The Harlem Park - Lafayette Square Technology Initiative is a new concept in vocational training. It is a collaborative effort to design, develop and implement a comprehensive system of recruiting, screening, educating and counseling with selective interventions to motivate and train youth in basic survival skills, personal presentation, motivational skills, Internet applications and the latest high technology. The Urban Health, Inc. (UHI) has physicians, psychologists, human development specialists, ethnographers, and systems engineers who will provide intense training, counseling and mentoring. We will then provide basic education and job skills training to prepare young adults from the community for jobs in the private, city, state, and federal sectors. Program coordinators will work with community organizations and agencies that will provide input into recruitment, counseling, and training of enrollees. Community organizations and agencies will serve in the following capacities: The Harlem Park/Lafayette Village Center will recruit and screen prospective trainees. The Unity United Methodist Church theological staff will specialize in psychological and drug counseling and therapy; The UHI staff will provide direction, discipline, and self-awareness. The Metropolitan and St. James Churches will provide moral and religious guidance and counseling. UHI psychologists will provide workshops on job-readiness, positive attitude development skills (dress codes, posture, interviewing skills, etc.); and local community school staff and counselors in concert with the UHI staff will provide training in conflict resolution and peer mediation. UHI's medical staff will provide medical diagnosis and evaluations, however where medical treatment is required, Total Health Care medical staff will provide this intervention. Participants will receive training for the following seven (7) job titles: community health coordinators, interviewer (health surveys), clinical assistant, secretary, file clerk, computer operator, word processor and information technology specialist. The target population will be African-American men and women between 17 and 36 years, who are unemployed and have serious motivational and job skill deficits, and reside in the empowerment zone of Baltimore, Maryland.

Inflation is low and economic expansion seems endless in the Internet age. A growing 'technological aristocracy' is garnering a disproportionate amount of the new wealth. Concurrently, the gap between the technology "haves" and "have nots" continues to widen dramatically and almost exponentially. In the past (25) years, living standards have been stagnant for the bottom 75% of Americans. The annual pay for a college graduate now is 89% more than that for a high school graduate, compared with 42% in 1979.

America's inner cities and expanding poverty are the most pressing issues facing the nation. The lack of businesses, jobs, and investment in these disadvantaged urban areas not only perpetuates a crushing poverty but also fuels other social problems such as crime and drug abuse. As the inner cities continue to deteriorate, the debate on how to aid them grows increasingly divisive and bitter.

Underscoring the current state of affairs is a sad reality: the numerous efforts to revitalize inner cities over the past few decades have clearly failed. Despite the investment of substantial resources and good faith efforts of many in the minority as well as the majority communities, the creation of a sustainable economic base in inner cities - and with it employment opportunities, role models, and improved infrastructure - still eludes us.

We believe that past efforts have been based on the wrong model. Assistance to inner cities has largely taken the form of direct relief - such as income assistance, housing subsidies, and food stamps - with the intent of addressing pressing social needs. Policy makers have made only limited efforts to implement true economic development in the inner city. These efforts have focused almost exclusively on attempting to offset the profound competitive disadvantages found in these locations through subsidies, preferences, and substantial government involvement, or to indirectly stimulate economic activity through housing and neighborhood development programs. These approaches have largely failed. Businesses resting heavily on subsidies and preferences tend to require continued subsidies and preferences. The failure to create viable economic opportunities has meant that needs for social programs only grow larger.

To revitalize the inner cities, we must identify the unique existing and potential competitive advantages of inner cities which can translate into genuinely profitable, self-sustaining businesses that have the potential not only to serve the local community but also to "export" outside of it. The inner city must become an integral part of the regional and national economy, rather than an island surrounded by it. Simultaneously, we must address directly the disadvantages that have eroded the economic value of inner city locations, and driven businesses and jobs to other areas -

Any successful effort to revitalize the nation's inner cities must address two interrelated sets of concerns. One is social: profound needs and problems that afflict inner city areas and inner city residents demand attention. The other is economic: inner city revitalization will only occur through building a viable commercial and industrial base and creating jobs accessible to inner city residents.

Inner city economic revitalization has historically been viewed as fundamentally a social problem. Social needs were addressed through programs in housing, food, health care, education, income assistance, criminal justice, and other areas. The federal government spends about $210 billion annually on programs to assist the poor. Of this, more than $200 billion goes to meeting social needs. Only about $7 billion (3.3%) is directed at true economic development, primarily in the form of job and skills training. Eventually these growing under-developed markets of millions of people with potential to spend billions of dollars in the inner cities will need to use technologies to build information-age careers that will allow them to spend money within the greater society. UHI project attempts to address these root causes of economic disparities.

1. To conduct a community needs assessment of transition rehabilitation services for the target population.
2. To plan a coordinated, community-based program that utilizes services currently in place and adds missing services.
3. To develop with members of the community businesses a compendium of skills that are required to perform jobs successfully.
4. To develop and implement a skill-building curriculum that addresses work skills, self-esteem and attitudes toward work.
5. To provide job placement and supportive activities for individuals that completes the program.
6. To design & develop a community-based multimedia, telecommunications, and office supply organization to employ services & supply the community resident's homes, businesses and schools.
7. Therefore, provide the general area beyond the village site (s) with the goals & services needed to become economically empowered.
8. To reduce the unemployment in this group from its current 70% down to 60% within 3 years.

UTI, with the cooperation of several community organizations and potential regional employers are developing several sites for internships for trainees as an initial base with support from The Harlem Park Lafayette Square Village Center. The Center will help create and expand jobs and career opportunities for the trainees in the program. A strong effort through the mobilization of business support will make the program self-sufficient by the end of the third year of operation. Comprehensive rehabilitation services for the trainees will be coordinated through UHI. Agreements to provide such services are currently being negotiated with the following organizations: (1) The Unity United Methodist Church will provide any additional psychological and drug-counseling that is deemed necessary by the trainee after consultation with his or her counselor at UHI, (2) The African-American Men on a Mission will provide additional motivational and self-awareness opportunities for our trainees; and (3) The Metropolitan and St. James Churches will provide religious support services if the trainee wishes.

There are three (3) specific sources of recruitment for potential program enrollees: Dr. R. Howard Hill, President and CEO of the Harlem Park/Lafayette Square Village Center; Mr. Alvin Steele, a Westinghouse Corporation funded counselor in the Harlem Park Middle School to work with "at-risk" students; and Rev. Norman Handy, Director of the Therapeutic Counseling Center, a Unity United Methodist Church counseling service for the Harlem Park Community. All three persons work daily with "troubled" children from the Harlem Park-Sandtown community. There is a combined data bank yielding approximately 200 parents to draw from.

We will use the Diagnostic Interview Survey of N.I.M.H., the Maryland State Department of Education's (MSDE) GED Testing Service and the Baltimore City and State Courts criminal database to determine the current psychological, academic level and criminal history of prospective enrollees and their eligibility for the program.

After eligibility is determined, further, ongoing educational and psychological counseling assessments will aid in determining placement into pre-GED and post-GED groups and assess: initial skill levels in reading and writing, computational and computer skills, and problem-solving skills. Psychological measures include measures of self-esteem, internal vs. external locus of control, and organic brain damage screening. Also, as mentioned above, additional counseling, treatment, and rehabilitation services are offered through our agreements with community counseling organizations.

Individuals who are accepted for the training program will be provided with diagnosis and evaluation to determine the health and medical status, by UHI's medical director. Follow-up medical care will be provided by Total Health Care (THC), as a federally Certified Community Health Clinic (501-c-3). This health care service will be comprehensive, including physical and mental health treatments.

Trainees will be placed in concurrent training and educational groups. The following programs will be available:

1. GED and post GED program
2. Life skills enhancement group
3. Training program teaching generic educational skills for sets of occupations
4. A support group to help them with problems on the job, which will be attended by supervisors, in addition to their own support group.

We will also offer an educational program for potential employers teaching them what to expect from this unique group of employees.

Constant feedback will be solicited to determine progress from the perspective of both trainee and employer. An evaluation will be made at some point to determine whether the trainee will continue with the initial internship or shift to another one. Trainees might not be suited for one type of job and thus may want an opportunity to gain experience in another occupation.

At the other end of the timetable we will convert internships to permanent jobs. Businesses will be recruited to employ our trainees.

What is the timetable for completion of the program? It is different for different group members depending on the GED level of education, motivation, work history, and any emotional disturbances.

We are providing our initial conception and outline in this proposal. We will review it and modify the program and training offered when necessary. The time frame for changes and details of how the program will be modified will depend on the progress of the program development, placement of graduates into permanent jobs and cyclic recruitment of new enrollees who adapt quickly and enjoy the program.

This proposal, the Urban Technology Initiative (UTI), is submitted as a non-solicited proposal to the Empowerment Zone funding source. The proposal requests three years of funding to provide education, therapeutic counseling and technical jobs skills development for young men and women (17 - 36 yrs. old) with limited technical skills and job experiences.

This project builds on existing community-based projects currently being provided to a few citizens in the Harlem Park/Sandtown Enterprise Community, which is in the heart of the Baltimore Empowerment Zone. Existing community programs are being conducted by volunteers, church-organizations, or Empowerment Village Centers. The community is grossly neglected by the state and city governments as demonstrated by the existence of only a few funded programs. This will be of one of the few community-based organizations (CBO's) funded to provide counseling, therapy, education and technical job skills for unemployed young adults. Nearly all funded programs are performed by non-empowerment-zoned organizations.

The community and the city are committed to the development and implementation of this education and training program for this less fortunate group of citizens in Baltimore's inner city. Based on the principles described in this application and the outstanding staff members assigned to this project, the community and city agencies are very supportive of the efforts to obtain funding.

The Harlem Park-Sandtown Winchester project constitutes an important opportunity to extend and coordinate innovative programs and policies already existing in Baltimore. A wide variety of programs that serve and train young adults with limited skills already exist in Baltimore. Unfortunately, these training programs do not provide the basic communication, therapeutic and technical skills most residents need to obtain good paying, secure jobs. We propose to conduct a sound and thorough evaluation of each candidate's potential, which will help us to improve academic skills, and provide basic technical training and interventions in motivation and conflict resolution.

This project builds on the city's experiences with other efforts to enhance community development and social and health programs. For example, Community Building in Partnership), a neighborhood transformation demonstration project, was launched by the residents* of the Sandtown Winchester neighborhood, the Baltimore City Government, and The Enterprise Foundation with the vision to transform every system in the neighborhood to one that will enable all residents to achieve their highest potential. We hope that this project and the Empowerment Zone status will be the beginning of a series of new and very needed human services for the entire community population.

The target population is defined as follows:

1. Age - 17 years to 36 years old
2. Diagnosis - educationally and technically untrained as related to insufficient environmental guidance and support.
3. Disability - dysfunctional economically/employment disabilities
4. Services - counseling, self-esteem building, education, technological training, job placement, and career building
5. Duration - from four to eight weeks.

We propose to provide this program to citizens of the Harlem Park/Lafayette Square and Sandtown-Winchester neighborhoods, located in the same Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community.

In August of 1997, this Enterprise Community consisted of 21,412 citizens residing in 6.852 households. The infant mortality rate is 28 per 1,000 births. Sixteen percent of babies born have unmarried teenage mothers, 17 years and younger. The immunization rate is approximately 40% before the age of two years. Females with an average yearly income of $6,350 head Forty-nine percent of the households. Family income is $11,429.00. Twenty five percent of income from all households is less than $5,000 per year. The junior high school and high school dropout rate is 38%. The 1990 census found that more than two-thirds of the Harlem Park residents under age 18 live below the poverty line. Less than 50 percent of the adults ages 25 years and older have a high school diploma and the community's unemployment rate is seventy percent (70%). A recent need assessment survey showed that 40% of community youth between the ages of 16-19 were not engaged in anything productive. They were unemployed, and not in school or the military. The mental and emotional problems of the youth and young adults (especially males) have reached epidemic proportion. Health clinic facilities are non-existent and there are no full-time physicians in the community.

Chart #1 shows a breakdown of two (2) major categories and four minor categories of trainees that will be enrolled into the program: Major categories are: I - Pre-GED prepared candidates and, II - GED-ready candidates. The four (4) minor categories are based on ages:

We propose to initiate this program with twenty trainees per 4-8 week session. The length of time required to complete the program would depend on the effectiveness of the training and how well the trainee adjusts and adapts to the academic/training setting. Therefore, adjustments would have to be made since our approach will be somewhat unique, in that we will use an ethnically sensitive approach to counseling, teaching and training this population of educationally and culturally deprived urban citizens. With proper nurturing, guidance, educating, and counseling, these individuals can learn how to help support themselves and their families. Families can support neighborhoods and neighborhoods can become viable empowered communities.

This proposal is being developed in conjunction with a for-profit business plan to train community youth and young adults in the telecommunications/video production business, utilizing the unlimited talents within the Harlem Park-Sandtown untapped youth movement. Within three years of submission of this proposal, we believe that with financial support from the Empowerment Zone funding, we can initiate at least three (3) major community-based, youth oriented businesses within the community:

1. Internet Services/E-Commerce/On-Line Office Supplies and Equipment
2. On-Line and Traditional Entrepreneurial Sporting Goods Marketing
3. Fast Food Restaurant Franchise

All three businesses will hire and train a-11 community residents from management to support staff. Thus, the outcome of our training program within the first 3-5 years would be employment for 75-100 persons hired by these three businesses alone. The projected goals of the E-Z/E-C include: building demolition; reconstruction; community cleanups; environmental/hygiene initiatives; new nursing homes; new health clinics; and new industrial and high technology centers. This project will contribute significantly to the pool of trained grass-roots residents. In fact, we will have trained the most downtrodden, most neglected and most difficult citizens to be trained.

Major tasks are:

1. Recruitment
2. Interviewing
3. Screening:

• academically
• psychologically
• medically

7. Teaching – academically
8. Teaching/training prospective employees. re: the "new graduate" and what to expect, "Learning the Job Ethic."
9. Job funding and placement
10. Advancing on jobs and building careers

Telecommunications is an essential component of this project in three respects:

1. Internal Administrative Communications - Local and wide area networking
2. Academic Subject Matter - A subject of study by students to gain increasing levels of mastery.
3. Business Services Platform - Utilizing a combination of Internet services, technologies and virtual private networking to host specialized medical applications and databases as well as to engage in competitive product marketing via e-Commerce.

The term "multimedia" used in this proposal includes any and all of the following elements:

• Video camera and components
• A PC-based editing system
• Video monitor
• A Pentium Personal Computers with graphics
• Lighting and stage settings
• Desktop printing and publishing
• Video graphics
• Digital transmission
• Internet, home page and website development

During the second year of this grant period, we expect to have our "multimedia" performance and training system completely operational. In addition to providing individualized training in all 6 sets of the program, we will use various components of our multimedia instructional support system to evaluate certain physiological deficits and disorders that trainees may have. The following are examples: With an audiologist and audio system support, we can determine hearing disorders; when digital colorized screens are displayed on the screen, we can determine if trainees have color recognition.

An initial draft of the curriculum for the program, which is phrased in terms of the competencies that will serve as learning outcomes for the students, is presented below. A competency-based design was selected because this approach provides a means for communicating the expectations of the program to the students, a basis for assessing student progress, and a mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of the program. Indeed, the value of a competency-based approach is not realized unless the competencies are continuously reviewed in relationship to empirical studies regarding best practices as well as changing standards for vocational training and employment (Englert, 1983, Fredericks, Anderson, and Baldwin, 1979; Sheres, Cegelka, and Nelson, 1973).

The categories / areas below shows that competency statements have been organized into five general categories/areas (basic skills, survival, world of work, health and citizenship) which are closely related to post-secondary/vocational training and employment.

Each category/ area is operationalized in terms of a definition goal statement, competency, and objectives.

The curriculum development process began by generating a comprehensive list of critical knowledge and skill competencies that are required for post secondary/vocational training and employment. Five critical areas, which collectively constitute the philosophy on which the training program is founded, guided our selection of competencies for the training program.

Goal: To employ a competency-based curriculum that encompasses the wide range of knowledge that is necessary for basic skills' development, employment readiness and the world of work.

1. Talk about feelings, ideas, and concepts with clarity.
2. Be a good listener.
3. Read, understand and respond to written information faced in daily life.
4. Appreciate the value of reading as a lifelong activity.
5. Write well for a variety of purposes and audiences.

2. Respond positively to life's social, environmental, and physical changes.

E. Accept personal responsibility for sustaining oneself economically.

1. Be prepared for opportunities in the local, national and international work place.

2. Understand the value of, and necessity for, life-long learning.

3. Possess the skills, values, and work habits necessary for employment.

4. Be a critical consumer with skills for making informed choices.

5. Recognize how doing well in school relates to one's future.

E. Have positive self-esteem

1. Know how to set and achieve personal goals.

2. Be confident and flexible.

3. Recognize and appreciate personal talents and strengths.

3. Form satisfying relationships with others based on respect, trust, cooperation, and compassion.

The Urban Technical Initiative (UTI) proposes an adult education system combining competency based instruction and career-related (workplace) literacy resulting in preparation for the GED exams and basic knowledge of the student's selected career area. Students recruited will be assessed through personal interviews, a battery of adult education tests, and career aptitude and interest instruments. Assessments will result in a pool of candidates who will be evaluated for placement in the program's courses of study according to their qualifications and interests. The UTI system operates on two levels: GED/Training and PREP/Training. Each level leads the student toward training in a selected career area while also preparing him or her to pass the GED exams.

The competency based approach is based on work originating at the St. Bemardine's Head Start Adult Education program, where the principal instructional designer used innovative methods to attract and retain hundreds of low-income adults for literacy, adult basic education, and GED studies. Thorough review of the requirements for each of the five tests in the GED battery resulted in 1,158 specifically worded learning objectives. One of the frustrations many adults experience when preparing for the GED exams is facing the overwhelming task of studying five content areas at one time. Students are also frustrated because they may be strong in one aspect of a content area but they need help in another aspect, i.e., they know basic arithmetic and fractions well but they need help with decimals and algebra. Our competency-based curriculum allows the student to demonstrate mastery of areas of strength so he or she is free to concentrate on areas not yet mastered.

To qualify for the GED/Training component of the program, individuals must meet these minimum educational criteria as measured by the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE): be able to demonstrate reading comprehension at the 7th grade level; be able to demonstrate a reading vocabulary at the 6th grade level; be able to perform mathematics computations at the 6th grade level; be able to demonstrate application of mathematics concepts at the 6th grade level; be able to spell at the 6th grade level; demonstrate language expression competency at the 6th grade level; and demonstrate use of language mechanics competency at the 6th grade level. We will develop individualized courses of study to prepare these men and women to take and pass the GED exams. Our unique competency based culturally sensitive system for GED preparation allows each student to progress at his or her own pace.

Individuals who do not meet the minimum qualifications for the GED/Training component can be eligible for the Pre-GED/Workplace component of the program. The focus of learning activities for these people will be designed to bring them up to the levels where they are prepared to enter GED studies while familiarizing them with the world of work.

Another innovation of the UTI system is based on the work of Peter Senge whose book The Fifth Discipline (1990) has become a major resource for building "learning organizations" in many American and international corporations. We have interpreted Senge's -systems thinking approach to adult learning for application in our program. Systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, and team learning are specifically related to learning problems of inner city adults who have not taken the traditional route through high school. So much of what happens to people in the stressful environment of

Urban America causes people to see themselves entrapped in undesired lifestyles that separate them from the rest of society.

Broadening the student's view of him/herself and the world can be accomplished through systems thinking. The concept of personal mastery empowers low-income adults to set concrete goals for personal development that become programs for escaping the syndromes that become excuses to fall into addictions and surrender to the monotonous isolation of ghetto life. The young adult (I 7-26 year old) emotionally or mentally disturbed person with a low-income has learned to function as part of a community that does not expect him or her to achieve much--if anything. As a result, many of these young people have mental models of failure and incompetence that conflict with their attempts to engage in education and training. What some interpret as self-esteem problems may actually be difficulties in imagining the self as successful. Mental models of ghetto life confine, constrict, and conspire against personal efficacy and social competence.

Shared vision exercises culled from Senge's Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (1994) can help students take advantage of the relationship-focused proclivity common among African American people (Baldwin (1991); Nobles (1985, 1986), Akbar (1991), and Akoto (1992)). Positive relationships among students and among staff and students are major factors in the success of inner city adults and youths in formal classroom situations.

Team building exercises will help prepare the young men and women to function in today's workplace, where quality circles, productivity teams, and other organizational schema require individuals to collaborate with their peers and supervisors to accomplish service or production goals.

We want to combine Afrocentric learning theory with andragogy and contemporary employee management practices to prepare the young people for careers, not mere jobs. Our experience in designing learning systems for young African American adults provides a basis to declare the primary benefit of using an Afrocentric approach with African-American learners is not the content but the methodologies. In fact, preparation for GED success requires students to be familiar with many criteria for "cultural literacy" (Hirsch, 1987) and there is relatively little requirement for students to learn about Africa or African people. Instead of focusing on data that may build pride and self-esteem among African students, we concentrate on methods based in the psychology of African-Americans that take advantage of students' identity and interrelationships. We create environments in which effort-toward-excellence is both expected and achieved; this is probably one of the little known core tenants of Afrocentric education. Our program benefits from practice based in the psychology of African-Americans applied to modem adult education methods (Knowles, 1980; Brookfield, 1992; Laird, 1985; Mouton and Blake, 1984; Romiszowski, 1981; Wlodkowski, 1985).

Students will attend GED or Pre-GED class four days a week, four hours per day. The fifth day of the learning week is devoted to independent study in which the student can complete field projects, work in the computer lab, or conduct research projects related to the writing, social studies, and science curricula. Research projects also require the students to visit sites where they may work so they can prepare reports on "a day in the life" of an entry level worker in that career. Preparing research reports helps the student build stronger writing skills while simultaneously performing the analysis and synthesis skills that promote higher level thinking.

Our teacher-to-student ratio is 1:5 in classroom situations. Field trips and guest lectures or interviews will bring the entire group of enrollees together with two or more facilitators. Each student receives at least one weekly one-on-one consultation with the program's Education Director/Instructional Designer. This will allow regular and frequent monitoring of the student's progress in mastering competencies and meeting personal as well as program goals.

All students will experience at least one "full practice" GED exam. Guidelines established by the Maryland State Department of Education's (MSDE) GED office allow us to implement the GED test under conditions that are virtually the same as those the student will encounter when they take the state-administered battery of exams. MSDE recommends the "full practice" because it prepares students for the rigors of a full day of testing. We will use the Official GED Practice Tests published by the GED Testing Service of the American Council on Education (ACE). We have also prepared test items meeting the ACE requirements to evaluate mastery of each competency in our curriculum.

Use of Steck-Vaughn's GED-2000 and Pre-GED 2000 software programs will provide self-paced, computer-based reinforcement for all our courses. The programs will be among those available to the students in our networked computer lab. The UTI system integrates motivation sessions with the general courses of study.

Evaluation of this project will be conducted on two levels: (1) assessment of the attainment of process milestones and (2) achievement of participant training and employment objectives.

During the first year of implementation, the management team will meet weekly to review the completion of activities required to develop the various components of the program. At the mid-year point of year one, a formative evaluation of program development will be conducted. That process will identify program activities and components that are operational and those that are not. Planning of program development activities for the remainder of year one will be based upon the formative evaluation of process milestones and activities will be adjusted based upon that information. The management and evaluation consultant, who will not participate in day-to-day operation, will review progress monthly with the management team and will analyze data to prepare the formative evaluation report.

Summary data will be maintained regarding the progression of disabled clients who begin with various levels of preparation and skills through the program. During the formative evaluation at mid-year, participant achievement will also be assessed. This analysis will also be conducted by the management and evaluation consultant and will contribute to program adjustments at mid-year.

At the end of year one and year two, interim evaluations will be conducted with a written report of findings. At the end of the project period, a summative evaluation of process milestones and participant employment objective achievement will be completed with a formal report developed for dissemination.

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