9802650 Stone The Educational Development Center, Inc. is planning a national leadership development program for community-based technology education programs targeted to underserved populations. The Leadership Institute, which will be developed by the CTCNet Project housed at EDC, will prepare center developers, directors and related program administrators to plan and implement sustainable and effective programs in a wide variety of settings. Such training will expedite start-up for new centers and build capacity for existing centers, and it will help address the increasing demand for effective staff who can respond to the rapid spread of community-based access to computers and the Internet. During the planning phase and building on preliminary work already performed, CTCNet will: * Conduct a thorough market assessment and definition, accompanied by development of a marketing strategy * Develop content for the Institute * Prepare plans for evaluating the Institute * Arrange logistics for conducting the first session of the Institute * EDC will conduct a pilot version of the Institute in the New England area with ten participants If the market research indicates that paid participation by people in the field will not support further Institutes, EDC will implement a dedicated funding effort to support the Institute on an ongoing basis.
