Planning Grant for the CANS Regional Center for IT Education, Training and Business Development

信息技术中心的规划拨款是旧金山东湾地区康特拉科斯塔、阿拉米达、纳帕和索拉诺等加州县社区学院（CANS区域联盟）的合作项目。该项目解决了IT劳动力预期增长的问题。这项拨款的目标是为建立一个基于融合技术（CT）的信息技术教育、培训和业务发展区域中心制定一个综合提案，即通过合作学习计划和实习，实现电信、媒体、信息技术项目和创业精神的跨学科合作。Diablo Valley学院最近在“聚合技术”项目上的经验表明，在经济低迷时期，社区学院学生入学人数的增长与当地经济中创业活动的增长之间存在联系，这一点在该县的企业孵化器中尤为明显。人们经常回到社区大学提高或发展他们的技能，企业家依靠他们高度磨练的技能，冒险“冒险”一个新的想法或“创业”。他们通常对概念有清晰的想法，但不了解业务问题。这就是社区学院与当地企业孵化器或小企业发展中心合作的价值所在。学生实习生在获得许多基本的商业信息和技能后，会取得成功。企业孵化器现场提供的“即时”培训机会为这些企业在关键时刻提供了所需的救生筏。因此，挑战变成了解决方案，成功的企业出现了，这意味着创造了新的就业机会。资讯科技谘询委员会的概念已向区内的持份者提出，许多持份者表示愿意提供技术专长、软件、硬件、设施、学生实习、教员发展计划，以及参与联络协议。咨询委员会第一次全体会议的议程包括介绍和讨论：1)已建立的IT中心的活动，2)can IT项目，3)现有的IT技能标准，4)商业/行业/政府需求评估，5)拟议的新课程，6)教师发展，7)学生实习，8)交付系统，9)可持续性，10)中心发展标准。目前正在组建工作队，以处理为编写关于区域中心的建议而确定的关键问题。拟议活动的知识价值是根据非洲经委会联合会的资格和经验以及以前在非洲经委会区域经济发展方面的赠款。更广泛的影响集中在商业、工业、教育机构和政府合作伙伴之间的区域合作，为代表性不足的群体等提供机会。

This planning grant for an Information Technology (IT) Center is a collaborative project of Community Colleges in the California Counties of Contra Costa, Alameda, Napa and Solano (CANS Regional Consortium), in the San Francisco East Bay Region. This project addresses an anticipated increase in an IT workforce. The goal of this grant is the development of a comprehensive proposal for a regional center for IT Education, Training and Business Development, based upon Convergent Technologies (CT), that is, the interdisciplinary collaboration of Telecommunications, Media, IT programs and entrepreneurship through collaborative learning programs and internships.Recent experience with a "Convergent Technology" grant at Diablo Valley College showed that there is a connection between the growth of student enrollments in the community colleges during an economic downturn and the growth in entrepreneurial activity in the local economy, especially documented by the county's business incubators. People often return to the community college to enhance or develop their skills, and entrepreneurs fall back on their highly honed skills and venture to "risk" a new idea or "start-up." They often have a clear idea of the concept, but do not understand business issues. This is where the partnership of the Community Colleges with their local business incubators or Small Business Development Centers has proven so valuable. Student interns, when offered much of the basic business information and skills, succeed. "Just-in-time" training opportunities offered on site at the business incubators provided the life raft needed for these businesses at critical times. Hence, challenges became solutions and successful businesses emerged, which meant that new jobs were created.The IT advisory council concept has been broached to stakeholders in the region and many have indicated a willingness to commit technical expertise, software, hardware, facilities, student internships, faculty development projects and participate in articulation agreements. The agenda for the first plenary session of the advisory council includes presentations and discussions of: 1) Activities of established IT Centers, 2) CANS IT programs, 3) Existing IT skills standards, 4) Business/Industry/Government needs assessment, 5) Proposed new curricula, 6) Faculty Development, 7) Student Internships, 8) Delivery Systems, 9) Sustainability, and 10) Criteria for Center development. Task forces are being formed to address the key issues identified for the preparation of the proposal for a regional center.The intellectual merit of the proposed activity is based upon the qualifications and experience of the CANS Consortium and previous grants in Economic Development for the CANS region. The broader impacts focus on this regional collaboration of business, industry, educational institutions, and government partners, providing opportunities for under-represented groups, among others.