This planning grant for an Information Technology (IT) Center is a collaborative project of Community Colleges in the California Counties of Contra Costa, Alameda, Napa and Solano (CANS Regional Consortium), in the San Francisco East Bay Region. This project addresses an anticipated increase in an IT workforce. The goal of this grant is the development of a comprehensive proposal for a regional center for IT Education, Training and Business Development, based upon Convergent Technologies (CT), that is, the interdisciplinary collaboration of Telecommunications, Media, IT programs and entrepreneurship through collaborative learning programs and internships.
Recent experience with a "Convergent Technology" grant at Diablo Valley College showed that there is a connection between the growth of student enrollments in the community colleges during an economic downturn and the growth in entrepreneurial activity in the local economy, especially documented by the county's business incubators. People often return to the community college to enhance or develop their skills, and entrepreneurs fall back on their highly honed skills and venture to "risk" a new idea or "start-up." They often have a clear idea of the concept, but do not understand business issues. This is where the partnership of the Community Colleges with their local business incubators or Small Business Development Centers has proven so valuable. Student interns, when offered much of the basic business information and skills, succeed. "Just-in-time" training opportunities offered on site at the business incubators provided the life raft needed for these businesses at critical times. Hence, challenges became solutions and successful businesses emerged, which meant that new jobs were created.
The IT advisory council concept has been broached to stakeholders in the region and many have indicated a willingness to commit technical expertise, software, hardware, facilities, student internships, faculty development projects and participate in articulation agreements.
The agenda for the first plenary session of the advisory council includes presentations and discussions of: 1) Activities of established IT Centers, 2) CANS IT programs, 3) Existing IT skills standards, 4) Business/Industry/Government needs assessment, 5) Proposed new curricula, 6) Faculty Development, 7) Student Internships, 8) Delivery Systems, 9) Sustainability, and 10) Criteria for Center development. Task forces are being formed to address the key issues identified for the preparation of the proposal for a regional center.
The intellectual merit of the proposed activity is based upon the qualifications and experience of the CANS Consortium and previous grants in Economic Development for the CANS region. The broader impacts focus on this regional collaboration of business, industry, educational institutions, and government partners, providing opportunities for under-represented groups, among others.
