Robert R. Taylor Network at MIT leverages LotusLive to facilitate economic empowerment

Named in honor of Robert Robinson Taylor, the first known black graduate of MIT (in 1892) and the first professionally educated black architect in the U.S., the Robert R. Taylor Network (RRTN) is an economic empowerment and development organization focused on technology entrepreneurship and innovation and dedicated to widening the horizons of underserved and underrepresented youths, especially black youths.

Challenge

Centered on the “ASTEM” fields—architecture, science, technology, engineering and math—the mission of RRTN is to educate young people on both the vast opportunities and the cultural legacy of black achievement in these fields, and to connect them to a supportive community in which related skills and aspirations can take root. A central tenet is “learn by doing” within collaborative partnerships.

RRTN’s program currently encompasses three main components: an online historical timeline with links showcasing black achievers in the ASTEM fields, a series of summer institutes, and entrepreneurial activities advanced by promising young students around the world in partnership with MIT-affiliated mentors.

In its current early phase of development, RRTN has more than 250 partners in its global network, including students, sponsoring organizations, CEOs, community activists, engineers and many other professionals. An initial project centers on working with high-school youths from Brockton, Massachusetts, as that city undertakes economic redevelopment. Much of RRTN’s work at this stage is in building its alliances with partners and co-creating the norms and standards for doing collaborative work.

Solution

As a global initiative, RRTN needed a simple, secure and cost-effective way to support interactions among program staff, partners, youths and mentors who may be widely separated by geography. For this it chose IBM® LotusLive, a suite of collaboration capabilities that can help bring people and information together quickly and easily across boundaries.

Delivered over the Web as a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, LotusLive provides the collaboration infrastructure and creates the identity and sense of community critical to mobilizing a virtual organization. Leveraging member profiles, a central documents repository, file sharing and Web conferencing facilities, RRTN is using LotusLive to support collaborative strategy and planning, community building, research, team projects and technology development.

RRTN will soon launch its Venture Network, using LotusLive to pair black youths with MIT graduates, venture capitalists, angel investors and mentors in project-driven mentoring relationships. The goal will be to help the students generate, validate and develop entrepreneurial ideas, then finally bring them to market as viable products and services.

Benefits

SaaS negates need for new hardware and IT support staff, saves time, and puts more focus on delivery of products and solutions and less on the infrastructure for building a global organization

Standards-based access with browsers and mobile devices via the Web eliminates connectivity barriers—especially important in underdeveloped parts of the world

Ease and speed of setup enables fast mobilization, boding well for rapid deployment and expansion of RRTN

Cost advantages accrue from savings on hardware, IT staffing, telephony and travel, plus reduced cost and footprint for the communities world-wide RRTN plans to bring on board

Proven IBM Lotus® security and reliability help win sponsor confidence while demonstrating to students what it means to build business-grade solutions