RICHARD CHABRAN Director, Center for Virtual Research, University of California, Riverside "The Foundation provided the opportunity for us to come together and partner with community action programs, and to network with other technology grantees to form a statewide computer network. It provided organizational, fundraising, policy and computer support. Nobody else does that: They just give you the money and you're on your own." Computers in Our Future Riverside It's only ten blocks from the Center for Virtual Research at the University of California, Riverside, to the Urban League's Star Project in the local community center. But it took the spark of a Foundation grant to bridge that distance with a collaboration that brings university resources to a working-class neighborhood. Today, there's a lab with state-of-the art computers in the local Cesar Chavez Community Center, where a dozen organizations can use it to teach computer literacy and improve the career and health opportunities of disadvantaged young people. "The university wanted to develop computer technologies in the working-class section of Riverside," said Richard Chabran, director of the Center for Virtual Research. "We had the technology and a very vague dream. The Urban League had an actual community-based youth training program, but didn't have up-to-date equipment." When a Foundation request for proposals for the Work and Health Initiative's Computers In Our Future program called for collaboration, "We looked at each other and said -- Hey, we could do something big here for the whole community," said Urban League President Don Bardo. "A lot of our clients don't have computers in their homes, and don't have access." The Computers in Our Future coordination team -- Community Partners, The Children's Partnership and CompuMentor -- supplies technical support. The collaboration has widened to include more community-based organizations such as the Community Settlement Association, the Foundation Violence Prevention Initiative-funded People Reaching Out, the AmeriCorps after-school mentoring program and a youth computer library called Cybrary funded by the state. The coordinating team is also working with all 11 Foundation-funded Computers In Our Future projects to create a statewide computer network that reaches from Siskiyou to San Diego counties.