry Canada with an Assessment Report and full proposal for Implementation and Evaluation Phases.

During the Implementation Phase, the Delivery Agency will provide 200 eligible organizations with new or used computer equipment, Internet connectivity, group based and on-site training, assistive devices where necessary, regular group capacity building workshops and ongoing support.

An evaluation team will prepare a narrative report on the numbers of groups and people affected by the program, the uses of services provided, the long term impact of program delivery and it’s sustainability.

The Vancouver Community Network (VCN) has been providing affordable Internet access to individuals and non-profit groups for over four years. In providing a free public computer utility, free training and ongoing support, the CommunityNet provides an invaluable service to those who would otherwise experience barriers to the benefits of Internet based communication and research tools. Vancouver Community Network also provides Public Access Terminal for those who do not have access to a computer at home or work. The Community Network is also a wealth of community information generated by local organizations and agencies, many of which keep their information on VCN’s Web server. Vancouver Community Network was awarded charitable status in 1996 after a landmark decision from the Federal Court of Appeal for providing access to new information technologies.

United Way of the Lower Mainland has been helping children, youth, families, seniors and people with disabilities for more than 65 years. During this time, United Way has worked with communities to address family violence issues, create culturally accessible services, and ensure that human care agencies are supported in all communities throughout the Lower Mainland. United Way brings together business, labour, government, the voluntary sector, and individuals to strengthen the communities in which we live and work.

United Way plays a unique role. It is a fundraiser, a funder, and a community leader. As a fundraiser, United Way raised over $24,450,000 million in 1997. Many agencies could not undertake their own major fundraising efforts and many smaller agencies could not survive without United Way fundraising efforts. As a funder, United Way provides stability and sustained funding to cover 105 member agencies and special project funding to respond to emerging issues and changing social conditions in the Lower Mainland. Over 93 projects were supported in 1997. Donors can be assured that their contribution helps fund agencies that have proven credibility in our communities. United Way ensures donor dollars go to where they are most needed in our community. As a community leader, United Way adds value to the community by encouraging voluntarism, by addressing the cultural diversity in the Lower Mainland, by conducting research on important social issues, by bringing together different sectors in our community to seek solutions to critical social issues and by leveraging resources from different sources to strengthen the well being of the community.

Volunteer Vancouver’s mission is to promote volunteerism, and to strengthen the voluntary sector. For 55 years, Volunteer Vancouver has been a vital link between people who want to make a difference in their community and the countless opportunities to provide time and energy as volunteers.

As that link, Volunteer Vancouver promotes volunteer involvement through ongoing media exposure, special events, and public presentations to thousands of local schools, seniors’ centres, companies, ESL groups, community centres, etc. Volunteer Vancouver makes it easy to volunteer by providing access to volunteer positions with over 425 member agencies through personal interviews, its website, a touch screen multimedia kiosk network, and the Talking Yellow Pages.

Volunteer Vancouver builds successful volunteer experiences and strengthens the voluntary sector by providing the necessary resource materials, training, professional development workshops and seminars to Boards of Directors, staff and volunteers.

At the same time, Volunteer Vancouver works with corporations to encourage corporate social responsibility. In 1992, Volunteer Vancouver was a partner agency in launching Leadership Vancouver and has also developed and coordinated training programs in partnership with Vancouver Community College on volunteer management and community development.

This year, Volunteer Vancouver has developed a program in cooperation the New Westminster School District. The Youth Initiatives Program ensures that young people receive planning and organizational skills to connect to a future, which includes taking responsibility for what is important in their lives and their community.

The Vancouver East Community Skills Connection is a coalition of 40 social service agencies, community centres, colleges, universities, governments and private training organizations whose mission is to enhance the employment opportunities of residents of East Vancouver through education, training, employment services, job development and advocacy.

The Vancouver East Community Skills Centre provides computer-based training and skills upgrading. The centre’s services are community driven and have evolved according to the needs of the Vancouver Eastside. The volunteer Board represents a wide range of community agencies, interest groups and other stakeholders. Direct community involvement is the key to the decision making process regarding the identification and assessment of training needs. Training programs that meet the needs of business, industry, labour, equity groups, and the community economic development strategy are priority areas for centre activities.

Tradeworks is an accessible and relevant part of the Downtown Eastside continuum of services focussed on youth. Tradeworks is accountable, responsible and co-operative. In a safe, supportive environment, sensitive to the individual, Tradeworks provides skills, training, knowledge and work opportunities to enhance quality of life and foster sustainable independence.

Tradeworks has grown substantially from its beginnings as a training facility that focused on the twelve week Basic Building Trades Training into a multi-faceted organization helping identify and meet the diverse needs of the community in which it operates. In October of 1998, Tradeworks entered into a partnership with Vancouver Community College and The Vancouver East Community Skills Center to deliver hands-on training to income assistance recipients wishing to pursue careers in the hi-technology industry. The resulting twenty-week computer-refurbishing project has been an enormous success to date, and the student accomplishments have been many. Tradeworks also provides employment services to income assistance applicants and recipients. Its Job Shop is increasingly utilized as a community resource for all persons seeking employment.

The Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology’s (CPROST) primary research focus is the relationship between public policy and the management of technology. The Centre brings together practitioners and scholars to study the interaction of advances in science and technology, their implementation in the marketplace, and the consequent impact on community and individual interests. CPROST promotes understanding of the relationship between private and public sectors as they stimulate, monitor, and control the process of technological innovation. CPROST also promotes sound methodologies for the implementation of technological change and retains researchers skilled in case study techniques, advanced qualitative methods, and the strategic use of information technologies.

VCN started in 1993 as the Vancouver Regional FreeNet Association. Community activists, librarians and computer scientists came together to form a grassroots initiative that would ensure that the advantages of rapidly evolving Internet technology would be made available to everyone, not just to those who could afford the current commercial rates and acquire the necessary skills. They chose a FreeNet model that had been successfully used for community development in Cleveland, Ohio and applied elsewhere in Canada. Original funding for the initiative was raised, after numerous community consultations, from government and private sources. The funding base also included a large group of interested citizens who formed the core of VCN’s membership.

VCN is an associate member of the 411 Seniors Centre Society and collaborates with them in offering a computer training facility, public access to the Internet, an online directory, a web page and many other activities. VCN previously collaborated with the National Academy of Older Canadians and Vickery, Mathews and Associates to deliver the Trinet training program. VCN currently works with the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health to provide training, with the Latin American Community Council to provide services for Spanish speakers, with Dawn to Dusk, the Carnegie Centre, Gathering Place and Neil Squire Foundation to provide public Internet access.

Electronic Labour Market Information Project (1995-1996)

Communities Connect (1997-1998)

Spanish Language Project (1998-1999)

Job Seekers Internet Access Project (1997-1999)

Community Building with Community Networks (1998-1999)

As a provincially and federally registered non-profit, charitable organization, VCN produces annual narrative and financial reports to account for the activities of the society, as well as the receipt and use of society funds. VCN’s financial records are maintained by Discovery Accounting. They generate a monthly, consolidated budget comparison and balance sheet for the Board of Directors. They also produce financial statements for the membership of the society, which are presented by the Board at the Annual General Meeting.

The Delivery Agency will identify and contact up to 1000 voluntary sector organizations in the Greater Vancouver local telephone dialing area for eligibility. The 200 eligible groups to be assisted will be drawn from a number of sources: the membership and affiliations of the delivery agency partners, a conference on the community use of Information Technology, other community based events and media campaigns.

A Community Advisory Committee will be struck from representatives of existing networks to ensure that groups approached represent a wide range of activity and geographic location. These networks could include:

• Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC
• La Federation des Francophones de la Colombie-Britannique
• Vancouver City Youth Advisory Committee
• BC Coalition for People with Disabilities
• Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of BC
• Starship Bingo
• PovNet
• Parks and Recreation services
• Community Centre Associations
• Association of Neighbourhood Houses
• BC Library Association
• Information Services Vancouver

The core partnerships of 604 Connect! will be the Delivery Agency Consortium (see attached Letter of Understanding). All Delivery Agency partners will help identify eligible groups from among their membership and affiliates in the initial assessment phase. In addition to this, specific consortium partners will be responsible for particular components of program delivery. The United Way of the Lower Mainland will be responsible for soliciting used computers and some human resources. Vancouver East Community Skills Connection will provide training space, Tradeworks Training Society will be responsible for refurbishing, upgrading and testing computer equipment. Volunteer Vancouver will be responsible for recruitment and referral of trainers and other technical support volunteers. The Simon Fraser University - Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology will provide evaluation and impact assessment of Delivery Agency activities in the Lower Mainland and offer recommendations for sustainability and further development of VolNet goals.

The above organizations represent the core partnerships of the Delivery Agency Consortium. A Community Advisory Committee will be established to contribute both expertise and resources (see above). Also, other partnerships will be developed before and during the Assessment Phase. Government partners will be from all three levels and include student and employment program placements. Corporate partners will include local businesses who donate used computer equipment to be upgraded, software companies for operating system and communications packages, and others who contribute specialized services or assistance such as transport and delivery of computers or work space and shared utilities.

The Delivery Agency will use the membership and affiliations of Volunteer Vancouver, the United Way of the Lower Mainland and other networking agencies to identify and assess the eligibility of voluntary sector groups for VolNet. Eligible groups will receive off and on-site training, refurbished computer equipment, an Internet connection and assistance to use the Internet as a part of their regular activities. An ongoing Internet support centre providing connectivity, training and technical assistance will be available without charge after the program period to ensure the increased community capacity developed during the program is sustainable.

Six major deliverables are included in the work plan. These are in addition to partnership development, volunteer recruitment and training, coordination and administration activities.

• contact organizations with program information and application deadlines
• assess eligibility for program, sector, priority groups, geographic location, language
• assess readiness, information needs and timing issues
• assess hardware needs and abilities: terminal, modem, upgrade, phone line
• assess software needs if organization already has hardware
• assess training needs and abilities: windows, email, lists, news groups, searching, web page development
• submit database of eligible organizations for inclusion in program

• solicit used computers and other hardware
• transport equipment to storage or refurbishing workshop
• refurbish, install software and test computers
• transport functioning computers to groups or storage
• install computers in voluntary sector group facilities
• test computers and software on site

• develop software connectivity package/s
• provide dedicated modem pool for community groups
• provide servers: email, news, web, list
• provide alternative PPP or text shell access
• provide range of connectivity options

• provide training for installers, helpers and trainers
• provide introductory off-site Internet workshops for group staff and volunteers
• provide tailored on-site workshops with organization staff and volunteers
• provide weekly drop-in capacity building workshops in web page development, calendars, online collaboration, feedback forms etc.

• provide on-site maintenance/repair teams
• provide walk-in and phone-in help desk
• provide email help desk
• provide online technical self-help resources

• number of groups identified, assessed and participating details on group characteristics
• number of groups supplied with computers

• number of people/groups trained on/off-site

by type and level of workshop

• logs of group usage of Internet: email, news, lists, web date of initial connection
• interviews re. benefits, usefulness, long term benefit

The six major 604 Connect! deliverables are described in more detail below.

Outreach to voluntary sector organizations will be through internal networking amongst delivery agency and advisory committee partners, and via a publicity campaign using news releases, public service announcements, posters, flyers, faxes, letters and phone calls to reach the widest possible range of groups. Where existing networks or databases exist, they will be used to broaden and deepen the reach of program material. For instance, libraries, community centres, neighbourhood houses and coalition groups will pass on program information to groups using their services. Library, cultural alliance, information services and other organization databases will also be used directly to seek out eligible groups.

This phase of the project is considered to be of key importance. It is estimated that of the 1000 groups to be identified as potentially eligible, at least 500 will be in direct communication with outreach staff in order for the Delivery Agency to be in possession of all materials needed to establish eligibility of 200 groups. To reach the desired number of voluntary sector groups, including 25% isolated groups, two out reach workers will be contracted for a period of two months each. This will allow for an average of 3 hours of attention for each successful eligible group to provide a full complement of information ready to be submitted.

The outreach workers will use phone, fax, mail and personal visits to contact and determine the potential eligibility of groups. A designated phone and fax line for VolNet activities will be established at the earliest possible date and a further phone line will be made available during this phase. Much outreach work will be take place at sectoral meetings and conferences where presentations will be made and face to face contact established with key representatives of voluntary sector groups. Standard prompt sheets, questionnaires, checklists and reply forms will be used to facilitate the smooth transition of information to a database. The database will be submitted both electronically and in print form to meet assessment reporting requirements and complement narrative reports.

Refurbished or new computer hardware will be provided to all selected groups, installed and tested on site to ensure functionality. Depending on the price and availability of new units, the Delivery Agency will implement one or both of two action plans for hardware provision.

Through a computer soliciting and refurbishing partnership agreement, the Delivery Agency will solicit 300 used computers from corporate partners. These computers will be transported to the Tradeworks Training Society where they will be refurbished and upgraded to run Windows 95 and be Y2K compliant. Computer equipment will be PC 486 66Mhz or faster to allow Windows 95 installation, or will be the equivalent in another operating system to enable PPP Internet access. All computers will have colour SVGA monitors and have either internal or external modems capable of 14.4 Kbps. or greater. Unemployed trainees in the facilities of the Vancouver Community College will carry out the refurbishing work. Refurbished computers will be delivered to participating groups’ facilities where they will be installed, configured, tested and used as the focus of a training workshop for the group.

Alternatively, new computers of Pentium 160 quality or better and with internal modems will be configured and installed on site. A training workshop will be provided on using the newly installed equipment to ensure the equipment works for those who will use it.

Vancouver CommunityNet will provide dial-in modem access to a Sun Sparc 5 and other Sun servers via an Ascend Max switch with dedicated phone numbers for community group access. The geographical area served will be the Lower Mainland of BC as defined by the Vancouver local toll-free dialing area. Voluntary sector groups will have the option of accessing the Internet via a text shell menu or PPP connection. Service will be available 24 hours a day.

Each group account will include access to email, newsgroups, the Web. A small Web page will be established with information about the voluntary sector group and will be hosted as a sub-domain of Vancouver CommunityNet. The page will contain core contact information, a brief statement of mission and provide an email tag on the page. The page will be listed in the search tools and indexes of Vancouver CommunityNet to make it widely available and accessible. The established Web site is the property of the group which can then maintain and build on it according to their abilities and to meet their own needs.

Voluntary organizations that choose to use commercial Internet Service

Providers for the provision of access, initially or at a later date, will be able to build on their earlier capacity. They will be able to access a VCN POP server for mail and use FTP to maintain their Web site, mailing lists and other utilities, which can be maintained on VCN’s server. VCN provides a full range of mail forwarding, CGI, domain name, discussion group and other services to enable groups to take advantage of the community based service while developing their online capacity at a rate that suits their goals.

Aside from training volunteers and staff who will be helping to deliver the VolNet service package, there will be three broad training components:

Sustainability in the organization’s use of the Internet will be encouraged through education in the benefits and strategic importance of the Internet which will be integrated with each level of training. Groups will also be encouraged through demonstration to apply their learned skills to the particular circumstances of their sector. VCN provides connectivity on an honour-based donation system, so groups experiencing temporary financial difficulties will not have their continuity of service jeopardized.

Volunteer maintenance and repair teams will be formed to respond to equipment failures or malfunction. A help desk for groups will answer technical questions received in person, by mail, phone, fax or email. Also, an extensive set of help resources covering most frequent problems will be available in paper and online.

Evaluation data will be gathered from database records to be submitted, from written evaluations and from random surveys. Throughout the Implementation Phase, a database will be used to both track the progress of selected voluntary sector groups and to report general progress at regular intervals. During the final stages of implementation, the evaluation team will research, develop and prepare a narrative report on the numbers of groups and people affected by the program, the uses of services provided, their integration, the long term impact of program delivery and it’s sustainability.

An external evaluation group, the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology, will also confer with the Management Team to ensure appropriate procedures are being developed and complete records being kept.