Abstract
AbstractThrough the NSF-funded Appalachian Information Technology Extension Services (AITES) grant, Family and Consumer Science (FCS) professionals are utilizing an Extension model to solve an Information Technology (IT) talent crisis for girls. The goal is to increase community capacity over five years in five states in rural Appalachia through a sustainable program of change concentrating not on the girls, but by mobilizing the social capital in their lives. In the first year approximately 365 parents, teachers, and counselors were involved in at least one session provided by the Virginia Community Cohort Teams of middle and high school teachers and counselors and FCS and 4H Agents. FCS professionals are pioneering an innovative model to build community capacity and social capital that brings more females into the IT career pipeline. The model builds on the commitment of the profession to empower communities and also becomes an economic development, workforce development, and human development engine. While this model is in its early stages, if successful, it will provide a template for professionals in other rural regions to mobilize communities to help solve the IT talent crisis.
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