Darbyville Community Technology Center
Organization Information:
- Organization Name:
- Westfall Educational Foundation
- City & State:
- Williamsport,
- Ohio
- Organization Website:
- darbyville.org
- Organization's Mission Statement
A Stronger Community Through Student Achievement - The intent of the Westfall Foundation is to enhance the existing education programs, partnerships, and collaborations to improbe quality of education for all children in the Westfall Local Schools.
Submission Information
- Impact Essay
The Westfall Foundation has partnered with the Darbyville Community Technology Center (CTC) to provide state of the art technology to the village of Darbyville and the surrounding community. With the award in October of 2007 of a nationally competitive grant, the USDA and Horizon Telecom made a joint commitment to leapfrog the small rural town of Darbyville, Ohio to the fore front of Internet technology. Darbyville, a village of less than 500 residents located 30 miles southwest of Columbus, received one of only nineteen USDA Community Connect Grants awarded in the nation out of a pool of over 200 applicants.
The grant funding combined with Horizon's matching funds has deployed fiber-to-the home broadband as well as construct and equip the Community Technology Center and Wi-Fi hotspot.
The Darbyville project dovetails with Governor Strickland's Broadband Ohio Initiative and offers a testbed of the effectivness of technology-enabled education, healthcare and economic development with services including:
- Telepresence for telecommuting, job interviews, ect.
- Distance learning for degree completion, AP classes, etc.
- Community training programs, e.g. entrepreneurship, computer use, foreign language training, etc.
- Open lab for general computer access.
The Darbyville Community Technology Center (CTC) has been successful in offering training workshops, staff support, computer and wi-fi access to the village of Darbyville and the surrounding community. There is also available Interactive Video possibilities so that visitors may engage in telecommuting, job interviews and medical applications as well as Distance learning opportunities in which visitors can engage in AP cources, degree completion, graduate education and continuing education.
Capturing much appreciation from Darbyville and the surrounding area the CTC has registered 280 users in only six months of operations. The CTC has partnered with organizations that will continue to enhance their growth. Featuring training workshops in:
- Basic Computer Literacy
- Basic internet Training
- Basic Micorsoft Office 2007
- eBay
- Resume'/Job search
the CTC will definietly turn mirrors into windows for those who take advantage of what it has to offer.
- Submission Category
- Optimize Mission Delivery
