Youth Gone Tribal

Imagine, if you will, a noisy room bustling with the daily activities of a high-tech business. People talk back and forth about high-priority projects, advertising budgets and even employee pay rates. Goals are set and shifted, meetings are planned and duties are handed out.

Sound like some multibillion-dollar Silicon Valley company? It's not. It's an Internet-and computer-related business being run here in Arcata by local teenagers who call themselves Cybertribe.

"Cybertribe gives me real-world business experience," said member Paul Chamberlain, 13.

Cybertribe, created by P.M. Clary, is a venue to give young people the opportunity to run and maintain a complete computer network connected to the Internet. They call their network "Elvis." Cybertribers create chat rooms, web pages and other content for "Elvis."

Members also learn entrepreneurial skills when they bring their services to market. Local businesses can partake of web design, network configuration and other serviced offered by the Tribe. Current and past projects include websites for the Humboldt Are Foundation and the Arcata Nuclear Free Zone Commission.

Cybertribe is a project of Tiffany's Garden for Children, a non-profit organization that has brought several important youth activities to Arcata, including the skateboard park, monthly concerts, social events and anti-tobacco education.

Carol Heaslip, executive director of Tiffany's provides much of the support for Cybertribe-with help from other supporters. Equipment purchases were funded through several foundation grants. Tribe members wrote the grant proposal and themselves with the help of Heaslip and Prof. Emeritus of Social Work Ben Fairless.

From grant proposals to taking meetings with potential clients-Cybertribers get the whole business experience, What's next? Learning how to do a stock IPO?

"If someone doesn't know how to do something, we teach them," said Gardner James, who works on web sties and public relations for Cybertribe.

Once Cybertribe began to take shape in May 1998, office space became an urgent concern. Originally located at Tiffany's Ice Cream Parlor and later in Heaslip's living room, Cybertribe has since found a permanent home at the Arcata Community School on Zehndner Avenue.

Though there are adults who provide guidance, the work and day-to-day functioning of the organization is largely left to its teen-age members. Tasks are distributed to committees, and each committee is lead by a "bottom-liner," who is ultimately responsible for the task. Bottom-liners give progress reports during business meetings every other Thursday. These meetings give Cybertibe members a chance to gauge the progress of their projects and to learn about the needs of clients.

"We totally learned how to run this by ourselves," said James. "The kids run this."

The Cybertribe describes itself as a democracy comprised of a general assembly and several committees. Clary oversees the organization and acts as a liaison between the Tribe and Tiffany's.

Not only does Cybertribe provide a positive outlet for local youth, it also fits the blueprint for similar organizations around the world. The rise in Internet businesses run by young people is a phenomenon of the wired age.

"Cybertribe is a place that offers experience on a business level by taking community-service projects and treating them as business projects," said program director Jeremiah Daniels.

All local youth between the ages fo 12 and 17 are encouraged to visit the Cybertribe office at 1920 Zehndner Ave. in Arcata. It is open Monday through Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. More information is available through Cybertribes website at www.cybertribe.org.