TechMission Corps Program Overview
- Program Website: www.techmissioncorps.org
- City Teams:
- TechMission Corps Goals and Outcomes
- Partners & Funders
TechMission Corps (TMC) is an AmeriCorps National Direct program managed by TechMission, Inc. TMC places AmeriCorps members in community-based organizations that serve under-resourced communities. Those TMC members serve full-time for 12 months at one of our partnering organizations.
We launched our TechMission Corps program in 2004 with 20 full-time equivalent (FTE) AmeriCorps Members, placing 15 Members in Boston and 5 Members in Los Angeles. The goal of the program at that time was to infuse these after school programs with technology. The majority of these program sites had computer labs, but the labs weren’t being used to their full potential, because there was no one qualified to teach technology and no funds available to hire a qualified teacher. It was incumbent upon the TMC Members to provide at least an hour of technology instruction a week to help students gain the skills they needed to achieve at the same level as their non-minority counterparts.
In 2008-2009 we will placed 40 FTE AmeriCorps Members in Boston, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Realizing that many of our program sites were understaffed, we have adjusted the K-8 program focus to include technology and academic enrichment equally; TMC Members will provide at least one hour of technology and/or online safety instruction as well as provide homework help and on-on-one or group tutoring as needed. We have also adjusted the teen programs to more fully integrate a focus on higher education. In 2009-2010, we will place 60 FTE AmeriCorps Members.
We provide each of our Members with an intensive multi-day training as well as monthly training to help them develop the skills they need to support their program sites. TMC Members provide technology instruction and support academic enrichment activities to these programs, with the overall goal of increasing academic performance, setting goals and expectations for higher education, and mentoring participants towards the fulfillment of those goals. These program sites are all located in economically disadvantaged, minority communities serving mostly African American and Latino constituents.
The purpose of TMC is to:
- Impact Youth
- through after school K-8 and teen programs
- at sites serving at-risk, urban youth
- by assisting in character development as well as academic enrichment and/or college prep activities,
- in order to expand and improve the future opportunities available to those youth;
- Mobilize Volunteers to serve under-resourced communities; and
- Serve the Community from a humble place of learning, by incorporating input and feedback from the communities themselves on how best to address their needs.
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