JWU to offer nonprofits free design, tech help

JOHNSON & WALES Prof. Stephen Andrade works on a project for a local nonprofit with JWU computer graphics students A.J. Paquin, left, and Holly House. /
JOHNSON & WALES Prof. Stephen Andrade works on a project for a local nonprofit with JWU computer graphics students A.J. Paquin, left, and Holly House. /

Aiming to offer an “authentic learning environment,” Johnson & Wales University’s School of Technology plans to open a new center late this summer that will offer Rhode Island nonprofits a chance to use the graphics, design and technical skills of students.
Financed in part by a $117,000 grant from philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein, with additional funds from the university, the Feinstein Technology & Design Center is a “win-win” for students and nonprofits, said Frank Tweedie, dean of the School of Technology.
For the students, it will provide “authentic and meaningful experiences,” he said, while the nonprofits will get help attaining their goals.
“We’re looking to give organizations without resources a jump-start,” he said. “Nonprofits are already showing interest.”
The new center will be housed in a 1,500-square-foot storefront space in the School of Technology, at 138 Mathewson St., close to the Downcity Retail District. It will contain both Macintosh and HP computers, and a large multifunction printing station.
It will offer basic design services, including digital collateral designs for print media, Web sites, video, photography, multimedia and other creative assets, free of charge to qualified organizations, the university said. Marketing assistance and computer-aided facilities planning also will be available.
The target clients are mainstream social-service agencies, according to Prof. Steven C. Andrade, chairman of the computer graphics department. All clients must be pre-qualified by the school’s community-service learning department.
Johnson & Wales requires all its undergraduates on the Providence campus to take a course on civic engagement and social responsibility and to perform 12 to 20 hours of community service at a local nonprofit agency. Each year, the university says, almost 2,000 students work at more than 100 nonprofits.
The new center will provide another way to meet the service-learning requirement, though Tweedie said that students “go above and beyond,” and the work they do is “more about the solution than getting the requirement filled.”
In recent years, students have completed projects for Amos House, Hope High School and the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. The idea for the center started to develop with the success of past projects, Andrade said.
“Things really seemed to be taking off,” he said. “The work we were turning out was professional, complete and satisfactory to the client, and we wanted to build on that.”
“It’s been developing for a couple of years now,” said Tweedie. “We wanted to cover all the bases.”
And Feinstein said when the university presented him with an opportunity “to connect Rhode Island nonprofits with the technological talent that Johnson & Wales students and faculty can offer,” it was “irresistible.”
Andrade said the estimated startup costs are “in the $100,000 range.” The space is already in place, he said, so the costs involve mostly equipment, furniture and supplies. The university has matched Feinstein’s grant with faculty, staff and technical infrastructure, he said.
The center is expected to allow students to assist nonprofits on a larger scale than in the past and gain more experience.
“Students will work in the storefront, interacting with the public,” Tweedie said. “They’ll develop customer service skills and have worked under the pressures of the real world.”
The students will work under the supervision of a faculty adviser, who “will oversee things” but will “play a low-key role,” Tweedie said.
To help get nonprofits up and running, the center plans to cover initial printing costs for the first year, and will design and maintain any new Web site on the school’s server for the first year.
“It’s about helping agencies communicate to their constituents,” Andrade said.

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