December 1996 — Features
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A Telecommunications-Infused Community Action Project
Rather than attempting to boost student self-valuation through "feel good" pats on the back, the power of telecommunications enabled a compelling learning experience that both challenged and supported students as they saw how others valued their efforts, knowledge and creations.
Contributing to the World
With 92% of the student Prophets surveyed agreeing with the statement: "I learned that I can make a good contribution to the world," skeptics might want to look to "the world" for validation.
Unlike most learning activities in schools, Nonprofit Prophets can turn to the real world of professionals for its evaluation. Besides examining the student-made Web sites (see sidebar: URL List), the following three perspectives from nonprofit partners in Sacramento convey the impact of the students' contributions.
Karen Lessman, of the Student Buddies Program, shared in the final multipoint videoconference: "We would not ever have been able to get this done; we're lucky to be able to take care of the kids we have."
Christina Tarango of La Raza Bookstore/ Galer'a Posada said during the same videoconference: "I wish that the many people who have negative images of young people, particularly Chicano/Latino students, could all be in this room right now and see the dedication and the service that you have provided to your community... A project like this really feeds my spirit... I can go out there and know that cooperatives and collaborations can actually work and that corporations/big business and small nonprofits can get together."
Finally, Wes Doak, co-director of sacramento.org, offered a broader perspective on the impact Nonprofit Prophets had on the community of Sacramento. The following four points are quoted from an e-mail message from him:
"1. The contribution of the Nonprofit Prophets heightened the visibility and role of local nonprofits to that of area business, government and education efforts in the Internet arena. Prior to that, "services" were practically unheard of in discussions of the benefits of Internet access in our community. All talk was of commerce and the like.
"2. Smaller nonprofits, who were well aware of the values of the Internet but assumed they would never be players, were suddenly infused with a new "can do" spirit and began serious analysis of how they might benefit, and, more importantly, how their clients might benefit from Internet access.
"3. Once people could visit nonprofit sites on the Net and see the energy created, the sacramento.org began to get more volunteers eager to contribute time and effort. We have, for example, obtained the services (for free!) of Chinese and Korean webmasters to duplicate, in a manner of speaking, the efforts of the Nonprofit Prophets project for the Asian community. We expect this process to extend to other languages as well.
