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Invitation Letter November 15, 1999
Dear [invitee]:
The W. K. Kellogg Foundation has a strong interest in strengthening the use of information technologies in community-based organizations serving youth. The need for young people, especially those from low-income families, to effectively use information and community technology as a tool for their growth and development is increasingly strong and compelling. Thus, our goal is to more fully understand the issues and opportunities surrounding how community-based agencies use or could use information technology to support the development of young people into the future. More importantly, we are interested in determining how the tools of information technology can be used to transform the social conditions of youth.
We would like to invite you to participate in a special dialogue
on Youth and Technology. The details of the meeting are as follows:
By way of background, we are building off a survey done by the Center for Human Resources at Brandeis University in September 1998 [Melchior et al, "The Uses of Technology in Youth-Serving Organizations: An Initial Scan of the Field," on the web in .pdf format, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader]. "The primary conclusion from the study is that at both the local and national levels, nonprofit youth-serving organizations are struggling in their efforts to access and make effective use of technology in their programs and services" (page 3 of the attached report).
Last December, DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest convened about 25 members of local youth-serving organizations, public and private funders, and experts in the field to probe on the issues raised in the survey report (see attached report). In particular, the group that met in New York explored the questions related to: 1) the kinds of support that youth-serving organizations needed to be effective in using technology; 2) the methods for organizing and delivering quality technology programs; and 3) how to support the maintenance and financing of technology resources. The participants explored an array of issues and shared a number of helpful options for how these questions could be effectively addressed.
This was not a meeting for grantmaking or grant seeking activities; rather, it was an opportunity for people from various perspectives to meet and share views on the challenges facing community-based organizations that serve youth. We would like to build off this previous dialogue and host another discussion that probes more deeply on these issues. There are at least three major related themes which we plan to pursue:
The W. K. Kellogg Foundation would value your participation and insights. During the course of the one-day meeting, a number of individuals from national youth-serving organizations, technology experts, practitioners, and public/private funders will gather to explore several important questions related to these themes. We believe that a merger of these perspectives will further understanding around information technology as a tool for social change.
If you are able to participate, we will follow shortly with a list of background materials that you may consider viewing prior to your arrival. During the meeting, we will engage in several discussion groups to explore specific questions in more detail. Within the context of the meeting, we hope to share examples of innovative efforts on how to encourage appropriate and sustainable use of technology in youth development organizations. We also hope to highlight the roles of communities, youth-serving organizations, and funders towards advancing the work surrounding information technology.
Please confirm your attendance with [staffperson] of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation by no later than Wednesday, November 17. We have enclosed (see attachments) a General Information sheet that describes the logistics and registration. If you have any questions, you may contact Dr. Phyllis Meadows, Program Director. She may be contacted by telephone at 616/968-1611 or by e-mail at pdm@wkkf.org.
We would appreciate your participation and look forward to this opportunity to share ideas and engage in discussion with you.
Sincerely,
Gail D. McClure, Ph.D.
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