West Virginia University has become a leader in the use of interactive distance networking technology, which allows for face-to-face meetings across the state.

Nonprofit Collaboratives members WVU , the West Virginia Army National Guard (WVARNG) and the West Virginia Community Action Directors Association (WVCADA)produce the statewide meetings using this new technology.

Nonprofit Collaboratives to Facilitate Rural Networking (Nonprofit Collaboratives) is a project funded in large part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Other organizations participating in the partnership include the Governors Cabinet on Family and Children, the Governors Office on Technology, Multi-CAP Inc. and Software Valley.

“Nonprofit Collaboratives made possible WVCADA s efforts to bring training to its members throughout the state. Eleven sites were used to train 106 staff members in ROMA (Results-Oriented Management and Accountability) for nonprofit community action associations,”said Karen Harper-Dorton, Ph.D., WVU professor of social work and co-director of the project.

WVCADA (http://www.wvcommunity.org) is a statewide organization composed of 16 member agencies with the united goal of developing West Virginias communities to their fullest potential.

The state Army National Guard provided the technology in the form of Distance Training Technology labs strategically placed throughout the state. Each lab is equipped with one or more motion-sensitive cameras, televisions networked to the broadcast, microphones for participants, and networked computers. This equipment allowed meeting participants to see, hear and speak to each other throughout the meeting. Other lab capabilities include delivery of software presentations, satellite broadcasts, web-based activities and handwritten information to all sites.

DTT labs are available in Athens, Beckley, Buckhannon, Charleston, Fairmont, Huntington, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Parkersburg, Summersville and Wheeling. A lab is expected to come online in Kingwood this summer. West Virginia is one of few states in the nation with such a high ratio of sites to population.

WVU has hosted Nonprofit Collaboratives, within its School of Applied Social Sciences, since 1999. In that time, Nonprofit Collaboratives has reached thousands of people across the state with the goal of increasing technological literacy in underserved populations. The Division of Social Work is one of three academic divisions within the School of Applied Social Sciences, a unit of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.