CU-CitizenAccess worked with faculty from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science to secure a grant from the state that offers skills training to help participants secure jobs. The money was used to place community ambassadors in public computer labs to offer computer literacy training and workshops to underserved populations from the Urbana Free Library, Salt and Light Food Pantry and Shadow Wood Mobile Home Park as well as a public computer lab in East St. Louis.
We've asked our local community ambassadors to blog about their experiences.
By Karen Barton/For CU-CitizenAccess.org -- A highlight of this week is that a patron I have been working with since the fall has found both full-time and part-time work. He has been to at least one Tech 21 class, including the one on online job seeking, and I have also helped him with a cover letter and online applications in the computer lab. His full-time position is as a machinist at a company...
By Karen Barton/For CU-CitizenAccess.org
CU-CitizenAccess worked with faculty from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science to secure a grant from the state that offers skills training to help participants secure jobs. The money was used to place community ambassadors in public computer labs to offer computer literacy training and workshops to underserved populations from the Urbana Free Library, Salt and Light Food Pantry and Shadow Wood Mobile Home Park as well as a public computer lab in East St. Louis.
We've asked our local computer ambassadors to blog about their experiences.
A recent conversation with a close friend is beginning to make me wonder what the public and librarians would say if asked, “What is the role of a librarian?” My friend told me that when looking for a book, she is more likely to ask a book clerk than a librarian for book suggestions and that she only depends on librarians to tell her where a...
By Imani Carr/For CU-CitizenAccess.org
CU-CitizenAccess worked with faculty from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science to secure a grant from the state that offers skills training to help participants secure jobs. The money was used to place community ambassadors in public computer labs to offer computer literacy training and workshops to underserved populations from the Urbana Free Library, Salt and Light Food Pantry and Shadow Wood Mobile Home Park as well as a public computer lab in East St. Louis.
We've asked our local computer ambassadors to blog about their experiences.
Hi everyone!
I know it's late, but Happy New Year!
Okay, who made New Year's resolutions? Aside from the traditional ones like lose weight (me), quit smoking, stop drinking so much, etc., did anyone resolve to volunteer more, gain or expand your knowledge in digital media/computer literacy? Too far-fetched?...
By Imani Carr/For CU-CitizenAccess.org
CU-CitizenAccess worked with faculty from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science to secure a grant from the state that offers skills training to help participants secure jobs. The money was used to place community ambassadors in public computer labs to offer computer literacy training and workshops to underserved populations from the Urbana Free Library, Salt and Light Food Pantry and Shadow Wood Mobile Home Park as well as a public computer lab in East St. Louis.
We've asked our local computer ambassadors to blog about their experiences.
Hello! My name is Imani Carr. As a long-time resident of Champaign, Illinois, I have lived in several different neighborhoods (we moved a lot), and I have attended Garden Hills Elementary, Edison Junior High, and Centennial and Central high schools. In the battle between Central and Centennial, I have to say my allegiance has...
CU-CitizenAccess worked with faculty from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science to secure a grant from the state that offers skills training to help participants secure jobs. The money was used to place community ambassadors in public computer labs to offer computer literacy training and workshops to underserved populations from the Urbana Free Library, Salt and Light Food Pantry and Shadow Wood Mobile Home Park as well as a public computer lab in East St. Louis.
We've asked our local computer ambassadors to blog about their experiences.
By Karen Barton/For CU-CitizenAccess.org
Happy belated New Year to all! My name is Karen Barton and I am a Community Ambassador at the Urbana Free Library. This position is made possible by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Eliminate the Digital Divide grant and may best be defined as technology instructor. I am currently pursuing an M.S....
By Pam Dempsey/CU-CitizenAccess.org for Latitude News-- My office in Champaign-Urbana, Ill. is a 40-minute commute from the place I now call home, Danville, Ill. – the former mining town that just six years ago got a lot of (unwanted) attention for having the lowest property values in the country.
But it’s the housing situation in affluent, high tech and “green” Champaign-Urbana that’s more interesting.
Here’s why: more families are now considered to be in poverty in Champaign county than ten years ago. That’s one in four households according to the 2010 Census. Over the same time, the number of low-income students in public school districts grew about 60 percent. In August, I received a fellowship from the Marguerite Casey Foundation to report on poverty in the aftermath of America’s Great Recession. Champaign-Urbana seemed like a good place to start.
Something in common...
This year has been a productive one for CU-CitizenAccess.org as we explored new collaborations and grew relationships with media friends like Illinois Public Media, The News-Gazette and Hoy Chicago.
During 2012, we worked on television and radio projects as well as Spanish bilingual stories all aimed at bringing you in-depth investigative and enterprise coverage of social and economic issues in Central Illinois.
We also offered more opportunities for journalism students and community members to get involved.
We’ve published dozens of online, radio and print work produced by students from the University of Illinois’ Department of Journalism.
And this past fall we were part of a state grant to fund and staff two neighborhood “news labs.” These spaces are public computer labs located in underserved areas that offer digital media training. Our two news labs are located at Salt and Light Food Pantry and Shadow Wood...
The City of Champaign approved an intergovernmental agreement Tuesday night with the Housing Authority of Champaign County for the first phase of the redevelopment of Bristol Place Neighborhood.
This first phase includes relocating residents and buying and clearing residential property in the Bristol Park area, which is an area bounded by Bradley Avenue to Shadow Wood Mobile Home Park, Market Street and a set of railroad tracks to the east. According to a city resolution, there are about 80 structures within the area, mostly residential.
The Housing Authority approved a draft intergovernmental agreement on Nov. 15, according to city documents. The Housing Authority would contribute just over $1 million for the first phase of the project to help with relocation efforts, according to city documents.
This move received earlier criticism from low-income housing advocates, who protested that doing so would take away housing opportunities for the neediest...
Technology and data in Champaign-Urbana have received a big boost lately.
The locally-launched CU Wiki (http://www.cuwiki.net/) now nears 120 users (as of Dec. 10) and more than 1,300 pages.
Driven by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois over the past year, CU Wiki offers a user-generated directory of Who’s Who in the area as well as a plethora of pages on events, things-to-do and places to go.
Students from the library school’s Community Informatics classes spent the fall working on outreach and content building.
The local wiki offers resources not found elsewhere, such as a directory of all the public computing sites and classes around town.
For example, you can get free Wi-Fi at “The Whip” barbershop on Fourth Street or use its public computer.
Anyone can sign up and edit and the site needs more users.
Visit http://www.cuwiki.net/About_CU_Wiki to...
This week, Champaign-Urbana Public Health Administrator Julie Pryde shares her thoughts on publicizing restaurant inspections.
CU-CitizenAccess has examined the health inspection process throughout Champaign County for the past year.
The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District conducts health inspections for every food retail facility throughout the county as well as within the cities. The county and city inspection ordinances are overseen by two separate public health boards.
Unlike trends across the country, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District does not require any food retail facility to publicize its health inspection results nor does the district do so on its website.
Since June, however, health officials began posting a single document each month that list every health inspection conducted that month along with the status of the food facility's health permit. The document does not contain resulting scores, rather a label that...