What are CTCs?

Community Technology Centres are a network of 55 member organisations spanning regional NSW from the Northern Rivers to the Far West to the Riverina. They enable communities to develop and access services and programs that support the economic, educational, cultural and social life of small rural NSW towns.

All are not-for-profit community organisations, with very strong community engagement and local management committees. They are community owned, regionally focused and passionate about bringing services to their communities.

CTCs are much more than just internet enabled centres. They are quite simply the hub of their communities. Each individual CTC knows their area, the community, local media and local socio and economic environment. They deliver a wide range of services including:

Communication services – dialup and broadband Internet, email, fax, videoconferencing, webcasts, podcasts and other online services and information;

Community education, community consultation, and community engagement;

Online government and e-government solutions for all tiers of government including labour/work participation schemes such as Work for the Dole, telehealth and telelaw;

Education and training services - basic ICT training, accredited training courses, TAFE and vocational training, industry and business training, online training facilitation and support;

IT services such as technical support, computer maintenance, website development, and desktop publishing;

Economic development – business skills training, ecommerce, business assistance, marketing material, job creation and volunteer training;

Social development services - support programs for youth, children, the aged and people with disabilities;

Community development services, community newspapers, bulletins, tourist and heritage information, library services.

Many of the centres are quality suppliers, that is they have been assessed against ISO9000 customer service standards, and the process of accreditation is on-going. All centres run regional and state-wide services for government and private organizations who wish to reach clients through seminars, conferences and training programs.

Some Research About CTCs

Will Tibben from the University of Wollongong has been conducting research on the policy environment and role of Community Technology Centres, and their sustainability, for many years.

A book recently launched at the Community Informatics conference in Prato, Italy, contains a chapter with his research findings: A Communications Policy Perspective On CTC Sustainability In Regional Australia: Normative Assumptions, Commercial Viability And Social Good, Will Tibben University Of Wollongong

Book details can be found at:

http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Communities-in-Action--Papers-in-Community-Informatics1-4438-0959-4.htm

The Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee tabled its report, entitled Framework for the Future in federal Parliament on 15th October 2008. The very first recommendation is "The Australian Government fund initiatives to make training, support and appropriate applications available to people in regional Australia to ensure equitable access."

You can download a copy of the Report at http://www.rtirc.gov.au/home/Report.

Social Inclusion in Australia: How Australia is Faring

The Australian Social Inclusion Board has released a report, providing a statistical view of the nature of social inclusion in Australia. You can access the links to download it from http://www.socialinclusion.gov.au/LatestNews/Pages/HowAustraliaIsFaring.aspx

To quote from it: "Mounting evidence, as demonstrated in Professor Tony Vinson’s Dropping off the edge report, shows that different kinds of disadvantage—lower incomes, poorer housing, poorer health, lower educational attainment, poorer social connectedness and community capacity, higher unemployment and higher crime rates—tend to coincide for individuals and families in a relatively small number of places, and that these concentrations of disadvantage tend to persist over time. The issues facing people living in locations of concentrated disadvantage can also be compounded by the characteristics of the places themselves, for example through poor local infrastructure."

CTCs are overwhelmingly located in the places identified as disadvantaged, the majority in the most disadvantaged 20% of the 640 NSW postcodes ranked by Professor Vinson. These communities report difficulty accessing services such as banks, Medicare, Centrelink and employment services, difficulty accessing education and training, and difficulty accessing government services provided online. CTCs are a major factor in addressing the poor local infrastructure and preventing the concentrations of disadvantage persisting over time.

CTC Stories

CTC@Tea Gardens- Justifiably Proud of their Achievements

The Tea Gardens CTC is 6 years old and is a busy, thriving centre, open to the public seven days a week, is self funded and has been run totally by volunteers ... [more]

Eden Access Centre has just experienced one of its busiest summer periods. The local Whale Festival in December attracted visitors from neighbouring regions as well as interstate. Our area seemed to have increased holiday activity, with Caravan ... [more]

The Holbrook CTC is a busy and thriving centre, open to the public four days a week and compiling and producing the community newsletter on the other day. CTC@Holbrook is a Section 355 committee of the local Council, located at the Community R... [more]

The new CTC for Bulahdelah opened its doors just over two years ago, and is situated in the Bulahdelah Courthouse Museum Complex at 20 Ann Street Bulahdelah.

We started with just one computer system, and after two months increased to four ... [more]

CTC@Gundagai - Jack of All Trades and Centre of the Community In 2000 when the Gundagai CTC was first setup there was no broadband available, indeed most people in Gundagai did not have any type of internet at all and there was a definite need for ... [more]

G’day from CTC@Warialda. We have been in operation for five years now. CTC@Warialda is located in the centre of town and shares a building with the Warialda Standard newspaper, Warialda Library and Warialda Tourism. We have two separate of... [more]

CTC@Denman Congratulations to CTC@Denman, who have moved into their new Community Centre. Denman is a community in the Upper Hunter Valley with a population of 1500. The Centre was a dissued bus shed and council purchased the building some years a... [more]

The Lithgow Technology Centre has been operating out of the Library for the past three years which has been working extremely well for both parties. The technology centre has sixteen computers for public use. The technology centre has been becoming ... [more]

CTC@Scone and Scone Neighbourhood Centre The doors of the CTC@Scone were officially opened by the Mayor in 2004. The service is co-located with the Scone Neighbourhood Centre where both organisations compliment each other to provide the community w... [more]

The Bombala CTC is carving a niche for itself in the Bombala Community. After a slow start the Bombala CTC now has an ever expanding community website (platypuscountry.org.au), client base and volunteers list. Until recently the Bombala CTC had Ian ... [more]

CTC@Uki in the Tweed Valley Uki CTC is situated in the beautiful Tweed Valley, in the foothills of Mount Warning, a region with a diverse population of arts and craft people as well as being a tourist destination. Ltd originally opened as ... [more]

CTC@Condobolin CTC@ Condobolin was opened on February 18, 2003, under the auspices of Western Plains Regional Development Inc. It is a not for profit organisation that was initially set up to provide services to help combat rural decline in the... [more]

CTC@Trundle The CTC@Trundle opened on the 3rd October 2003, co-locating with the newly refurbished Trundle Library. This had followed almost a year of application writing, committee herding and pooling of blood sweat and tears – mostly tears!!! The... [more]

CTC@Bermagui Bermagui CTC is located in the Bermagui Community Centre, in Bunga Street Bermagui. Bermagui is in a very beautiful part of far southeast NSW, with wilderness areas, grey-green eucalypts covering foothills, spectacular bays, ... [more]

CTC@Peak Hill Located on the Newell Highway in the central west, the CTC@Peak Hill was officially opened on the 7th June, 2004 by local MP John Cobb and has become a valuable asset for our small town. The centre occupies two shop fronts in... [more]

CTC@Old Bar's new main street location The CTC@Old Bar has been operating for over five years. For most of that time it operated from the rear of Namaste Beach House. Now it has relocated to a much more exciting location at Shop 5, 45 Old Bar Road.... [more]