2002 Awards

To continue support of the Alliance Opportunity Center, which increases the marketable computer repair skills, upgrades the employment and business skills, and enhances the academic performance of African refugees, immigrants and low-income families in Mid-City San Diego, over two years.

We continue to have a highly successful collaboration with ATA and seek a renewal grant of $190,672 to ATA to be considered at the April 2002 Board meeting. Based on our experience in the first two years of implementation of the Access Fund, we propose developing and testing a set of baseline expectations for disability access and cultural competence that will anchor the training, mini-grants, technical assistance, and evaluation efforts described below. These standards, to be drawn from the ATA-produced assessment manual and staff's work on cultural competence, will represent critical steps that organizations can take with a limited expenditure of resources.

To provide training and technical assistance to Year 2002 CBI grantees on cultural competence and disability access, and to act as a resource for CBI Circuit Riders on assistive technology.

To support a computer literacy program using a culturally relevant and effective curriculum, which connects low-income Asian immigrant women in San Jose and Oakland with information to increase knowledge of their rights related to employment and immigration issues, over two years.

To support the Nutrition and Technology Project to teach low-income Chinese, Cambodian, Korean, and Vietnamese people in Los Angeles County about food stamp eligibility and how to apply through a prescreening kiosk and with personal assistance, over one year.

To support the 'Functional English Learning Through Technology' (FELT) program, which will provide refugees and immigrant clients with basic English language instruction and increase access to technology within a context of skill-based curriculum incorporating practical usage of technology and Internet applications.

The Black Women's Forum provides a platform for regular discussion of issues of concern to black women with the goal of educating and inspiring black women to involve themselves in activities to alleviate poverty, suffering, and inequality in the black community.

To facilitate community outreach, community needs/interests assessments, and program development to open a new technology education facility in Lemon Hill (south Sacramento) to benefit a significant low-income immigrant community.

To complete the eDisability Survey Software, which will create an internet-accessible, comprehensive database of disability-friendly destinations detailing local access features culled from surveys of California cities and communities. CFILC will create a free website where persons with disabilities can download the basic access survey software, conduct a survey of a site, upload to the website, and search for relevant accessibility information.

To develop a plan allowing CaLMA to create a strategy for networking its external group of physicians, related healthcare alliances, members, and the Latino community.