Technology Initiative

In January 2003, the Boston Foundation convened representatives of Boston-area CDCs, LISC and the Massachusetts Association of CDCs to discuss technology needs and priorities. The issues raised included concerns about growing competition from private developers, the importance of access to data and information, differing levels of CDC IT capacity, the challenges of hiring and retaining technology staff, the inefficiency of duplicated resources versus opportunities for cost sharing, the development of systems allowing knowledge management to move the community development field forward, and technology access and skills for community residents.

An Advisory Group of the participating CDCs was appointed to guide the work of a consulting team from Harvard Business School and Accenture.  The work was coordinated by New Sector Alliance, a nonprofit consulting group.  The consultant team surveyed CDCs to determine their IT needs and priorities and performed a preliminary assessment of the technology capacity of each CDC using Tech Atlas, an on line assessment tool developed by NPower.  An extensive list of IT needs and priorities was developed and then narrowed until a consensus was reached on the objectives of the project.   The objectives for the project were determined as:

*  Discovering  shareable technologies offering efficiencies of scale, 
    cost savings, and knowledge management opportunities
*  Capacity building of individual CDCs; and
*  Computer, internet and information access for community residents.

Click here for details about the Technology Initiative.