Grant Overview

In September of 1999 the presidents of the 12 community colleges in Western North Carolina met to determine how each institution could use technology to improve the delivery of education and training and to promote economic development in the region. As a result, a work group was formed and charged with assessing the colleges' collective state of infrastructure and connectivity. Their report, a document titled: "Narrowing the Digital Divide: The Unique Role of Community Colleges in Western North Carolina," included a recommendation that a formal coalition of the 12 colleges be formed and that the Coalition initiate an electronic commerce (E-commerce) development project.

This project includes three components:

• an E-commerce instructional component
• a web page incubation component
• and a local users network component

As a result, the project has six objectives:

Project Objectives:

1. To link all 12 western regional community colleges and their E-commerce instructional offerings
2. To deliver to student/entrepreneurs throughout Western North Carolina the instruction necessary for conducting E-commerce.
3. Incubate web sites of E-commerce students/entrepreneurs on the Consortium server to assist in the launch into E-commerce.
4. To create and deliver E-commerce training to serve up to 180 Consortium faculty and staff.
5. Promote the importance of E-commerce in WNC as a tool for economic development.
6. Collaboratively manage and lead the Consortium through a WNC E-commerce Advisory Board.