Community Technology Enhancement Program
The DePauw University Community Technology Enhancement Program (CTEP) is a DePauw University-affiliated organization which empowers members of the Putnam County community with new means to learn, communicate, and explore by providing technology and related education. Since 2003, CTEP has aimed to address the inequities of a growing digital divide in Putnam County and the surrounding areas. Through the distribution of refurbished computers to qualifying organizations and individuals in need, community workshops, and Internet resources, CTEP is dedicated to providing quality, community-oriented services.
Basic Operations
CTEP collects donations of used computers from DePauw University, local schools, and the surrounding community. CTEP staff members test this equpiment and ensure it is cleaned of old information before preparing it for a new user. CTEP is able to provide each computer with Microsoft Windows XP through the Microsoft Regisitered Refurbisher program; we then install a range of free software and programs that are commonly used by personal users. CTEP distributes the finished computers to qualifying organizations and individuals in the local community for only a minor fee. CTEP-prepared computers have been given to local 21st-Century Scholars or have traveled as far as Central and South America through partnerships with DePauw Winter Term In-Service.
In addition, CTEP is committed to the reuse and recycling of technological equipment. Not only does the refurbishing of used (yet still viable) computers create an excellent tool for providing technological benefits to those who might otherwise not be able to afford them, it also is an important method of reducing electronic waste. What CTEP cannot reuse, we send to be recycled with specific attention to the toxins that often occur in electronics and must be otherwise contained to prevent leakage into groundwater.