About the Program

Community Connections is a program sponsored by the USF Computer Science department in which Computer Science undergraduates assist local nonprofit agencies in upgrading, repairing, supporting and improving their computer and IT facilities. We began this program in January 2003 with two students working at Network Ministries, a Jesuit organization that, among other services, provides computer access for Tenderloin residents. In this program, USF students peformed an audit of the Network Ministries labs and suggested cost-effective upgrades, installed new hardware and software, provided networking support, and redesigned Network Ministries' web site.

Since then, w've been gradiually expanding the program and partnering with additional organizations. We've also integrated the program into a USF course, Computers and Society: Privacy, Security and Ethics, offered each Spring. We're always interested in locating organizations that could use our help and would be a good match for the services we can provide, as well as the USF mission. If this sounds like something that your organization would be interested in, please contact Chris Brooks at (415) 422-5221 or cbrooks@cs.usfca.edu .

What We Can Provide

Since our program is staffed by undergraduate students, we're best suited to solving short- to medium-length concrete tasks, as opposed to ongoing IT support. Some of the tasks we are able to provide include:

• Audit and assessment of your technical resources, including recommendations for upgrades to fit different budgets.
• Installation, configuration and upgrade of software and hardware for PCs, routers, and storage devices.
• Network upgrade and debugging.
• Web site design.
• Database installation, upgrading, and porting.
• Some maintenance and repair of PCs.
• Equipment configuration.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive. If you have other needs, please contact Chris Brooks and we'll try to figure out if we can help you.

What We Can't Provide

The two primary things we cannot provide are:

1. money and equipment
2. long-term ongoing technical support.

We don't have any sort of budget in place to provide your organization with grants or funding to purchase equipment. Sorry.

We also don't currently have a way to provide your organization with used or donated equipment. If you are able to locate used or refurbished equipment, we'd be glad to help you set it up and integrate it into your site.

Since our staffers are undergraduate students, we have a high turnover rate; most people are involved with the program for a semester. Also, most students are not around during the summer. Because of this, we're most well-suited to specific, concrete tasks with a definite ending point. We're not particularly well-suited to 24-hour on-call support, or ongoing administrative tasks.

About USF

USF is a Jesuit, Catholic university located in the heart of the city. Established in 1855, it has approximately 8,000 students and is dedicated educating minds and hearts to change the world. Every year, USF students volunteer an average of 7,144 hours of their work.