Project Description:
Digital Connectors and ConnectorsClub.org
One Economy's Digital Connectors youth technology training program created the Ning-based  ConnectorsClub.org site to share technology training curriculum, promote learning and connections among Digital Connectors, and foster leadership development in low-income communities.


Project Goal:
The Digital Connectors project aims to create 21st century technology ambassadors by offering technology training to 14-21 year-olds in underserved communities so that they may train their peers in technology to bring them into the economic mainstream.  Digital Connectors is an international movement of youth and their mentors that understand that quality of life depends on quality of information. To date, more than 3,000 youth have been trained as Digital Connectors.
In order to improve their lives and their communities through technology adoption and service work, Connectors programs become affiliates with One Economy.  We then train each  affiliate’s instructors or mentors through our standard service leadership curriculum training. This Curriculum includes media literacy, financial literacy, and community service, community mapping, information technology, and the creation of a final project. Instructors are steeped in the program values, 12 core competencies1 and technological know-how to deliver Digital Connectors with youth at their affiliate site.

What Tools Did You Use:
- Blogs
- Facebook
- Flickr
- LinkedIn
- MySpace
- RSS
- Twitter
- Other

What Happened?:
One Economy employs a diverse set of social networking tools into the structure of the Digital Connectors program. Integral to the program is the ConnectorsClub.org, a community site created on the Ning platform that allows Digital Connectors to access the philosophy, excitement, and community engagement that make up the Digital Connectors national movement.  The site invigorates a network of youth, youth workers, and industry sponsors who communicate with each other and partner to deliver service and learning. It also allows Digital Connector graduates to remain in touch with the program and to serve as mentors to new participants. In this way we have aggregated student work and interaction among the more than 100 programs that have raised Digital Connectors across the country.  We still rely on other public social networks to keep our youth engaged inside and outside of the program, but all coursework, program related interaction, contests, incentives, service reporting and awards happen on our network.
Prior to creating ConnectorsClub.org, some of the social media tools that our Digital Connectors launched evolved organically since our first Digital Connectors training with 13 young women in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC.  Many of our affiliates began to produce Youtube channels, blogs and radio podcasts even before the standardization of the program. During 2008 and 2009 we chose the best practices from these initial prototypes that were now running across the country and wove them together into our 200-hour Digital Connectors curriculum.  

Lessons Learned:
One of the biggest lessons learned is that a community for emerging leaders for digital literacy must be maintained, monitored, encouraged, and nurtured, so that trust emerges among Digital Connectors.
Importantly, One Economy has learned it can be difficult to keep track of the multitude of social networking programs created by its Digital Connectors.  It is very easy to set up a new station, network or other communication mouthpiece.  It is much more challenging to produce a meaningful, valuable narrative across the brand and even more challenging to engage Affiliates in the same process.  A social media strategy that is adopted by all affiliates is essential to maintaining quality of content and clarity of purpose.  Online social networks are only as good as the frequency and relevance of their member postings and interaction.   Virtual networks still need the support of real handshakes and friendships to be realized. One Economy is striving daily to set up the systems, training, and incentives that enable ConnectorsClub.org to continue to grow to freely share content, training and relationships that can enable young people to become technology ambassadors for improved communities.  
Where We Are Headed
One Economy is continually strengthening the Digital Connectors curriculum and providing incentives for participation on the ConnectorsClub.org to increase interaction among Digital Connectors. Internationally, One Economy is working to expand the Community Connectors program into Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and many of the other countries where One Economy is working. ConnectorsClub.org will facilitate connections among adolescent Connectors, enable them to share the knowledge gained from Digital Connectors trainings, develop mentorship relationships with people in the United States and Kenya, and scale their learning into an open resource visible to anyone with an internet connection.  
Additionally, One Economy will foster social entrepreneurship by creating incentives within ConnectorsClub.org to encourage Digital Connectors to interact with each other to solve problems in their communities. For example, One Economy is developing programs that: foster micro-enterprise development through DigiPreneurs; offer job placement through an upcoming service called DigiStaffing; and selling DigiGear- the latest clothing and tech gear- at an online store where Digital Connectors can “purchase” items with DigiCash, another new incentive for participation in the program. In the future, One Economy seeks to enable ConnectorsClub.org to work with a mobile phone based application so that Digital Connectors can interact instantaneously, become citizen reporters, and access community leadership tools from the palms of their hands.

 URLs:

www.connectorsclub.org

www.one-economy.com

Elizabeth Kountze

One Economy Corporation