Setting a National Agenda: Thoughts on the 1999 CTCNet Conference

CTCNet's annual conference was held in Chicago this past June. With almost 400 attendees coming from around the country and with over 30 different panels and presentations, the conference reflected the diversity of the people who are involved in Community Technology Centers (CTCs) today. Sessions were devoted to a broad range of subjects—from hands-on technology expertise to long-range policy questions—and participants were given the opportunity to select those that best matched their interests. Despite the nearly overwhelming number of possible topics, there were also a number of themes that were present, to varying degrees, throughout the conference. The role of a national agenda and a national identity was one such theme.

A National Agenda
The title of the opening plenary asked "Do we have a national agenda?" and four people active in national-level policy were invited to answer. The panel participants were Norris Dickard, Senior Policy Advisor, Department of Education; Charlie Famuliner, National Field Director for the Neighborhood Network Initiative, HUD/NN; B. Keith Fulton, Director of Technology Programs and Policy, National Urban League; and Anthony Wilhelm, Director, Communications Policy and Practice, The Benton Foundation. The panelists agreed that CTCs are increasingly recognized on a national level, and Dr. Wilhelm suggested that we are witnessing the formation of a social movement. Despite the growing recognition, however, only Mr. Dickard felt that CTCs were on actually on the national agenda. The other speakers disagreed, suggesting that though it is an important goal, it is not yet a reality. Mr. Fulton observed that to become a part of the national agenda a group needs a cohesive strategy, and that collectively CTCs have not yet developed one. He proposed that organizations, like CTCNet, and discussions, like those occurring at the conference, are both an important part of realizing such a strategy. Mr. Famuliner added that, in fact, there are agendas that are national in scope, but that they are not part of a coherent national agenda overall. He also stated that coordination, facilitated through groups like CTCNet, is a key part of aligning these efforts. Dr. Wilhelm concluded the panel presentations, reminding the audience that national policy was in fact only part of a national agenda, and that cooperative effort and common goals are beneficial in many other ways as well.

A National Identity
The discussion that began in the plenary was continued in two sessions that followed. In the first of these, participants sought to describe what they had in common with one another as a basis for building coalitions and ultimately for creating a national agenda. It was apparent from the discussion that it was important that any statement of commonality would need to be broad in order to include the many approaches represented at the conference. After lengthy discussion Barry Forbes, the Director of Community Programs for the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy and a participant and a panelist in the session that followed, summarized the common interest expressed by people present as "creating access for underserved communities on three levels: infrastructure, skills and applications." Those who voiced an opinion agreed with this summary, appreciating its ability to accommodate policy initiatives, universal access efforts, training programs, community development and the many other strategies being pursued by CTCs and other related organizations.

Future Direction
The last panel to directly address the question of national agenda sought to find ways of sustaining CTCs in their mission, as they had been summarized earlier, and to suggest ways that CTCs could work together to significantly influence the national agenda. Gary Depo, President of the Alliance for Public Technology, Wally Siembab of Siembab and Associates, and Barry Forbes each presented their thoughts. Mr. Depo began his presentation by pointing out that the government today is making decisions based on the competitive market model. While acknowledging that this model has shortcomings, he suggested that recognizing that it is used is informative. Given this model, there are several strategies that are likely to be well received. These include aggregating demand among low-income people and areas, utilizing governmental purchasing power and pushing public utility companies to contribute to community funds. Mr. Siembab's emphasis was on a different model of sustainability. He suggested that on a national level CTCs should be as important and roads, and provided two important reasons for making this comparison. First, budgets for roads are rarely in question and are unlikely to be dramatically shaped by political climate and, second, CTCs present a viable alternative to the untenable prospect of continuously building more roads. He noted that this vision served as a rallying point for some, but that, in general, changing policy is much harder than getting people to accept new ideas. Mr. Forbes was the last panelist to speak. Returning to the observations made in the previous panel, he made several specific suggestions for transforming the CTC movement into a significant political force. He had two key points. First, he suggested that CTCs should move from being a grassroots network to being part of a coherent institution. Second, CTCs need to develop political clout and become public policy advocates. To do this, organizations must be credible, informative and accessible on the inside, while on the outside being organized and communicative.

Conclusions
The three sessions described here shared a common emphasis on thinking about a national presence. Though there was some disagreement regarding the position that CTCs hold today, it was agreed that working to understanding what CTCs have in common, and using this common ground as the foundation for building a national agenda are important goals that require our immediate attention. Only by thinking about these possibilities can we assure a secure place for CTCs in the future, both economically and institutionally.

For more information on the CTCnet conference, please refer to a speech presented there by Larry Irving, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information National Telecommunications and Information Administration from the U.S. Department of Commerce.