Monument Futures: Library 2006

The E-Bus

The Community College Foundation (TCCF) is a nonprofit dedicated to using educational excellence to enhance communities. Founded in 1983, the Sacramento, Calif.-based organization launched its nationwide Community Connect program in 1999 to help teachers learn about technology. It educates and provides training to underserved communities through the use of the Internet and information technology.

In today's competitive job market, those literate in technology are in a better position to succeed. Recognizing this, TCCF took a novel approach toward bridging the digital divide and began offering technology learning - literally from the back of a bus.

In the Beginning eBus0 was TCCF's first mobile educational endeavor. In 1999, the recreational vehicle was equipped to deliver technology instruction to California public school teachers and outfitted by TCCF with Macintosh computers. In the last six years, the bus has trained more than 35,000 teachers on multimedia and computer technology so that computers deployed in schools can be used more effectively in classrooms.

With the success of the teacher-training program, TCCF realized the potential of providing computer training to communities at large and organized eBus1, which operated in Los Angeles from 1999-2003. Sponsored by Wells Fargo, eBus1 was a 40-foot converted city bus outfitted with 20 computer stations.