Dave Butler grew up in Massachusetts, Vermont and Kansas, and arrived in the Philadelphia suburbs in 1970. Now residing in Phila's Roxborough section, he has lived in the city since 1974. Dave became a computer professional in 1972, breaking into the data entry field as a Keypunch Operator. In 1980, he learned COBOL programming on Conrail's giant mainframe system. After buying a personal computer in 1987, he did some freelance database system design, using dBase III for DOS.

In 1996, while studying electronics and computer networking at the Computer Learning Center, Dave volunteered for Nonprofit Technology Resources, where he helped to build a computer reuse program and launch an organization called the Reuse Collaborative. Working for NTR and LibertyNet's Bridge Project in 1996, he taught internet basics to literacy tutors and public school teachers serving Empowerment Zone residents. In 1997-8 he provided network user and database support for the Energy Coordinating Agency. Since March of 1999, Dave has been a Technical Support Specialist for Nonprofit Technology Resources (part-time due to NTR's limited budget), teaching hardware and software classes, refurbishing donated computers and training hardware volunteers. Until September of 2000 he continued at NTR as a Development Associate, writing grant proposals to help raise the money to enable NTR to hire him on a full-time basis.

Nonprofit Technology Resources is a local affiliate of the nationwide Technology Resource Consortium and the Community Technology Center Network. One of NTR's goals is to fund a full-time position to provide technical support to community computer facilities in the Philadelphia area. Through its Learning Through Technology program, NTR provides refurbished computers and introductory lessons to hundreds of community activists, students and low-income families every year.

Dave is currently looking for employment as a community tech center coordinator, trainer in office software and/or computer hardware basics, help desk or desktop support analyst.

Dave first ventured onto the Internet in 1994, looking to join community activist discussions and to share his piano playing (in MIDI format) with fellow musicians. It was through Neighbors Online, an electronic mailing list for community activists in the Philadelphia area, that the Reuse Collaborative was born. John Zelson, of the Corp for National Service, wrote to the group seeking other orgs interested in computer reuse. NTR provided a work space, CNS provided donated computers, and John and Dave ran weekly workshops training volunteers to help refurbish computers for distribution to community organizations.

Read -- and Hear -- More
Dave's music and more is available at Dave Butler's Rainforest Cottage at Yahoo/Geocities Free Web Server.

Lesson plans and other pages from 1997-1999 are available at Dave's 1999 Home Page.