Technology For All  
Occasional Update – March 2006

"Together We Empower Communities"

Here's a quick update regarding Technology For All (TFA) and our collaborative efforts to empower residents of low-income and underserved communities through the tools of technology. Important information for Community Technology Centers (CTCs) and community technology practitioners is located at the bottom. If you like this newsletter, e-mail it to a friend.   To support our work call 713.454.6400.
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News and Updates   

City of Houston Wireless RFP --- TFA has been asked by the City of Houston to encourage comments from the public on the “Request for Proposal” (RFP) for “Digital Houston” Wireless Internet access across the City of Houston. We have been included at the table in the writing and preparation of section B11 which focuses on Community Technology Programs. Please take time to participate in the planning process by reading and providing comments on the RFP draft online (http://www.houstontx.gov/it/wirelessrfp.html).

TFA-Wireless serves 300 Customers Daily: A Test-bed for Innovation --- TFA-Wireless is a wireless Internet service in the Pecan Park neighborhood in Houston’s East End. Surrounding the TFA office at Mission Milby CDC, TFA-Wireless is collaborative project with Rice University that is expanding opportunities for education and training to the neighborhood. With Rice University and other partners, TFA is also utilizing the network to test innovative educational, medical and workforce solutions to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood. Some of these solutions could be scaled to address needs across the Houston area when “Digital Houston” is deployed. For more information, go to tfa_wireless.html .

TFA Receives Award --- Technology For and SBC Communications (Now AT&T) recently received the “Leadership in Action” award from Leadership Houston (www.leadershiphouston.org ) for their collaborative work in establishing the ACT Center (Astrodome Community Technology Center) to assist evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. To access the full press release about the award, go to press_march_10_06.html

CTCs to Assist Seniors with Prescription Drug Plan sign up  --- TFA is recruiting community technology centers willing to open their computer labs to assist seniors to enroll in the new Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. We are working with the Better Business Bureau and Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston on this effort. Two information and training sessions are planned for interested CTCs. For more information and details go to the TFA Blog at http://texasctcs.blogspot.com/.

TFA to Announce Microsoft Grant --- TFA will announce a grant from Microsoft of more than $708,000 in cash and software and discuss the role of technology in hurricane relief during an upcoming “Brown Bag” event at the United Way Community Resource Center. The event will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 21. Representing Microsoft and discussing the role of technology in hurricane relief will be Jennifer Heard, Microsoft’s South Central District Manager.

Community Technology 2.0 (CT 2.0) assists in Recovery --- The mission of CT 2.0 is to build and expand the capacity of community technology centers (CTCs) in Houston Hope (www.HoustonHope.org ) neighborhoods to better serve existing clients and new residents from the evacuee community.  With many new friends from Louisiana in Houston, TFA is committed to assisting CTCs build their capacity to effectively respond to this opportunity and responsibility for service. For more info, go to the new section of the TFA website at community_technology2.0.html or TFA’s home page at www.techforall.org and click on the “hurricane recovery” button.

SimDesk Technologies and others assist in CT 2.0 effort --- Working together with SimDesk Technologies (www.simdesk.com www.SimHouston.com ) Technology For All recently convened a series of meetings designed to take advantage of multiple resources to assist in the CT 2.0 effort. These resources include the recent grant of a robust Microsoft SQL database called the “Ed Center” that will provide online training resources and help track the progress of clients at participating CTCs in the CT 2.0 effort. Additionally, TFA is working with Houston Hope (www.houstonhope.org ) to recruit at least seven AmeriCorps*VISTA members to assist in the effort.

Let TFA-JobTech digitize your paper office --- Over the past several months, TFA has been developing TFA-JobTech, a social enterprise focused on training and employing neighborhood labor to provide document conversion and knowledge management services for business and industry. The infrastructure is in place, employees recruited from the neighborhood have been trained and employed and the TFA-JobTech team recently completed its first client jobs. If your business or organization is looking to digitize its paper documents and reduce the space required to store them, contact Jim.Forrest@techforall.org at 713.454.6413. More information about TFA-JobTech can be found at tfa_jobtech.html .

New Staff Members --- With the development of the Community Technology 2.0 project, TFA has several new staff members. Joshua Cousin, a recent new resident from New Orleans, is working at the South Union Community Development Corporation, a CT 2.0 site. Working as AmeriCorps*VISTA members in collaboration with Houston Hope (www.houstonhope.org ) on the CT 2.0 project are Janice Rose, Na’Tasha Braden, and Edith Johnson. Additional AmeriCorps*VISTA members are being recruited for the project which will build the capacity of CTCs serving Houston Hope neighborhoods. For more information contact Mary.Collins@houstonhope.org or call 713.454.6419.

Recent Donations to TFA --- TFA thanks its recent donors including the Washington Mutual, Microsoft, V-Firm LLC,  Decision Information Resources, Ergos Technologies, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Plains All-American Pipeline, Reliant Energy, Will and Karen Reed, Houston Katrina Relief Fund, CompuCycle, AMD, HP, IBM, SBC, Adán Medrano, the  U. S. Department of Commerce, and an anonymous donation for the digital media project.  Cash donations can be made online at  the bottom of this page or sent to to Technology For All, 2220 Broadway, Houston, Texas, 77012. To make a computer or other in-kind donation contact Douglas.Caldwell@techforall.org  or call 713.454.6412.

Is your corporation replacing desktops or laptops? --- TFA has several community organizations waiting to provide a home for those computers in service to community technology centers serving Houston's low-income neighborhoods. Also we need "learn and earn" computers for students in the East End to connect to TFA-Wireless. Consider the goodwill your corporation can create by empowering a low-income community with technology tools.  TFA has established TFA-STARRS to assist corporations with its Secure Technology Asset Recycling and Redeployment needs. Through our strategic alliances we can provide a turn key solution that addresses data security issues, reduces total cost of ownership when upgrading computers and benefits Houston's low-income communities. For more information contact Douglas.Caldwell@techforall.org at 713.454.6400.  

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Important Info for Community Organizations

HP grant Available --- HP recently announced a “Technology for Community Grant Initiative” that will provide wireless technology resources for CTCs. For more information, go to http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants/us/programs/tech_community/  .

Community Technology Review, Fall 2005 Online --- The newest issue of the Community Technology Review is online at http://www.comtechreview.org/fall-2005/ . Nikki Payne, a TFA AmeriCorps*VISTA member wrote an article ( http://www.comtechreview.org/fall-2005/000368.html ) reflecting on her experience at the Astrodome Community Technology Center.

SAVE THE DATE
15th Annual Community Technology Conference
July 27-29, 2006 Hyatt Regency, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC  ---  The Annual Community Technology Conference, hosted by the Community Technology Centers' Network (CTCNet), is the largest national gathering of community technology organizations, programs, and experts. In 2006, conference events will highlight CTCNet's 15-year history of leadership for, and service to, the broader community technology field.  More information and updates on the 15th Annual Community Technology Conference are available online at: http://ctcnet.org/what/conference/index.htm

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Websites and Links

Technology For All, CT 2.0 --- http://www.techforall.org/community_technology2.0.html
Catalytic Communities - http://www.catcomm.org/
Louisiana Rebuilds --- http://www.louisianarebuilds.info/  
Internet Guide for Parents (in Spanish) --- http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/El_Internet/index.html  
CTC Resource Center --- http://ctcnet.org/resources/dir/index.php
Exploritorium --- http://www.exploratorium.edu/index.html  
Resource Center, Corporation for National Service --- http://nationalserviceresources.org/
Women’s Adventures in Science, I Was Wondering --- http://iwaswondering.org/
America Connects Consortium ---www.americaconnects.net  
Digital Divide Network ---www.digitaldivide.net 
Association for Community Networking - www.afcn.org 

Join CTCNet today - TFA encourages community technology centers to join the  Community Technology Centers' Network. For more information, go to www.ctcnet.org .

Support our Program Partners  ---  For a complete list of TFA and TFA-Houston program partners click here. 

We welcome your feedback!  Contact Will Reed at 713.454.6400 or by email at will.reed@techforall.org . 

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TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL/Technology For All-Houston

This newsletter is produced by Technology For All especially for our donors and friends.

Technology For All (TFA) and Technology For All-Houston (TFA-Houston) are Houston based non-profit organizations working together to empower underserved communities through the tools of technology.  TFA has supportive relationships with community based organizations operating CTCs in 56 US cities. TFA creates social enterprises to empower low-income and under-resourced communities. Since 1997, TFA-Houston has assisted over 200 community based organizations to create and develop community technology centers that bring technology and the opportunities it provides to the residents of Houston area neighborhoods. TFA-Houston operates its own CTC at Mision Milby in Houston's East End. To make a donation go to  www.techforall.org and click on the donate now button. To learn more call 713.454.6400 or email info@techforall.org.

If you do not wish to receive the Technology For All occasional update send  an email to Will.Reed@techforall.org  with the words "please remove" in the subject line.

Copyright 2005  Technology For All, Inc. All rights reserved.

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