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Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, East Palo Alto was named the
kick-off site of the HP Digital Village program in April 2000. The program
is a philanthropic initiative for selected underserved communities that
draws from technology and a community's assets to solve pressing issues
and fuel economic development. It illustrates HP's vision of e-inclusion,
a future in which all people have access to the social and economic opportunities
of the digital age.
Over the past three years, the community and its
Digital Village corporate supporters have moved
from good ideas to resourceful implementation by
building a technological infrastructure for access,
learning, collaboration, outreach and economic
development. A number of “signature projects” have
been implemented during EPADV’s first three years:
Community Network, comprising EPA.net, Technology Access Points
and Community Grants
Launched in 2002 through the partnership of Plugged In, One East Palo
Alto and all of the Digital Village lead organizations, EPA.net is an
online resource center that provides East Palo Alto residents and organizations
with information about the community and the City of East Palo Alto.
Public forums on the site facilitate discussions about community life,
allowing residents to share ideas with community leaders and explore
ways technology can solve community issues.
Technology Access Points (TAP) provide safe, welcoming, “easy
to get to” sites where residents access information to solve everyday
problems.
Through the Community Grants program, EPADV
provided technology tools to 30 small nonprofit
organizations and programs within the community
that previously had limited access to technology.
Grant recipients now have access to the Community Network and are building
their capacity to expand and enhance their services to area residents.
Belle Haven 1-to-1 E:learning Project
This landmark school project provides laptop
computers for use by more than 400 students in
grades 4 through 8 and 45 teachers at Belle Haven
School. Intended to revolutionize the way teachers
teach and students learn, the program gives
disadvantaged students critical computing skills,
makes the Internet a cornerstone resource for
teaching and learning, and facilitates new
relationships between families and teachers.
Small Business Development Initiative
EPADV launched the Small Business Development
Initiative (SBDI) in 2001, a project designed to help small local businesses
contribute to the community's economic development. Managing this effort
is Start Up, a nonprofit organization that provides training, capital
and other assistance to help establish and support locally owned and
operated small businesses in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park.
Since its launch, SBDI has delivered technology
equipment and training resources to nearly 70 East
Palo Alto licensed small business owners. It has also augmented Start
Up’s technological infrastructure to the extent of significantly
improving the organization‘s capacity to deliver core programs
and services of entrepreneurship training, technical assistance and
capital access to hundreds of clients and over 100 currently operating
local small businesses. These efforts have translated into $2.75 million
worth of business for the area and 156 full- or part-time jobs.
Community Academy
With planning currently underway, the Academy will be a state-of-the-art
employment and skills-training facility housing some EPADV signature
projects and other community organizations.
In addition to the signature projects, the Homestretch program placed
five high school students in HP summer internships where they learned
about hightech careers and contributed to marketing programs for HP’s
Home Products Division. And, the HP Scholars program awarded nine graduating
high school seniors with a $40,000 college scholarship package, including
cash, HP internships and HP computing equipment.
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