Here are small bits of information about what services various C@P Sites offer around Halifax. These are selected highlights from some of the activities reported through our CAP sites in the last year.
ARK OUTREACH
Overall success in maintaining our site located with Ark's youth
drop-in centre--this ensures ongoing, daily access to the internet and
other technological resources for homeless youth who cannot access
resources at other sites for various reasons Particularly, we
have now set up a computer and space within our centre specifically for
music recording, now that we have the technology, we are excited to
begin training and teaching each other about recording We did not organize any specific events
for our community here at ARK, but there are several times throughout
the year when spontaneous actions or activities evolve out of the
interests of the youth who access our site--researching a project
together, making an animation, recording music, sharing stories through
posted pictures, etc. Small as events go, but part of community
participation in significant ways. Much peer to peer learning occurs as far as using social networks and various applications... For many who experience marginalization in our society--the elderly,
disabled, low income or poor, homeless (lacking fixed address and
identification)--perhaps the sense of irrelevance reflects their
outsider experience, their experience of disconnection in general? At
the same time, from observation at our site specifically for homeless
and low income youth, resources that are relevant to their
experience--facebook and other social networking tools, job bank,
apartment searching, games, music and information access--are readily
accessed and explored daily.
CKDU RADIO
A summer CAP intern facilitated a youth media camp, where a group of 4 youth produced a documentary on racism in Halifax.We
organize a major annual event called the Concert on the Other Hill, a
free community picnic in Needham Park. We also organize many events
during our annual Funding Drive. As a community radio station, we
participate in many community events by tabling, djing, or recording
events for radio play/reporting. We offer media training and audio editing training on open-source software. CKDU Radio Cooperative operates a fully open-source Linux-environment C@P Site, including all aspects of broadcasting and administration.
ROC TERENCE BAY
The ROC has taken many measures to ensure our community, and visitors
to our community have open and accessible access to the World Wide Web
and technology in general. Or site is equipped with a fairly wide range
of equipment including digital cameras, multiple colour and B&W
printers, fax, photocopy, digital projectors, GPS, high speed wireless
Internet, and an accessible entrance. We promoted CAP day
and held an open house show casing technologies such as GPS. The construction of Prospect Road Community Centre is a project born from the initiatives of the ROC Terence Bay. We organize summer youth camps, movie nights, concerts, holiday celebrations and fund raisers. We provide a space for Gaming, Skype, Assistive Technology, social networking. We see an increasing number of procrastinators - those who have wanted to learn but put off learning
so long that they feel it's impossible to catch up, and it gets more
impossible for them everyday as technology progresses. We use sign-in sheets as well as
a database management system to record every visit and reason for visit
to our site. We also use online statistics to measure our ability to
reach our community online through our websites.
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SALVATION ARMY SPRYFIELD
The Salvation Army Family Resource Center has moved
to a new facility...the computer room is now in a bright space with
floor to ceiling windows. The location attracts walk-in traffic as it
located on the main street.
CANADIAN MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION
Our entire program is tailored to those living with a mental illness
Our experience is that our clients are no different than those in the
general public as once they have experienced the benefits of high speed
internet they will prefer that to the more affordable dial up service.
Even dial up service is beyond the budget of most of our members who
are on Social Assistance. The advantage of our service over the library
is that we can offer monitoring and support both one on one and group
basis.Since joining the CAP program it has
provided members of the Among Friends Social Club with the opportunity
to access e-mail and information on the internet. In addition to
recreational use we have targeted this year to offer basic literacy
development. Although these types of programs are available through
other community groups, often members prefer accessing them here as
they feel more comfortable learning within a setting that is familiar. The
Piano Suite Program has program has given members a chance to develop
their skills in the area of music. As music is a form of creative
expression, many of our
individuals who use our program enjoy the Piano Suite Program, which we
were able to purchase through CAP funds. It has been a positive addition
to the Among Friends Social Club Program.
SACKVILLE SENIORS & GOLD
We successfully trained and offered training for approx 86 individuals
and we successfully completed the annual Tax Program for low income
individuals. We offer technical support with computer equipment and also training for those new to computers. Sackville Seniors & Gold has qualified full-time staff available to help you and offers regularly scheduled training for seniors.
SPENCER HOUSE SENIORS CENTER
The CAP site is an integral part of Spencer House which organizes community events. We offer literacy training We offer teaching workshops for seniors and also provide access for
those with disabilities. One computer has software specifically for
people with low literacy skills.
MOSER RIVER CAP
Although we are small we try to offer any training we can learn or gather from those who have greater skills in these communities. In the remote rural area many seniors use computers and Cap Sites as a
means of keeping in touch with relatives living in various parts of the
world. During the summer months there are approx 10 visits per day at
our site we also provide copies,faxes and laminates.We encouraged a number of youth from the area to drop in to our site
and use our computers, some played games, some used the computers to
contact their friends. There are a good number of Seniors in this area
to our Summer Students made a special effort to assist these people
when they visited our site. They also helped set up a Genealogy
Web Page with some of the older residents Family Trees. Another
student worked with unemployed residents helping them to find
employment with the use of various web sites. Moser River C@P Site also organizes Moser river Days, C@P Day and Open Houses at our community Museum.
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF SPRYFIELD
The Boys & Girls Club of Spryfield has organized events such as Geocaching for Youth using CAP technology. We have provided our youth with training in social networking, computer games for children and youth, web page assistance and online safety. For most of our consumers the only option they have to use computers is at school and at the unemployment office.
WAVERLY CAP SITES
Our C@P site maintains the Waverley village web page, which is a community portal with informatin on our area. During the summer months, our site offers one-on-one tutoring to all beginner and intermediate clients. Our village has a linear geometry. Although we have two
active sites year-round and one summer site, there remain distal areas
that are not conveniently proximal to any of our three sites. Many seniors do not belong to any community organizations. We have
tried to bring the internet to seniors buy placing one of our sites in
the Waverley Legion and another in the Waverley Seniors Manor. Waverley is reasonably affluent with perhaps more than 60% of private
homes on line. However, like most rural communities, it does not fit in
to a general model. Stimulating increased use of the internet by
seniors is generally problematic with occasional - and ever increasing-
exceptions.
COLE HARBOUR CAP
Each Year, we participate in a Community Health Fair and Harvest Festival. The Cole Harbour Place CAP site is staffed fulltime and offers regularly scheduled training. Employment Assistance Services are available on site. We provide internet access and technology literacy training at low-to-no cost
to members of our community. We also provide other training courses and
seminars and access to equipment that not everyone can afford to have
at home.
SHEET HARBOUR & AREA RESOURCE CENTER
We offer our community access to the Internet including gaming and access to social networking websites. Social Gaming seems to be the biggest attraction and computer access for the
low income families in our communities. One on one computer training,
digital photography for seniors. Basic email operation and basic
computer training. The site is staffed full time and offers regularly schedule training. Employment Assistance Services are available on site during normal business hours.
VEITH HOUSE NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER
We provide individual support to people in need. For example, we work with
a woman struggling with mental illness. She writes poetry and we support her
in her writing and have held events where she has read her poetry. We
also helped to have them put in booklet form so she can sell them. Our CAP site has given her a fantastic opportunity to have a voice. We
offer the opportunity for people to social network. As more and more families are living in different parts of the country,
indeed different parts of the world, it is important that technology
be available so connections can be made between family members. Senior
Citizens are at a disadvantage for a number of reasons--fixed income,
lack technology skills and lack of access to people who can provide the
kinds of supports they require. Veith House Preschool offers internet and online safety as part of it's ECE curriculumn.
SAINT GEORGES YOUTHNET
Our C@P site is equipped to give patrons full access to internet,
microsoft office, printing and messaging. During office hours we are
always open and a staff is available to offer assistance to anyone
wanting to use the computers. We have a digital story telling
project running that brings youth aged 14-25 together to use digital
media to make a community map. They use the computers extensively in
the process. As well the junior leadership program at St. Georges
YouthNet accesses the C@P site. Our After School program targets
children aged 6-12. Most of these children do not have computers or
internet access at home. Each child is allowed to use a C@P computer
daily if they would like.
PUBLIC ARCHIVES OF NOVA SCOTIA
Public Archives C@P Site
(9 workstations)open and used 52.5 hours per week; on average a total of 250 users per month, some computer
workstations in use continually during all open hours, wireless service
used extensively by other on-site visitors and researchers. We participated in Community
Scavenger Hunt, posted information and advertisements onsite. Our C@P Site
is well-known as an informal drop-in centre for neighborhood at-risk
and homeless youth. Expanded C@P facilities are accessed daily by
walk-in visitors and researchers (12,000+ annually), including seniors,
low income, low literacy and life-long learners.
LEBRUN C@P
Our site is open to the public 20 hours a week, in addition our computer lab is also in used by our youth centre. We have held workshops on internet
use web design etc. We have opened a youth centre for Bedford
area youth which is operating 8 hours per week. In the summer months we
will be using the site for youth programs and as an addition to our
summer camp program. We have organized individualized workshops for
seniors, low income and persons with special needs.
LAKE ECHO C@P
During the last year the Women's IT
training courses have used the CAP to provide free computer courses for
women interested in going back into the work force. Also the youth
group on Monday evenings used the CAP site for various reasons:
studies, looking up info and for fun. We were also available to travelers to stop in and check their emails etc. We were opened to the
public on evenings, weekends as well as during the week. Thanks to the
volunteers as well as the facility manager. The availability of the CAP
to youth in pre and post secondary schools for studies, research and
for resumes. We allowed the Women`s training organization to use the
hall free of charge to present courses to women looking to get back to
the work force.
DARTMOUTH NORTH COMMUNITY CENTER
At the Dartmouth North Community Center we have met all
required expectations and have exceeded them as the community
expectations are greater than the minimums expected from the program. We utilize usage tracking
forms to monitor site traffic. We also have standard hours of
operations therefore number of hours open is easily measured. During
this past fiscal year we actually expanded the hours and access of our
C@P site to better serve our community. Extended access to job search
computers for employment seekers from 5 - 9pm mon - fri. and 10 -5 sat. Our site offers wide-screen labs optimized for social gaming, and engages local at-risk youth in gaming competitions. We participate in the Computers for Kids program in partnership with HRM. Our site is also used by special user groups such as Youth-at-Risk, Adult Literacy & Women's employability. Our summer intern created a scavenger hunt program for youth
participating in the HRM summer daycamp We also participated and put
out our allotment geocoins to individuals who were active geocachers.
The staff placed 2 coins in hopes of stimulating interest in this
activity.
HUBBARDS TANTALLON C@P
Qualified staff are available to assist partons during all open hours
at 2 of our 4 sites. We ensure that all equipment is serviced and
provide access to required software .
We have been very pleased this year with our usage at all our sites. One of our sites had a youth volunteer over
the summer months who helped with children's programs at the library.
We were able to assist children on the computers. We provide
free computer training sessions to seniors and people who have low
computer literacy. Some of the sessions are one-on-one and some are in
class format. They are well attended and much appreciated. We are
Geocache site and have a steady stream of visitors over the year. We
also hired a person during the winter to create a Google map pinpointing local businesses
and services by GPS coordinates and civic numbers. We had three
partner organizations and a great response from the community.
