The Community Software Lab, Inc CONTACT:PO Box 1418 Lowell, MA 01853-1418 978-934-4350 thecsl.orgDan MacNeil, Founder, Executive Director
DESCRIPTION:CSL evolved into existence—by rising to meet demand for its services. It began in 1999 as a group of weekend volunteers on the Lowell Community Technology Consortium's website. Soon they were providing technical support and programming simple software tools for charities in Lowell. By 2002, the Lab spun-off as an independent project, with office and server space provided by the Computer Science department at UMass Lowell. One of their contributions has been to design an on-line directory of Lowell’s human services—Merrimack Valley Hub (http://mvhub.com), which prints out at 400 pp., and is used by charity staff and social workers to refer clients to programs in their own languages. Charities are helping to support and enhance it, and it has expanded into Lawrence and the North Shore. MVHub is up to date, easy to use, detailed, and widely used as a source of reliable data about social service needs. The goal is to have 80% of listings updated every 6 months. Currently 92% of listings have been updated in the past six months. On an average day, MVHub has 50 unique visitors. They have won a Grassroots.org "Techie" award (http://grassroots.org) at a national Nonprofit Technology Network's (NTEN) conference. They recruit Americorps volunteers nationwide, including some from leading universities. This is clearly a growing enterprise, in tune with its times and audiences, and you can be a part of it. (2008: PROMOTING PHILANTHROPY)
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