Statewide network impacts public policy

The Mission

The California Community Technology Policy Group (CCTPG) is a statewide consortium that advocates for policies that assure underserved communities reap the economic, educational, health and civic benefits offered by technology.

In 1997, when the field of community technology was in its infancy, Community Partners began providing technical assistance to 14 new centers in low-income communities around the state. Years of working with these fledgling organizations paved the way for the creation of a network that could address the larger policy issues that impacted their work.

 In the spring of 2003, the CCTPG helped to pass legislation and subsequent regulations that extended a 50 percent discount on telecommunications charges to community-based organizations around the state. Inclusion in the California Teleconnect Fund was not only a huge boon to these organizations, but also marked a growing awareness at the state level for the cause of community technology.

Richard Chabran, chair of CCTPG, says Community Partners’ continuing involvement and support has helped to strengthen the group’s capacity to grow, as well as its ability to communicate important and complex issues to the organizations CCTPG represents. The result has been an increasingly informed, sophisticated and cohesive sector. “We needed a process to bring together all these different players; we needed to simplify our message about a complex issue; and we needed to get this message out to diverse communities throughout California. Community Partners’ work alongside the network’s leadership has been instrumental in helping CCTPG succeed in all of this.”

How Community Partners Has Helped

Community Partners played a key facilitative role in the formation of CCTPG and continues to help guide the group’s community outreach and policy advocacy activities.

SOURCE: Community Partners 2003-2004 Biennial Report

PROJECT STATUS: As of Fall 2006, CCTPG continues as an active project at Community Partners.