Community Technology Center:
Final Report on Fiscal 1998

1. Discussion

Overview

Starting in February of 1998, the Community Technology Center staff have worked hard to bring about major changes in Plugged In’s Community Technology Center. We have achieved, and exceeded all of the goals outlined for this program for the fiscal year (October 97 – September 98). Major accomplishments include:

• creating a membership program and fee structure for adults
• adding a broad range of additional services
• re-arranging the space
• increasing the number of customers
• raising the standards for what customers expect from us and what we expect from customers
• creating resource areas around key types of customer applications.

Results: The numbers

Usage of the Center is up considerably by all standards.

The average weekly attendance in the center is up 48 percent:

• October - December, 1997: Average weekly attendance: 194 visits
• February – September, 1998: Average weekly attendance: 287 visits

Sales of bus passes have more than doubled:

• June 1997: 10 passes sold
• February 1998: 24 passes sold
• May 1998: 54 passes sold
• September 1998: 70 passes sold

People are paying for our services:

We have generated the following revenues in addition to bus pass sales:

Community members are volunteering in our center:

• 20 regular customers each month choose to be members
• 15 of them volunteer 4 hours each month
• Each month, that adds up to 60 hours of community volunteer work.

We have noticed a recent tapering off of volunteer members. We believe this indicates that people have calculated their usage and realize that, for most customers, $1/day is the best plan.

Our customers like our center:

Here are customer satisfaction results from 33 members who filled out customer satisfaction surveys.

These numbers are pretty representative of the feedback we receive from customers, and amount to customer satisfaction rate of 75%-80%. The numbers tend to include a fair amount of "therapy" feedback from teenagers who are disgruntled because we regulate teen behavior pretty aggressively during the week.

Results: The space

The carpet, room dividers and much of the cabling was destroyed during the floods in early February. With lots of help, we have been able to create an attractive and functional space:

• we have rearranged the computers so that we can have the same number of computers (18) but with much more working space (1 computer per table in the main PC cluster)
• we have reduced the clutter of misc. stuff
• we have created designated bulletin boards and functional areas: PC cluster, Mac area, tutorial stations, printing/copy area. In the process, we have solved practical problems (for example, the sun glare problem in the front of the building)
• we have started using the wall space as a small art gallery where we can display work by local artists
• we have cleaned up the flyer rack, created a library space, community resource binder, yellow pages area and many other areas where customers can depend on finding the information they are looking for
• The level of cleanliness and orderliness has significantly increased.

Results: The services

1 Computers are working:

• with Nathan’s help, we have virtually eliminated computer down time. Today, for example, all 18 computers are working;
• we have upgraded and standardized the software available on our computers. It is now much more predictable what you can do at any given computer;
• we have simplified saving to network folders for Microsoft Word and Winway resume
• desktop publishing and web design services are more readily available

2 We have created solutions spaces:

• We have completed the series of technically designated stations (desktop publishing and tutorial stations)
• We have completed the Spanish language station
• We have set up 3 designated areas for job seekers, teens and small businesses. In each case, we have created a designated workstation, a bulletin board, appropriate reference materials and a customer area on our web site. We are just completing a Health Resources area.
• We have redesigned our web site to help people get their work done more easily
• We have added more copy-center services: lamination service, color copies, paper cutter, stationery etc.

3 We have raised the expectation levels for customers:

• No more chat during the week
• Rules on what teens can do, and restrictions on hours. We have created an environment where teens, by and large, use the center for educational and productive reasons, and not just as a place to hang out.
• Posted and communicated rules

4 We have created game night on Fridays

This was recently stopped by Nathan. Interestingly, most of the children who joined in Game Night are now preparing to participate in the Chess Tournament and/or are in training with Plugged In Enterprises.

5 We have increased volunteer involvement

• Game night is run on a volunteer basis
• A regular volunteer helps job seekers
• 15 community volunteers are helping out in a variety of capacities
• 6 volunteers are teaching 4 computer classes in the evenings.

6 We have retained all of our customers

While we have raised the expectations levels, tightened our rules and introduced new fees, we have been able to continue to offer services to the most needy people in our community and to at-risk young people.

7 We have relaunched adult evening classes

We once again offer computer classes for adults 4 evenings each week, entirely staffed by volunteer, with a volunteer volunteer-coordinator. Classes are on a twice-a-week schedule. We have totally redone the registration system. Students now pay for classes, which has created a fund that the volunteers can use to purchase supplies or for graduation parties. Volunteers call all students to remind them of their classes. We need to re-evaluate these classes in view of a drop-off in attendance experienced over the Summer.

Results: The staff

• We have retained our staff
• We have provided significant amounts of training to all staff
• We have clearly identified expectations for staff and measured staff’s achievement against those expectations
• Staff is better trained, more skilled, more customer-focused and remains diverse to meet our community’s needs

Results: Monitoring our work

• We have tracked weekly attendance numbers aggressively
• We have created customer satisfaction surveys
• We have completed an attendance survey
• We have compiled the previous community survey
• We have reformatted the sign-in sheets to help us gather more data about our customers
• We have posted the results of all of these materials in our center and on our web site
• We have set up a petty cash log and a financial records system that is allowing us to track our cash, sales and expenses
• Stats are posted at www.pluggedin.org/community/stats.html

What we didn’t do

We did not achieve all of the objectives that were established when we initiated the changes at the Community Technology Center. Here are some of them:

1 Having volunteers run the center during evening hours

This appears to be a bad idea for three reasons:

1. it would be very hard to be able to maintain the quality of services offered if the center is run by volunteers. For example, it would be almost impossible for a team of volunteers to remove customers from the center if necessary. Likewise, it would be very hard to enforce quality standards for volunteers in the way we can do for staff (for example, maintaining a clean building)
2. working in the drop-in center tends to not be a very rewarding volunteer experience. It is very hard to predict the amount of assistance that customers will need. Much of the assistance needed is with fixing paper jams etc. Volunteers tend to not think of those activities as the most rewarding ones
3. almost no cost-savings would be allowed. Volunteers would need to go through an extensive training period during which they would shadow paid staff. Once they are running the center we would still need to have staff in the vicinity to deal with emergencies.

Although we need to continue to pursue volunteer involvement where appropriate, they will play a complimentary role to paid staff, not a substitution role (except perhaps in a few exceptional cases).

2 Weekend programming

It was my hope to come up with a different set of activities in the drop-in center during weekend hours, perhaps something more like CyberSmith. We do have a volunteer now who is interested in working on this but we plain haven’t gotten around to this.

3 Marketing our services

We have not yet made a major marketing push for our services.

2. Blow-By-Blow: Review of the 1998 Action Plan:

The Technology Access Center (TAC) provides access to computer technology for the East Palo Alto community. Community members are welcome to use technology for work, study, business, entertainment or communication. Plugged In does not advocate specific goals for our customers but instead provides tools for community members to achieve the goals they define for themselves. The TAC serves as a resource for customers of all skill and experience levels, from the customer who has never before used a computer, to the customer who comes in to use Photoshop on a large color monitor. Access services for adults and teens and access services for children are offered separately.

We accomplished this vision. Renamed the Center to Community Technology Center.

Ages of customers: 14 and up; children under 14 are welcome when supervised by an adult

We now use a Grade policy instead of age policy:

• Elementary-school children only on weekend or when accompanied by an adult
• Middle-school children between 3 and 7 pm
• High-school students between 3 and 9 pm

  The TAC includes at least 10 total Windows 95 and Macintosh computers. Available software includes Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Word, Excel, WinWay Resume, Printshop Deluxe, Adobe Photoshop, PageMill/Frontpage, typing and mouse practice

We now offer a total of 18 computers and have upgraded and streamlined available software applications.

• Available peripherals include a scanner, printer, color printer, digital camera

Yes.

• Available office resources include a copy machine, fax machine, telephone and basic office supplies

We have added a color copies; voice-mail service; lamination service.

Membership: Plugged In memberships are available to all interested adult community members for a reasonable fee. Customers will not be turned away based on their inability to pay for services. The cost of membership does not cover Plugged In's cost for providing resources; actual costs of membership are subsidized by fundraising efforts. Instead, the investment made by each customer by paying for their supports the program and represents the customer's support of and respect for the resources available through Plugged In.

We have implemented this fully. Daily access is $1 for adults; free for teens. Monthly membership is $15 or 4 hours of volunteering. Between 10 and 20 community members each month provide volunteer services for their membership.

• No customer will be turned away for lack of money. Those unable to pay will be able to obtain memberships through a system to be developed

Done.

• Certain services will have a fee at a level that covers its actual cost. For example, fax and photocopy services will be priced at comparable levels to those offered in the market

Yes. We break even on copy, fax, color printing, stationery and other add-on services.

• Access services will continue to be offered free of charge to all children and teenagers.

Yes.

Available resources: A variety of self-tutorial materials are available through the Access Center, including hard copy materials on basic computer use (self-tutorials of the sort available at Kinkos), self-help books, web-based interactive tutorials and goal-focused, self-paced curricula (How to become an administrative assistant, How to become a web page designer)

We offer a broad range of tutorial programs, including now Windows NT certification materials. We have created resource areas for Jobs, Teens, Business and Health. We have not created self-paced curricula (it didn't make sense). We offer a broad range of add-on services (copy, fax etc.)

• Staff members will provide an orientation to each new customer and ongoing trouble-shooting and technical assistance

Yes. We offer 30-minute one-on-one orientations for new members and provide technical assistance as needed.

• Language issues: English/Spanish bilingual staff are available to assist Spanish-speaking customers for at least 10 hours per week. Plugged In's goal is to produce all internal written materials in English and Spanish by 6/98

We provide Spanish-speaking staff on average 20 hrs per week. Not all External materials are bilingual, but we do offer general information in English, Spanish and Tongan.

Measuring the impact: With possible assistance from outside consultants, the management team will develop a Program evaluation strategy for the year. Tools may include: Number of daily customer visits; The cash investment made in the Access Center by its customers; Case studies: things people got done at Plugged In.

We maintain customer satisfaction survey forms and weekly attendance forms. We have completed a Usage Audit and track the types of things customers do in our center. We are in the process of creating a brochure that will document some of the impact the Center has on its customers.

D. Expenses and revenues. The cost of our Access program will be approximately $150,000.

The cost of the center was less than budgeted.

We will be introducing a $15/month membership fee for adults by May, 1998. In addition, certain services (fax, color prints etc.), will be offered at cost. We expect monthly revenues to be very small this year, for a total of approximately $12,000 over 12 months. $140,000 will be raised through charitable contributions.

We have achieved and exceeded the revenue expectations.