Ogdensburg SUNY Attain Lab

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ATTAIN Advanced Technology Training and Information Networking

In 2001, The State University of New York University Center for Academic and Workforce Development (UCAWD), through funding support from the New York State Legislature, created the Advanced Technology Training and Information Networking (ATTAIN) project to promote digital parity in New York’s economically challenged communities. Through this initiative, technology labs are placed in communities where residents can have access to the Internet, state-of-the-art hardware and interactive, multimedia software. The resident users are able to enhance their employability and academic skills in an ATTAIN lab, as well as gain invaluable insight into how technology profoundly affects the lives of the entire family. The ATTAIN project seeks to narrow the existent digital divide by providing ongoing access to education and training through the use of technology. Once access occurs, computer literacy and training can begin, and opportunities for success in school and at the workplace increase. The natural outcomes are enhanced employability skills leading to greater earning potential and academic skills leading to post secondary enrollment. UCAWD is responsible for the administration of 10 Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) and two Outreach Centers. The EOCs have a forty year history of training individuals who are unemployed, underemployed and lack the skills to enter college or entry level employment. UCAWD also administers the Bridge Program, New York State’s leading welfare-to-work program which places individuals on public assistance in unsubsidized employment. Many of the individuals who were mentioned above earn less that $15,000 annually and mainly comprise the households that do not have access to computers or the Internet. For African-American and Hispanic adults, the workplace and job training centers provide the main access to technology. With the unemployment rate remaining high with this population group, greater use of technology for job preparation and job search increases their likelihood of securing employment. Having persisted in low-wage jobs, they require education, training and mentoring to advance in their current positions or transition to careers that have a positive employment outlook for the future. The ATTAIN labs facilitate this transition for these individuals both at the EOCs and in ATTAIN labs located in community based organizations and public housing, where these individuals reside.