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Organization and StaffingPresident I.
Introduction Appointed by the Board of Trustees and reporting to the
Digizone Administrator, the President and his/her staff possess the
ultimate responsibility and strategic leadership for the efficient and
equitable implementation, outreach, disbursement, and monitoring of the
Digital Divide Trust Fund within his or her respective region. The President will possess substantial knowledge of digital
divide issues within the region as well as the managerial expertise to be
able to carry out effectively the mandate of the legislation. The
President will be responsible for appointing the experts, financial
officer, state liaisons and regional coordinator, for the hiring of his
staff as well as coordinating the communication between these three
functions. Moreover, the
incumbent will, oversee the day-to-day operations of running the
administration and grants programming of the region’s technology
centers. II.
Major Duties and Responsibilities a) Responsible
for overseeing the administrative and financial programming of the nine
programs as dictated in the Digital Bridge Trust Fund. b) Responsible
for making sure that the mandate of the legislation is obeyed accordingly.
This will include overseeing that the budget and operations stay
within the allotted amount and that the programs are targeting the
intended population and accomplishing the intended mission. c) Responsible
for representing the region to the Digizone Administrator on the
region’s progress on administering the federal grants allotment.
This will include attending regular meetings with the Digizone
Administrator to relate the difficulties and achievements of the
program’s regional operations. The
President will also serve as counsel to the Board of Trustees on
appointing an outside evaluator to the region’s operations. d) Responsible
for collecting and reviewing monthly reports from the Financial Officer
and the Regional Coordinator. Regional
Coordinator e) Responsible for serving as the liaison between the
state liaisons and the President of each Digizone.
The Regional Coordinator is the highest-ranking administrative
officer working directly on the programming for the Community Technology
Centers. The Regional
Coordinator acts as the eyes and ears on the progress of the grant program
in each state, and will convey information about the state-level program
operations to the President. f) Responsible for coordinating the various efforts/interests of the state liaisons in their outreach effort/implementation and disseminating the grant guidelines. The Regional Coordinator is an expert on the administrative details and grants guidelines of the Digizone Technology Center Grants Program. Will be an administrative source of information from the President to the state liaisons and will assist the state liaisons in publicizing the guidelines. g) Responsible for making the decision on the final round
of applications with the counsel of the Review Board. h) Responsible for recommending to the President the state
liaison for each state for the President’s approval. Includes conducting research on prospective candidates. Review Board i) The Review
Board consists of four experts (one in urban, one in rural, one on
Native-American, and one in technical).
The primary responsibilities of the Review Board are to conduct a
needs assessment; identify and strategize on outreach in the most
underserved areas and populations of the region to apply for grants;
counsel the Regional Coordinator on funding decisions on grant proposals;
and monitor awardees’ progress reports.
In this capacity, the Review Board will seek to approve grant
proposals in accordance with the results of the need assessment.
The intended goal of having representation of the targeted
population in the experts on the Review Board will have a more
client-centered effective approach to maximizing the effectiveness of this
technology outreach. Financial
Officer j) Responsible for
monitoring the operational expenditures of the nine programs in the
Regional Digital Divide Trust Fund. Includes
keeping a financial calendar of federal grant money disbursed to the
region and the regional disbursement of grant money to the state.
Keeps track of the Office’s operational expenses as well as the
timely disbursement of approved grant money to the awardees.
The Financial Officer and his/her staff have the primary
responsibility of keeping and maintaining a regional and state budget and
financial calendar. Coordinates with the President and the Regional Coordinator
on translating program goals into/within financial commitments/restraints. k) Responsible for reporting to the President with monthly
financial status reports. The
Financial Officer is the chief financial liaison to the President and
thereby keeps him/her informed as to the financial situation of the
Digizone Projects. The
financial officer and his/her staff will work with the President in
formulating a budget for each office (regional coordinator’s office,
financial officer’s office, state liaison’s office) and will be
responsible for approving expenses over a specified material amount. State Liaison l) Responsible for disseminating to the potentially
interested CBOs, NGOs, NPOs, and local governments the grant guidelines.
The State Liaison should work with the region’s public relations
officer in a series of publicity outreach efforts to the underserved
communities. Includes
coordinating meetings with civil society leaders to gather grassroots
support and publicity. m) Responsible for making the first round cut on the grant
applications before the applications are reviewed by the Regional
Coordinator. n) Responsible for networking awardees experiencing any
technical assistance/difficulties they may need or encounter in their
program implementation with the region’s experts or the state’s
experts. The State Liaison
and his/her staff of project managers will serve as a demand-driven
support task force for grant awardees and potential grant awardees. o) Responsible for the collection, review, and evaluation
of awardees’ semi-annual reports. The
State liaison shares with the project managers in grant renewal decisions.
However, she or he must regularly report to the Regional
Coordinator on the general progress of projects throughout the state. p) Responsible for hiring the project managers. Project Managers q) Responsible for working directly with the communities
and community leaders in publicizing, implementing and monitoring the
Digital Divide programs. The
Project managers work at a grassroots field level and should be well
connected with the civil society and local government leaders.
The Managers are also responsible regular meetings with
stakeholders and civil society leaders on their input of the Technology
Center Grants Program. They
perform grassroots work to create a demand to be connected, and hence a
need for the technology community centers. r) Responsible for working directly with the awardees or
grant applicants on any technical or grant difficulties and questions by
making regular site visits. Include
serving as the communications link of the community centers to the State
Liaison. s) Responsible for sharing the decision with the state liaison on the grant renewal of projects.
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