The CTC VISTAs – When They Joined

As of September, 2003, there are 48 active CTC VISTAs (* indicates VISTAs who signed on for a second year).

Twelve CTC VISTAs initiated the CTC VISTA program in the fall of 2000. The largest contingency serves with the Lowell Community Telecommunications Consortium which is receiving support from Frank Allaby and Dan MacNeil*, who were joined in December by John Hunt, Raymond Riopelle, and Isaias Rodriguez, Jr. Other Boston-area VISTAs beginning last year include Mary Pavan and Christopher Tsang with Bruce Wall Ministries PREP computer center, Larry Syms* with the Adult Literacy Resource Center, Chelsea Thompson with the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation, Betzaida Baretto with Mission Main public housing, Elizabeth Cavano with Somerville Community Access Television, and Lydia Morris with the Community Minority Cultural Center in Lynn. The metroBoston area VISTAs not only started the project but, because they are able to meet monthly and in some cases even more frequently, provide much of the project's leadership. The group was very usefully assisted in this through the informal membership and participation of Karen Zgoda, AmeriCorps *VISTA PowerUP Technology Project Coordinator for the Boys & Girls Club of Taunton, MA.

On February 12-14, the project hosted its first national orientation and training session initiating eleven new CTC VISTAs, and has ten VISTAs in service. The group includes three people working with the Chicago Housing Authority through DSSA: Roshawnda Joiner, Thomas Johnson, and, coming from a year as a Teaming for Technology VISTA from Atlanta, Yurora Saylor. This group also includes Nhan Le and Vy Phan, the first two VISTAs working with the dispersed sites of the national CTC effort being developed by Boat People SOS for Vietnamese immigrant and refugee community in the US. Also starting at this time were Elizabeth Carreon with the Black Child and Family Institute in Lansing, MI; Erica Freshour* with the Grand Rapids Community Media Center; Eugena Harrington and Martha Moore* with RTPNet in Chapel Hill, NC, who have, incidentally, taken on responsibility for setting up and running the electronic discussion list for all the project VISTAs; and Andrea Long, working with Waltham public housing through New Visions.

On April 23-25, the second national orientation welcomed nine new members: three joining Boat People SOS, James Nguyen (Arlington, VA), Quan Hoang (Hyattsville, MD), and Megan Cherry (Orange County, CA); Alycia Alexander joined the DSSA/Chicago Housing Authority project. New project reps include Kylie Ferguson working at the Town Park Plaza Neighborhood Network Center in Miami, Florida through Excellence by Choice, and Shlonda Brouchet*, serving with the Durham (NC) Literacy Council. From the Boston-area, new VISTAs include Illirjan "Liri" Qirici* with Malden Acess Television, Joao Barta serving with TecsChange, and Gilbert Hodges with the South End Tech Center at Tent City.

On June 14, signing on at the orientation session held in conjunction with the CTCNet national conference, are Jason Crow*, with the Grand Rapids (MI) Community Media Center; and Mary Fisher and Victoria Jackson* with the Black Child & Family Institute in Lansing, MI. New VISTAs at new participating programs include: Dan Ambrose with the Plumas County Health Agency, Quincy, CA; Sara McCoy with KCNet in Lockhaven; Heather Moyer with Boston Neighborhood Network; Johanna Pabst with the CTCNet central office in Cambridge, MA; Jannette Peterson with Little Tokyo Service Center/Diskovery in Los Angeles, CA; Jeffrey Streier* with the Twin Cities FreeNet in Minneapolis, MN; and Benedict Tisa* with the Friends of Tyler School in Washington, DC.

On August 27th, we had an orientation with 16 new VISTAs. These 16 include: Ben Buckley with Street Level Youth Media, Chicago, IL; Muriel Carmichael with Byte Back, Washington, DC; David Crist* with Lowell Technology Consortium, Boston, MA; Shirley Dumas with Byte Back, Washington, DC; Kendall Fikes with Byte Back in Washington, DC; Barbara Gavoni with Somerville Community Center, Boston, MA; Alison Hale with IBA-ETC, Boston, MA; Rickie Jackson with Byte Back, Washington, DC; Daniell Kawczyk with Grand Rapids Community Media Center, Grand Rapids, MI; Anh Luc* with Boat People, SOS, Atlanta, GA; Erin Matheny with Lowell Technology Consortium, Lowell, MA; Kimmora McKinnie with RTPNet, Raleigh, NC; Kim Oauh Nguyen* with Boat People, SOS, Washington, DC; Luke Reinke with Durham Literacy Council, Durham, NC; Tiffany Thomas with Garfield F. Child Memorial Fund, Richmond, VA; Hyunhanh Tran with Boat People, SOS, Philadelphia, PA.

On November 5th, nine new VISTAs were orientated into our program. The nine include: Michael Allwood working with Bruce Wall Ministries, Boston, MA; Jacqueline Corliss with Bruce Wall Ministries; Boston, MA; Gregory Fleischer with YMCA/Cyber Y, San Diego, CA; Rob Hall with Fenway CDC; Boston, MA; Kourtney Hamilton with Lowell Technology Consortium; Boston, MA; Terence Kennedy with Lowell Technology Consortium; Boston, MA; Nathan Kubiszewski with Lowell Technology Consortium; Boston, MA; Kevin Loechner with Lowell Technology Consortium; Boston, MA; and Shirl Rogers with RTPNet, Raleigh, NC.

On April 22, seven new VISTAs started their VISTA year. They include: Derek Hixon with Boston Neighborhood Networks, Boston, MA, Ella Holden working with RTPNet, Raleigh, NC, Dan Killian working at DSSA/Chicago Housing Authority, Dirk Knoelder at Lowell Technology Consortium; Chanvon Mom working with UTEC/LTC, Lowell, MA, Katie Peterson working at Bruce Wall Ministries, Dorchester, MA, and Ted Simpao working at DSSA-Chicago Housing Authority.

See photos from the April PSO.

At the 11th annual CTCNet conference in Austin, Texas 18 new VISTAs joined our project. Charlena Barnes will be working with Friends of Tyler Schools in Washington, DC; Douglas Dumont will be at RTPNet in Raleigh, NC; Jason Floyd will join South End Tech Center in Boston, MA; Mary Grybeck and Adam Howell will be working at RECA Foundation in Kennewick, WA, Brenda Jackson will work with Parents, Let's Unite for Kids in Billings, MT; Russell Klein will work with Newland Media Ed Center in Malden, MA; Archie Lake and David Quashen will join Black Child & Family Institute in Lansing, MI; Will Loeb and Tabetha Thorpe will work with Breakaway Technologies in Los Angeles, CA; Ming Louie and Antonio Moreno will work with MAAC Project in San Diego, CA; Carmen Mitchell and Rick Pal will work with Citizens Committee for New York City; Molly Park will join Bass Museum in Miami, FL; Dan Schackman will join CTCNet in Cambridge, MA; and Kristen Wernicke will work with Street-Level Youth Media in Chicago, IL.

See photos from the June PSO.

On August 27th, 26 new VISTAs joined our project.

Heidi Marshall is working at Twin Cities FreeNet in Minneapolis, MN, Kristen Sinor is working at The Edge CTC in Springfield, MO, Matthew Frank, Margaret Goodwin, and Michelle Watson are working at Bruce Wall Ministries in Boston, MA, Paul Savage is working at Recruitment Resources Consulting in Lowell, MA, Charlotte Crockford, April Carvalho, and David Siegal are working at LTC in Lowell, MA, Harold McNaren is working at Boat People SOS in Falls Church, VA, Daniel Sheen is working at Little Tokyo Service Center in Los Angeles, CA, Melissa Daigle and James Fishwick are working at VISTA office in Boston, MA, Jay Oliver is working at Plumas County Health Center in Quincy, CA, Scott Hillier is working at Boston Neighborhood Network in Boston, MA, Amy McKenzie is working at Grand Rapids Community Media Center in Grand Rapids, MI, Karen Sheers is working with Dorchester Bay EDC in Boston, MA, Susan Wong is working at YouthLearn and ScienceQuest at Education Development Center in Boston, MA, Edith Yang and Beth Joseph are working at Pangea Foundation in San Diego, CA, Ken Yu is working at Tech for All in Houston, TX, Shubhada Kambl is working at Tent City in Boston, MA, Sharon Alhouran is working at Cyber YCMA in San Diego, CA, Adam Cohen is coordinating the Northeast Region of CTCNet, Chaneqa Wooten is working at Human Services Coalition of Dade County, Inc in Miami, FL, and Colette Mahoney is working at Operation Peace, Boston, MA.

See photos from the August PSO.

On August 25th, 2003, 30 new VISTAs joined in the project.

Shandra Addison is working at Street Level Youth Media Chicago, IL, Saul Baizman is working at UMass/Boston CPCS Boston, MA, Angela Baker is working at Little Tokyo Service Ctr LA, CA, Carley Barber is working at C-CANN Minneapolis, MN, Charlena Barnes is working at (2nd Year) First Baptist Church Washington, DC, Ian Bauer Marcus is working atFoster Ed Inst. Oakland, CA, Max Benitez is working at Playing to Win (PTW) NYC, NY, Caroline Bennett is working at UMass/Boston CPCS Boston, MA, Craig Brown is working at EDGE Springfield, MO, Angela Carson is working at Downtown Jackson CDC Jackson, MS, April Carvalho is working at (2nd Year) Lowell Telecom Corp. Lowell, MA, Laura Craig is working at Grand Rapids CMC Grand Rapids, MI, Chad Custer is working at RTPNet Raleigh, NC, Diliana De Jesus is working at UTEC Lowell, MA, Julio dela Vega is working at e-Equality/Dade County Miami, FL, Nate Diedrich is working at Grand Rapids CMC Grand Rapids, MI, Emily Fain is working at Friends of Tyler School Washington, DC, Caitlin Feeley is working at ScienceQuest/EDC Netwon, MA, James Fishwick is working at (2nd Year) UMass/Boston CPCS Boston, MA, Scott Hillier is working at (2nd Year) Boston N. Network Boston, MA, Ella Holden is working at (2nd Year) RTPNet Raleigh, NC, Beth Joseph is working at (2nd Year) Pangea Foundation San Diego, CA, Neil La Vita is working at Malden CyberCafe Malden, MA, Will Loeb is working at (2nd Year) BreakAway Technologies LA, CA, Kevin Loechner is working at (2nd Year) Lowell Telecom Corp. Lowell, MA, Amy McKenzie is working at (2nd Year) GR CMC Gr. Rapids, MI, Erik Melosevic is working at Lowell Telecom Corp Lowell, MA, John Mirk is working at HELP of Ojai Ojai, CA, Ethan Molitch-Hou is working at Open Spaces CTC Ellensburg, WA, Martha Moore is working at (2nd Year) RTPNet Raleigh, NC, Kevin O'Brien is working at IBA Boston, MA, Lauren Penney is working at YouthLearn/EDC Newton, MA, Angela Perondi is working at Pitel South End Tech Center Boston, MA, Ben Pratt is working at Durham Literacy Center Durham, NC, Hilda Puente is working at Tech4All Houston, TX, Ilirjan Qirici is working at (2nd Year) Malden Access TV Malden, MA, Amy Radigan is working at Black Child & Family Institute Lansing, MI, Pete Rodriguez is working at Tech4All Houston, TX, Paul Savage is working at (2nd Year) Caleb Foundation Lowell, MA, Dan Schackman is working at (2nd Year) CTCNet Cambridge, MA, Tom Schwallie is working at Grand Rapids CMC Grand Rapids, MI, Cookie Sheers is working at (2nd Year) Dorchester Bay EDC Boston, MA, Judy Siegel is working at Pangea Foundation San Diego, CA , Katherine Smith is working at Korean Am. Comm. Svcs Chicago, IL, Kristen Wernicke is working at (2nd Year) Street Level/PTW Chicago/NYC, IL/NY, and Ken Yu is working at (2nd Year) Tech4All Houston, TX.