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2000 Update:
MOUNT HOPE T.E.C.H. PROGRAM
Technology Education and Community History
The mission of the Mount Hope T.E.C.H. program is to provide the Mount Hope community with relevant technology education through obtaining community based history. The intersection of real, everyday lives with technology becomes public through the digital connection that the Mount Hope T.E.C.H. Program aims to provide.
The Evolution of the Mount Hope T.E.C.H. Program
Strong foundations have been laid (literally and figuratively) for the Mount Hope T.E.C.H. Program. The Mount Hope Learning Center recently completed a move from a one-room storefront to a beautiful house at 140 Cypress Street. Mount Hope, a neighborhood located in Providence’s East Side, can look forward to a buzzing technology education and community history center at the new location.
Mount Hope has a complex history. Redevelopment has isolated the neighborhood geographically, socially, and economically from the East Side and economic opportunities of downtown Providence. It is one of the oldest contiguous African American neighborhoods in Rhode Island. In the early 20th century, Mount Hope was known to be a lively jazz center.
The goal of the Mount Hope T.E.C.H. Program is to discover the richness of the neighborhood and to document the significant community stories in a way that links residents with technology and digital skills. The Mount Hope T.E.C.H. Program is fortunate to be housed at the Mount Hope Learning Center, a place that exists to build self-respect and confidence in the youth and families of the Mount Hope community.
Mount Hope T.E.C.H. The Present
As we await the center's official opening, work is well underway to continue to build upon the solid foundation that the Mount Hope Learning Center offers. Due to the construction of two handicap accessible entrances, regular large group events are delayed from taking place at the Learning Center. We are, however, continuing to move forward!
High 5!
A core team of 5 key people within each community category (service learning students, K-12 students, community individuals, and parents) has participated in the Mount Hope TECH Program. Here are some examples:
Brown University students have been involved with the T.E.C.H. outreach push and with a computer inventory.
- A history major designed the program’s outreach flyers
- Two students have pounded the pavement and have visited performing arts and history classes at the local Hope HS.
- (5) students inventoried 36 donated PCs that will be used for the computer center and for distribution to children in our program.
Although urban renewal has affected housing stock in the neighborhood, the rich family histories still stand among long time residents. Recently, Horace Mabray shared his roots from the late 1800’s. Another resident has shared stories about his involvement with the movement of a local church. New Mount Hope residents have come forward as well to share ideas and resources.
Connect with T.E.C.H.
Meetings are geared towards any member of the community. We anticipate that as the number of programs increase, most of the learners will be children who walk to the Mount Hope Learning Center after school.
People from Providence to California representing Brown alumni, current Brown students, representatives of grass-roots youth development programs, the board of directors of the Mount Hope Learning Center, Mount Hope Learning Center staff, residents of Mount Hope, and high school students have learned about the Mount Hope T.E.C.H. Program through phone calls, face to face meeting, and email.
T.E.C.H. Programs
This program connects Mount Hope residents with educational and economic opportunities in the city. Through dialogues and meeting with community residents, this program also gathers neighborhood-specific content for the web.
T.E.C.H. TALK:
This program is the outreach and recruiting component of Mount Hope T.E.C.H. Weekly T.E.C.H. talks are coordinated with partnering community organizations to plan the community history initiative.
Teen Extreme: 20 students
Hope High School History Classes: 20 students
Carriage House: Thank you to Director Dorothy Jungels and Choreographer Mark Fisher for your support and interest.
This fall, we hope to begin our first (Hi)Story-Telling and Hot Cocoa after-school evenings. We hope to conduct these monthly during the winter season.
T.E.C.H. EASE:
This is the technology education portion of the program. Recently, 36 CPU’s were inventoried by a group of volunteers from Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. We are currently in the process of developing criteria for a computer distribution program. We’re also in the process of establishing off-site technology education programs with our surplus computers.
The Digital Connect: The Future
The Mount Hope T.E.C.H. Program strives to enhance the Mount Hope Learning Center's existing technology education program; create a public history initiative in Mt. Hope; develop useful, neighborhood-specific content for the Web; connect Mount Hope residents with other educational and economic opportunities in the city; develop literacy and visual arts programming and strengthen the ties between the Mount Hope and Brown communities.
Keeping It Real: A Perspective and Process
We are confronted by the issue of the digital divide and use this nomenclature to connect. We connect through history and educate through technology, but along the way we are met with what sometimes seem like insurmountable obstacles and the realities of making the digital divide small. We do not randomly access memory. We do not operate by specified systems. We operate with intent. We have mounting hope, hard drive and motivation to get programs going. With voice activated communication on the phone, face to face, through multiple windows and doors we open each others lives. We tell stories, share histories, and find historical icons. Bit by bit. We have a voice that we want all to hear and be decoded. We do this by becoming part of the continuous circuit that does not divide but connects us.
Thank You
Thank you Mount Hope Learning Center Board of Directors! Without your support this project would still be underground!
Thank you to the WorldCom, Brown University, and Campus Compact Partnership for providing the opportunity to connect!
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