Beginning in 1992, ESC has worked to provide grassroots groups assistance with technology.  From 1992 to 1994 we provided 400 computers, printers, software and training to our constituency through the generosity of the Apple Corporation.  In the mid-nineties we also donated software, fax machines, printers and modems to almost 400 additional groups.  In 1996 we also provided training on the use of computers for communications and research to almost 200 groups in the Great Lakes region and the Mississippi River basin.  After assessing the effectiveness of those efforts and the needs of our constituency, ESC created a permanent Technology Resources Program (TR) in 2000.  It has provided on-site assessments, equipment donations, training and on-going consultation to 128 environmental justice groups in the Southeast and Southwest since then.

Finally, there are two programs that provided significant service that are no longer part of our work.  From late 1990 to 2003 in our Workplace Solicitation Program, ESC staff helped organize and strengthen the nineteen statewide and regional federations of environmental groups raising funds through workplace solicitation.  Those federations have collectively raised over $85 million in new dollars for distribution to their members.  And from 1991 through 2003, ESC operated the State Environmental Leadership Program (SELP) as the convener of an annual conference of groups advocating for state governmental environmental policy.  In 1998 the program was expanded significantly with a staff based first in Seattle, Washington and later in Madison, Wisconsin that assisted SELP members in joint efforts to address common issues.  At the end of 2003 SELP became an independent organization with a close working relationship with ESC.

ESC has always been serious about closely examining its work and developing plans based on those examinations.  We have conducted overall evaluations with outside investigators in 1992, 1994, 1999 and 2006.  Those have led to changes in our programs and organizational structure and our decision to begin a Dismantling Racism Process.  The most recent overall evaluation and others focused on specific programs and special initiatives will inform our strategic planning process which will result in a new plan in mid-2007.  We will continue to advance the original vision for ESC while adapting to changing circumstances.  The need for our work is even greater than it was in 1988 and we will find ways to meet those needs even more effectively in the future.

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