West Philadelphia High School, its feeder schools and the surrounding community will soon join the world of the wired, thanks to a five-year, $9.5 million Technology Challenge Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. And the path from West Philadelphia to the Internet paved by this grant will run right through Penn.

The University is one of 11 Philadelphia businesses and educational institutions that have pledged to pool resources in support of the School District of Philadelphia's plan to promote techno-literacy as part of its "Children Achieving" program. These resources provide the match that the School District needed to obtain the Education Department grant.

Philadelphia received the largest single grant among the 19 cities that received funds under the Technology Challenge Grant award.

The bulk of Penn's resources will come from two sources: the Office of Information Systems and Computing and the Center for Community Partnerships. ISC will add 100 new dial-up access lines and Internet accounts for teachers in the West Philadelphia High cluster. Penn presently offers 50 such accounts through its own modem pool and via LibertyNet, the regional Internet consortium in which Penn is a partner.

The Center will coordinate several different training and evaluation programs for teachers, students and families. Faculty and students engaged in academically based community service courses and volunteers will provide curriculum development to enable teachers and students to take advantage of the technology in the classroom. Penn faculty and students will also provide technology development and evaluation assistance, and 12 students supported by the Center will provide technology training and assistance for program participants.

Students will also have access to a multimedia West Philadelphia database created by Center staff working together with ISC staff and students. (More about the creation of this community resource will appear on these pages next week.)

"This project fills a vital need for up-to-date technology in Philadelphia's public schools," said Ira Harkavy, center director. "It can also serve as a model for university-community cooperation in making sure that urban neighborhoods are not left out of the information revolution."

Dan Updegrove, associate vice provost for information systems and computing, was also pleased with the grant announcement. "This is exciting news for the city, and welcome news for those of us at Penn who worked on the proposal," he said.