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Meeting the Education and Health Needs of Minorities in Rural Appalachia: Planning the Integration of Wireless Solutions I. Applicant Qualifications This proposal describes a planning effort over a twelve-month period for a non-broadcast activation project to develop a distance learning service in rural, isolated regions of southwest Virginia and Appalachia. The applicant organization, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (also known as Virginia Tech), a state university, is a non-profit organization. VT has not received a prior grant from PTFP. Virginia Tech (VT), located in the town of Blacksburg, is a land grant university with a student population of approximately 23,000. As part of its outreach and service mission, Virginia Tech has been a leader in communication technology throughout the state. Home of the Blacksburg Electronic Village, Virginia Tech has forged alliances to serve the technological and educational requirements of rural and isolated populations increasingly left behind and outpaced by the information economy. The resources we need for the project are primarily highly skilled and committed personnel (detailed below). We also have access to the ATM backbone (NET.WORK.VIRGINIA or NWV) and Local Multipoint Distribution Service(LMDS) needed to deliver high bandwidth voice, data and video and overcome large geographic barriers and distances. LMDS, using a group of frequency bands in the 28-31 GHz range of the wireless spectrum, may provide a unique, inexpensive, and innovative 'last mile' solution. We have highly qualified expertise within Communications Network Services (CNS), the telecommunications auxilliary of Virginia Tech, to complete the planning process with professional results. Applicant staff, and their expertise, are described in greater detail under "Planning Qualifications" (see also Exhibit K for resumes of key personnel). We will also need one technical consultant to assist the project for short periods in evaluating technical alternatives and trade-offs related to various architectures using NWV and LMDS. Virginia Tech has extensive experience in providing distance learning services, including a full range of two-way satellite communications, tele-course origination, ATM-based infrastructure state-wide, and switched Ethernet to the desktop. Virginia Tech has affiliations with other broadcasting, media and educational organizations, including SURANET, Network Alliance, and Net.Work.Virginia schools and universities, including historically black colleges. We will identify specific programming content for the proposed project (GED courses, health care training and support) during the planning cycle. II. Financial Qualifications Our twelve-month operating budget, including local match, is 130,219. The total funds requested from PTFP is 75,237; total local match is 54,982. Partner organizations are contributing over 25% of the operating budget in cash or in-kind (for staff time, supplies, travel and equipment). Virginia Tech's Communications Network Services (CNS) is the management partner of NWV (http://www.networkvirginia.net) that is owned by Network Alliance, a consortium of all Virginia local exchange carriers (LECs). NWV is a statewide education and research network based on high bandwidth Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology. More than 400 sites are connected to NWV including virtually all institutions of higher education, all community college, many K-12 schools, libraries, and the Virginia Department of Health. Distance learning programs offered through NWV range from graduate engineering degree programs, to GED and continuing education services from the state extension service. The network supports integrated voice, video, and data services and includes access to the Internet and to several Next Generation Internet (Internet 2) networks. An important aspect of NWV is service everywhere in the state with flat rate prices and guaranteed access. Virginia Tech holds the license for LMDS (http://www.lmds.vt.edu), the 1150 MHz A block for most of southwest Virginia and portions of Tennesee and North Carolina (Exhibit C). The University of Virginia Medical and Health Sciences Center has telemedicine and continuing medical education programs underway in several locations already. For Smyth and Floyd Counties to participate in these medical programs requires planning for technical connectivity. Both Smyth and Floyd Counties have mobilized support for the proposal and the planning process. Smyth County has formed a committee consisting of edicators, business leaders involved with high speed communications and data transmissions, the Chamber of Commerce, and the county administrator. The Board of Supervisors has a draft strategic plan (Exhibit J) for technology enhancements for the county. During the planning period, project partners will develop a business plan for the implementation phase of our proposed system and its continued operation. III. Project Objectives Our objective is to plan network connectivity and educational content with community partners in Smyth and Floyd Counties. Both areas have expressed a strong need for improved delivery of high school courses, including Graduate Equivalency Degree (GED), and health care education and training. Both are interested in network-based access to distant specialist health care and distance learning based re-certification for health care professionals. Floyd, in particular, has no hospital within the county and very limited access to health care. There is a health department office that would provide a good central site for telemedicine and continuing education and training for doctors, nurses and other helath staff. Three business partners in Smyth County (Marion Composite, Titan Wheel, and CBM Technologies), are interested in offering GED classes at the workplace, thereby extending access directly to facilities located at these manufacturing companies. These firms recognize that the difficulty of attending classes after work at distant community colleges keeps many workers from getting the educational skills they desperately need. They want to offer on site classes and training via the network during the work day. This planning proposal falls under the category of 'special consideration,' (non-broadcast, distance learning service). Specific project objectives are to:
The final outcome of the planning cycle will be a PTFP proposal for a non-broadcast activation project based on the needs assessment, business plan and technical analysis conducted during the grant period. In order to meet the above objectives, we will work with the University of Virginia Medical and Health Sciences Center and the following community groups in Floyd and Smyth Counties (see also Exhibit J):
The final locations and technical configuration for this multi-site distance learning project will be determined during the planning phase. Candidate sites (Exhibit H) in Floyd County are the County Administration building, several of the public schools, and the health clinic; in Smyth County, they are: County Administration building, three businesses (Marion Composite, Titan Wheel, and CBM Technologies), and several public schools. Several site visits in Smyth and Floyd Counties will be necessary to design optimal technical configuration for delivery of services. Funds are requested to offset travel costs. At least one representative from each of the project partners will attend a demonstration of the UVA telemedicine activities already being conducted in other locations in Virginia. Some of the programs UVA offers are medical grand rounds and specialty grand rounds (cardiology, pediatrics, urology). With patient education UVA does an 8 week diabetes community network outreach series. UVA will tailor other programs based on the needs assessment of the patient community. Expected results of this effort include :
IV. Urgency There are non-existent or inadequate distance learning services in Smyth and Floyd. The goal is to bring connectivity and content to minorities and other disadvantaged populations in this region. Existing distance learning services in the Smyth and Floyd are summarized below, along with their inadequacies for meeting urgent educational needs. The project will not duplicate existing services. Medical services within the Floyd County rely on a few general practitioners with limited weekly hours, a satellite health department office, or trips to hospitals in one of the surrounding counties. The closest hospital is fifty-minutes by car if you live on one of the two main roads. Ninety-five percent of the citizenry does not live along these roads. Helicopters generally are needed to transport the more critically ill, when available. The Health Department satellite office, the only health facility in Floyd, needs improved health care services and continuing education for staff via the network. The Floyd County public schools have limited Internet access: 56 kbps connections from the four elementary/middle schools, and a T1 connection to the high school. The school system has just been approved for an Appalachian Regional Commission grant to install a distance learning classroom by Fall 1999. Floyd needs to consider various technical alternatives for connecting the two-way video classroom to sources of educational content. The most attractive possibility at this point is NWV, possibly with LMDS. The 1990 Census for Smyth County shows that only about half (53%) of the workforce had a high school diploma. In the past, there had been work for adults without diplomas, but as the county's manufacturing base has shifted from woodworking and textiles to auto machinery and other, more technical industries, employers increasingly began to require that their workers have a high school diploma or GED. The county established an adult diploma program enrolling about 50 students per semester. Classes include required subjects such as English, and electives such as computer skills and other technology courses. Basic education classes offered include pre-GED, GED, basic literacy, and workplace skills. About 150 adults participate in these basic ed programs each year. More could participate if the location of classes and the selection of courses were expanded through network connectivity. Smyth County's three high schools are connected to the Central Office via frame relay with 768 Kbps; the remaining schools have 56 Kbps connections. The Central Office is connected to NWV by a DS1 line. At this time, all of the traffic on that DS1 is data; there are no distance learning services with video. The high schools need DS1 connectivity to NWV in order to deliver GED and other education content. The Smyth County School System also operates an alternative education center (TAP, or Teaching Alternative Program) that needs to be connected to the Smyth County Schools' WAN. This facility serves students who are not able to attend regular classes, including adults. If networked, this facility, located within two miles of the County Office Building, could serve as an originating or receiving site for GED instruction and other critical distance learning applications. Smyth County built an education facility, leased to Wytheville Community College, that urgently needs Internet and WAN connectivity. The facility, serving to improve the skills of the area workforce, offers classes that are often attended by employees of the industries located in the industrial park in which it is located. It is very difficult for workers to reach this location because they must travel after work great distances or over the mountain range that sharply divides Smyth County.Currently, all of the county adult education programs involve face-to-face classroom instruction. A network of distance learning classrooms connected by ATM network and wireless technology would enable Smyth County to reach more adult learners with skills upgrading and training that will move them out of welfare into work and into the service sector where jobs are increasingly available. V. Planning Qualifications As noted earlier, Virginia Tech personnel are highly qualified and committed to the project; specific individuals and their expertise assigned to the planning period are as follows:
The following staff of participating partners are highly qualified and are committed to completing the project with professional results; these are:
VI. Special Consideration We expect the planning period to result in a construction grant proposal at the end of the twelve month period. This construction project will serve the educational needs of three minority populations: Melungeons, Hispanics and women. The general population of both Smyth and Floyd Counties is also white, but predominantly disadvantaged. Both Floyd and Smyth Counties are designated Appalachian Regional Commission areas. This means they are characterized by a set of indicators of great deprivation. Both Smyth and Floyd have significant Melungeon populations (African-American, Indian and Caucasian mixed blood) which are widespread in southwest Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina (http://pluto.clinch.edu/appalachia/melungeon/tri.html). Floyd also has a growing Hispanic population. Both counties have the minority population 'women' that makes up roughly half the labor force targeted by this project. These minorities, as well as the general population of both counties, are characterized by extreme poverty and isolation. Smyth County is listed by the Virginia Governor's office as the tenth (out of 95) most economically distressed locality in the state. Forty (40) percent of the student population qualifies for free or reduced lunch. In Floyd, (population 13,000), 40% of adults over twenty-five do not have a high school diploma or GED (1990 U.S. Census). Thirty percent of K12 students are on free or reduced lunch. Close to 45% of the adult population travels outside the county for work as there are few industry, manufacturing or business employment opportunities in the area. Floyd is a rural, geographically isolated county with no interstate highways or four lane roads. (Please see Exhibit E for more detail.) Medical services within Floyd county rely on a few general practitioners with limited weekly hours, a satellite health department office or trips to hospitals in one of the surrounding counties. Helicopters, when available, are necessary to transport the critically ill. The closest hospital is a one hour drive if you live on one of the two main roads; 95% of county residents do not live along these two roads. Timeline October 1, 1999 - September 30, 2000 First quarter: October, November, December 1999 Hire systems planner Second quarter: January, February, March 2000 Begin implementation of needs assessment Third quarter: April, May, June 2000 Conclude needs assessment Fourth quarter: July, August, September 2000 Write up results of comprehensive needs assessment |
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