About CI:NOW

Who we are

Community Information Now (CI:Now) is a partnership of over 25 public, private, governmental, educational and healthcare organizations working together since 1998.

The mission of CI:Now is to provide to the community a network for finding, learning, imagining, sharing, telling, and joining for positive change. The vision of CI:Now is to be your trusted source for information and tools, creating an informed and engaged community for the greater good.

CI:Now serves Bexar and 11 surrounding counties in south-central Texas, including Atascosa, Bandera, Comal, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Medina, and Wilson. Our primary funding partners are Methodist Healthcare Ministries, the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, the San Antonio Area Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation.

In October 2010 CI:Now became the 35th local partner in the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP). Staffed by The Urban Institute, NNIP is working to democratize information, promoting the use of neighborhood-level information to create better policy and build stronger communities.

Check out our NNIP Partner Profile.

Our structure

CI:Now is made up of three coordinated arms, each of which extends into the community its unique contribution to CI:Now’s mission.

NOWData is an online datacenter and data services provider administered by the University of Texas School of Public Health, San Antonio Regional Campus (UTSPH-SARC), and technically supported by the NOWData Working Group comprised of local data providers and data users.

NOWCastSA is an independent, online-only community news organization, dedicated to local, public service journalism and to creating a neighbor-to-neighbor news and information network in the San Antonio community. It is funded by grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and from CI:Now and is administered by the San Antonio Area Foundation.

NOWTech is a network of community-based computer training centers housed in the literacy centers of the City’s Department of Community Initiatives for the purpose of providing no-cost computer training in a hands-on supportive environment with classes in English and Spanish.

Governance

All three arms are governed by a Policy Group composed of representatives of CI:Now funders and other stakeholder organizations. The Policy Group meets monthly and serves as the locus for overall strategic planning and progress measurement, high-level coordination of activities among the three CI:Now arms, branding and messaging for community relations, resource development, and fiscal stewardship. The current members of the Policy Group are:

Mary Ellen Burns, United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County (Chair)
Steve Blanchard, PhD, Our Lady of the Lake University (Vice Chair)
Roberto Villarreal, MD, University Health System (Secretary/Treasurer)
Dean Danos, Alamo Area Council of Governments
Gloria Hurtado, City of San Antonio Department of Community Initiatives
William Israel, PhD, University of Texas at San Antonio; Chair, NOWCastSA Board of Directors
Pilar Oates, Methodist Healthcare Ministries
Jeffrey Sauter, San Antonio Area Foundation

History

In the late 1990s, two community partnership organizations, the San Antonio Community Network (SATNET) and the San Antonio Community Information System (SACIS), were working separately towards a common goal: developing a system where the residents of San Antonio and its surrounding counties could readily access information related to healthcare, education, and social services. While numerous information resources existed at that time and still do today, the information often is difficult to locate, once located, it is difficult to access, once accessed it is not comprehensive and too often outdated.

Following planning meetings conducted with community leaders and over thirty public, private, and non-profit organizations, it became clear that merging SATNET and SACIS would be the best strategy for making the proposed information system a reality. In March 2000, the Alamo Area Community Information System (AACIS) was born. The vision of AACIS was also put forth at that time, “to provide our citizens with enhanced access to information, services and tools that will aide them in all levels of community life and facilitate the development of skills necessary to improve upon the quality of life.”

The beginning of AACIS coincided with the receipt of a TIF:CN1 grant (Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund: Community Networking 1 grant). The TIF grant resulted in several community partnerships—with Education Service Center-Region 20 for use of two computer labs as community technology centers; with Alamo Community College District for the provision of an instructor in a public access lab at the Velasquez Learning Center; Success by Six Coalition which added a children’s report card for Bexar County; Alamo PC which provided a continued education path for AACIS students who excel and have taken at least two courses; with KLRN and YO! to pilot a film-computer class for hard to reach at-risk out-of-school youth; with the Texas Commission for the Blind to enhance labs to accommodate students with visual impairments; and with 44 computer public access sites promoted by AACIS on the website and through outreach; and with the City of San Antonio’s Department of Community Initiatives to use Learning and Leadership Development Centers as locations of Community Technology Centers (CTCs).

AACIS created the CTCs in furtherance of its mission: “to create opportunities for the underserved to connect to the new technologies so that all citizens may have access to educational, economic and social opportunities that follow.” At the time that AACIS was formed, 20 percent or more of those families living in poverty were the working poor who hold one or more jobs but continue to live in poverty. The adults in the initially targeted neighborhoods had a long history of illiteracy and poor educational attainment. In addition, according to research conducted by the University of Texas at San Antonio, 60 per cent of families in those neighborhoods had no access to computers at home or at work. Therefore, the AACIS program was established to provide technology access to a broad, underserved population through the development of CTCs at city-owned adult literacy facilities. AACIS CTCs were established at the Margarita Huantes, Albert Benavides, Willie Velasquez, Colonel Victor J. Ferrari and Columbia Heights Family Resource and Learning Centers.

The purpose of the program was to improve the learning outcomes of the target population’s functional literacy on three levels of significant relevance to today’s workforce—an improved level of educational attainment, an improved competency with the new technologies and improved opportunities for working poor families to achieve long-term self-sufficiency. The CTCs provide instructor-led courses in a hands-on, supportive environment in which students develop basic computer skill competencies and confidence. Students who complete the program can successfully navigate a computer for personal use and can more readily participate in workforce and higher education computer skills training. Specifically, the program:

Provides technology education through no-cost computer training for new underserved users in Internet and standard desktop computer applications; Addresses technology workforce development needs by teaching basic fundamental technology skills which enable these individuals to compete more confidently and competently in the workforce, attend skilled workforce training or attend college;

Enhances the adult basic education resources by increasing the motivation and capacity for learning among the working poor participants; and Provides instruction in Spanish as well as English as nearly half of all the AACIS students identify Spanish as their first (or only) language.

Late in 2008, AACIS expanded the collaboration to include The University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health San Antonio Regional Campus in order to update and expand data holdings and create a community portal with which the community could access data and other resources. In 2009, AACIS added a visionary project known as NOWCastSA, a Community Information Challenge project funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. NOWCastSA is an independent, nonprofit community news organization, dedicated to creation of a neighbor-to-neighbor news and information network and public service journalism. It strives to publish accurate, reliable, relevant and compelling in-depth news, data and information, filling a core community need and enabling a healthy democracy.

In January of 2010, the need to revise the mission and vision of AACIS became clear, and brainstorming and visioning meetings resulted in the rebranding of AACIS as CI:Now. Today, CI:Now is supported by the San Antonio Area Foundation, United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, the Knight Foundation, Methodist Healthcare Ministries and many additional sources. CI:Now maintains partnerships with over twenty-five organizations and is increasing these collaborations.

Information for stronger communities

CI:Now is funded primarily by private foundations. But individual contributions help us provide the news, data, training, and other information you and your neighbors need to create a stronger community.

Please consider making a donation to CI:Now via our fiscal agent, the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County. (Because CI:Now is an unincorporated partnership, CI:Now cannot receive donations directly.)

Three percent of the amount donated securely through the Razoo widget are withheld by Razoo as a transaction fee. Every dollar after that fee will go to support CI:Now data and news work. No funds donated through this page will be used to support any United Way program other than CI:Now.