Technology For All --- We empower communities!

Thanks to Andy Carvin

2006-11-13T17:01:00.000-06:00

Technology For All thanks Andy Carvin for a great presentation last Friday for our 5th Annual Commmunity Technology Conference. Approximately seventy-five (75) persons were in attendance. Andy led two sessions on "The Rise of Participatory Media" and "Using Web 2.0 to Make a Difference in Your Community." Summaries of Andy's presentations will be online at the TFA web site (www.techforall.org ) and on Andy's site (www.AndyCarvin.com ) sometime in the next few days.

TFA to Host C4All Conference

2006-11-12T14:43:00.000-06:00

Thursday, December 7, 2006, Technology For All will be hosting with CTCNet (www.ctcnet.org ) a conference aimed at helping community technology centers do a better job of serving persons with disabilities. For more info, go to www.techforall.org .

Technology For All teams up with North Forest ISD

2006-09-22T14:37:00.000-05:00

It was a rainy Saturday morning two weeks ago when Technology For All began delivery of over 900 computers to North Forest ISD. Through our TFA-STARRS program, TFA redeploys corporate technology assets being replaced into communities and neigborhoods that can benefit. TFA is teaming up with the District and SimDesk Technologies to provide computers for schools and for distribution in the homes of students in designated feeder patterns. For about the project check out the article in the Houston Chronicle.

SimHouston Briefing and Luncheon

2006-07-22T06:31:00.000-05:00

Host: SimHouston and Technology For All

Location: Sheraton Houston Brookhollow Hotel
3000 North Loop West Freeway, Houston, Texas

When: Monday, August 7, 11:00am to 2:00pm

Phone: 713.688.0100 (RSVP)

SimHouston - On-demand Solutions for Population-Wide Computing

BROUGHT TO YOU BY SIMDESK TECHNOLOGIES INC. AND TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL

Join a select group of Houston's best computer technology organizations for this important technology briefing and complimentary luncheon!

On August 7, 2006, Simdesk Technologies and Technology For All invite you to join us for an important update on SimHouston and the new version 3.4, the most powerful and easy-to-use release of SimHouston to date. Your FREE attendance will provide you with powerful resources and will spark new ideas to improve and sustain CTCs in the greater Houston area.

Your attendance also automatically enters you in a drawing to win an HP Desktop Computer!

HOSTS AND MODERATORS:
Louis Waters
President and CEOSimdesk Technologies, Inc.
www.simdesk.com

Will ReedPresident and CEO
Technology For All
www.techforall.org

Lou and Will are committed to providing CTCs with the resources and advocacy necessary to bring technology access to underserved communities in the greater Houston area. This is an opportunity you don’t want to miss!

The SimHouston event will provide CTC attendees with…

- Live demonstration of SimHouston version 3.4 including the new Simdesk Tray and S-Drive
- Updates on the SimHouston initiative
- Posters
- CDs
- New User Guides and more!

Please do not miss this important gathering of your peers! Together with SimHouston, CTCs will realize the vision of a world in which all people have equitable access to technology and the skills necessary to use it meaningfully.

Net Neutrality

2006-06-26T12:04:00.000-05:00

One of the issues facing Congress and public policy makers is the issue of "Net Neutrality." The heated debate continues among Internet Service Providers, backbone carriers, Legislators, community technology advocates and a host of others.

Today, on one of the list-serves I participate in, the question was posed "Could someone explain to me why i ( young, black poor male, frequently offline) should really care about net neutrality? I think I understand the arguments and still it seems pointless. "

Andy Carvin's (www.andycarvin.com ) response was helpful and enlightening.

"From the time the Net was created until now, there's been no discrimination against those of us who create content on the Net. Anyone with access has equal right to post new content and execute their own online software - the underlying infrastructure won't discriminate against anyone.
If network neutrality ends, internet providers will be able to discriminate against what content is available to the public. For example, cable ISPs that own their own content streams could decide to block all video bloggers and sites like youtube.com because video takes up more bandwidth and competes with their own service. So they offer high-speed access to multimedia content of their own and their business partners, while slowing down or blocking access to services that refuse to deal with them or pay up. Corporate content gets put in the fast lane, while public media gets put in the slow lane - or blocked entirely.
Imagine if Walmart opened up a store in your town and acquired all the local roads in the process. They could set up roadblocks or tollroads to their competitors, while offering a superhighway directly to their own doorstep. So while the underlying issue is about network discrimination, it translates into ISPs controlling access to content, and restricting free speech and free expression."

What are your thoughts?

Mind Over Media

2006-06-06T07:08:00.000-05:00

Nikki Payne serves as an AmeriCorpsVISTA at TFA through the Community Technology Centers CTCVISTA Project. The project recently created the CTCVISTA Project Digest which chronicles some of the work of CTCVISTAs across the US during the past year.

Much of Nikki's work with Technology For All has been with the "Mind Over Media" program. Through an annonymous grant, Nikki visited digital media programs in South America in early January and instituted the Mind Over Media project at TFA's Mission Milby Community Technology Center.

Much of Nikki's work with the Mind Over Media project is chronicled in a five minute video on the CTCVISTA Project Digest site. Click on the lower right square under the Wall of Video. We are proud of Nikki and the program. At the end of her term, Nikki will be heading to Rice University to begin work on a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology.

CONGRATULATIONS NIKKI!!!

Computer Bundle offered by TFA

2006-05-27T09:08:00.000-05:00

TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL

Computer Bundle Special Promotion
for
Community Technology Centers
May 24, 2006

End Date: June 30, 2006*

Cost: $100 per computer bundle

Special Promotion: 2 free computer bundles for every 5 computer bundles purchased

Package includes: Free Dell CPU Computer
(1GHZ, USB, CD-ROM) USB, Mouse/Keyboard)
Windows 2000 Operating System
Anti-virus and Anti-spam software
Adobe Reader
SimDesk software
Monitor
Keyboard
Mouse
Power cords
Free Microsoft Office 2003 software (can only be used in a community technology center lab and is not for administrative purposes nor can it be transferred to computers that are used outside of the CTC computer lab).

Make Checks Payable: Technology For All, Inc.

*This special promotion is for a limited time only and is available on a first come first served basis. The offer expires when 100 free computer bundles have been allocated but no later than close of business on June 30, 2006.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other organizations that do not qualify as a 501(c)(3) organization and/or individuals that are interested in purchasing computer bundles can contact Jim Forrest at 713-454-6413 or email: jim.forrest@techforall.org, for information on upcoming promotions to purchase computer bundles.

www.techforall.org

TFA Information for potential donors

2006-05-23T16:40:00.000-05:00

Technology For All recently completed the process of uploading all its financial and other information to DonorEdge, an online resource for donors created by the Greater Houston Community Foundation.

DonorEdge is an online resource designed to provide an unmatched level of information about Houston-area nonprofits. Donors have told us that they need more information in order to make informed charitable giving decisions. DonorEdge will provide this information in a format that is readily available and consistently presented.

DonorEdge Online is a powerful online resource to inform, empower and enrich charitable giving in a specific region, benefiting donors, nonprofits and the community at large. This new online tool supports the DonorEdge process, a combination of local hands-on assessments, technology, education, and targeted technical assistance. It captures critical information relating to the organizational and programmatic performance of nonprofits and makes it easily available to donors.

Today’s donors demand detailed and insightful information about local nonprofits to help them make strategic charitable investments and create positive change. Developed by the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation in response to donor needs, DonorEdge provides access to an unmatched wealth of knowledge about local nonprofits, including detailed financial, operational and programmatic measurements. Information is collected through a hands-on interview and profile process by trained Community Foundation professionals and is updated at least once a year.

When implemented on a large-scale basis, this program has the potential to drive impact well beyond the initial organizations and communities included in its database, through the creation of a national center of information on the performance of nonprofits. Such an asset could help an expanded number of philanthropists make informed grant decisions and influence the performance of nonprofit organizations, by making it possible to offer targeted technical assistance based on the nonprofit’s needs and educational opportunities.

The DonorEdge process has three core components:

Profiling nonprofits – Using performance measures and comparable information on hundreds of organizations in a local community, to help philanthropy understand the current capacity needs of nonprofit organizations;
Analyzing nonprofit profiles – Employing 75 organizational indicators to build efficiencies and to identify promising business and mission practices in nonprofits and within the sector; and
Responding to trends – Creating and implementing educational services and technical assistance programs that meet the needs of donors, nonprofits, and the community based on local and national trends gleaned from the data.

For more information go to www.ghcf.org

2006-04-19T13:16:00.000-05:00

TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL

Invites you to the monthly CTC BROWN BAG LUNCH and a
CONVERSATION AMONG COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY FRIENDS

With Presenter
Twonda Thompson, Senior Community Liaison
After-School Achievement Program (ASAP)*
City of Houston

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Noon to 1:30 p.m.
At
Mission Milby CDC
2220 Broadway
Houston, Texas 77012

The Program
Youth Development & Afterschool Programming

(Ms. Thompson will discuss the ASAP RFP that is currently accepting proposals from Community Organizations)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seating is limited so reserve space now by contacting Pam Gardner at Technology For All-Houston 713.454.6415 or Pam.Gardner@techforall.org.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please feel free to bring YOUR brown bag lunch to this event.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AGENDA

12:00 Lunch and Networking

12:15 Welcome and Introductions

12:20 Presentations and Discussion

1:30 Adjournment

Digital Houston RFP is out

2006-03-22T04:03:00.000-06:00

The City of Houston has issued the RFP for a Wireless Broadband Network and Management Services. Technology For All was a participant in the process of writing and commenting on various sections of the RFP. Section B11 of the RFP addresses community technology services and requests respondents to the RFP to propose solutions to encourage digital inclusion across the City.

TFA encourages community technology practictioners to attend the Tuesday, April 4, 2006 Bidders Conference to support and encourage digital inclusion efforts with potential bidders on the RFP. The conference will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. downtown at 611 Walker in the Garden Level Auditorium.

http://www.houstontx.gov/it/wirelessrfp.html

Almost 2000 Computers

2006-03-22T03:44:00.000-06:00

This week Technology For All received a grant of 1900+ computers from a local corporation through the United Way Gifts in Kind program. The computers will be utilized first to assist and empower our Houston area Community Technology 2.0 sites (http://www.techforall.org/community_technology2.0.html ) where we are focused on building the capacity and effectiveness of CTCs serving Houston Hope (www.houstonhope.org ) neighborhoods. TFA staff and volunteers will be working together over the next few days to develop a plan to fully deploy the PCs into all the neighborhoods we care about. One of those neighborhoods is Pecan Park, the East End neighborhood that surrounds TFA's office. TFA-Wireless provides wireless Internet access in the neighborhood. Many of the computers will be re-deployed through "Learn and Earn" programs with HISD students in the neighborhood. When the plan is finalized we will report back here.

Houston Hurricane Recovery Portal announces Office

2006-03-22T03:18:00.000-06:00

The Joint Hurricane Housing Task Force office is now located on the Katy Freeway. The Disaster Recovery Center on the South Loop is now closed. The Task Force is comprised of City of Houston, Harris County, Housing Authority of the City of Houston, Harris County Housing Authority, Houston Apartment Association, Housing Authority of New Orleans, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and FEMA.

CTCs to Assist Seniors with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan

2006-03-10T10:18:00.000-06:00

Technology For All is seeking community technology centers willing to open their computer labs to assist seniors to enroll in the new Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. Interfaith Ministries is preparing a flyer to enclose in the City of Houston water bills announcing the locations that will be hosting these enrollment sessions. Interested CTCs should contact Pam Gardner at 713.454.6400, if they would like to have their organization included in this list. Contacts made after deadline may still be eligible to participate, however their organization will not be listed and the announcement of their session will have to be made by the organization. The enrollment sessions will be facilitated by Wendy Ramirez (Interfaith Ministries) and Barbara McGinty (BBB Education Div.) along with their volunteers and any volunteers that the CTC may have identified.

CTC Information and Volunteer Training Sessions-Please mark your calendars
Two information sessions and training for volunteers that will assist with facilitating the enrollment sessions are scheduled.

Monday, March 20 @ 1 p.m.
Mission Milby CDC
2220 Broadway
Houston, TX 77012

Tuesday, March 21 @ 9:30 a.m.
United Way Community Resource Center
50 Waugh Drive
Houston, TX 77007
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more information contact:
Pamela J. Gardner
Technology For All
2220 Broadway
Houston, Texas 77012
Tel: 713.454.6415 Fax: 713.454.6454
e-mail: pam.gardner@techforall.org
website: www.techforall.org

Louisiana Rebuilds

2006-03-10T05:03:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, the new "Louisiana Rebuilds" website was unveiled by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco with displaced Lousiana citizens at The Joy Corporation in Zachry, Louisiana.
While there she demonstrated The Road Home website. The Road Home serves as an Internet and toll-free housing registry where homeowners who suffered damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita can input key information about their homes and register for the state's housing recovery program by simply logging on to http://www.LouisianaRebuilds.info or calling 888-ROAD 2 LA (888-762-3252) 24-hours a day, 7-days a week.

In addition, Louisiana Rebuilds is a resource for Houston area CTCs to introduce to their constituents who may be Louisiana citizens. Houston's own NAACP Family Technology Center helped to beta test the site prior to its going live.

TFA receives Leadership in Action Award

2006-03-06T10:25:00.000-06:00

Recently, Technology For All was the recipient with ATT (SBC) of a Leadership in Action award presented by Leadership Houston (www.leadershiphouston.org ) at a luncheon at the Junior League for our collaborative work in creating the Astrodome Community Technology Center. We were recognized along with several other organizations and Judge Eckels and Mayor White for our work with the evacuees from New Orleans. I am grateful each person and organization that assisted in this important effort and the success we created by working together. Without the help of so many including SBC, CompuCycle, SimHouston, Plains All-American Pipeline, Decision Information Resources, AMD, IBM, Yahoo!, Reliant Energy and many more this would not have been possible.

I thank each of you who are a part of the TFA team as a donor, friend, board member and staff member! Without your commitment to our common vision to empower communities and make the world a better place, the important work that we do together could not be achieved. May this award be the inspiration for us to dream greater dreams and work together on more important visions to lead Houston to become a better and stronger city for all.

I want to especially thank our TFA colleague, staff member and my friend Jim Forrest for his tireless work of 18-20 hours a day for 19 consecutive days in early September. Without Jim’s commitment and heart, the award today would not have been possible. Thanks Jim and thanks to each of you who participated in our work together at “Reliant City” and the Astrodome Community Technology Center.

Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage

2006-01-26T07:28:00.000-06:00

An Opportunity and Responsibility for CTCs

The new Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage is an opportunity for CTCs to reach out to older adults in their communities. For seniors who do not sign up for a plan by May 15, 2006, joining later means you pay a higher premium. There is a 1% penalty for each month you are not in the plan when you are elgible. For example, if you wait 12 months to sign up, you will pay 12% more on your Part D premium for the rest of your life. If you have drug coverage, you may be exempted from this penalty.

The opportunity and responsibility for CTCs is this. Individuals can enroll online at www.benefitscheckuprx.org or www.medicare.org . Trained volunteers at CTCs can perform a tremendous service by helping persons sign up online, which takes about 45 minutes per person.

The enrollment period ends on May 15, 2006 and then persons cannot sign up for a plan again until November 15, 2006. For more information about how Houston area CTCs can assist in this effort contact Pam.Gardner@techforall.org or call her at 713.454.6415.

Note from Nikki

2006-01-12T05:00:00.000-06:00

Nikki Payne, TFA's AmeriCorps*VISTA member, is in South America. With a digital media grant obtained through one of our volunteers during our work with Katrina evacuees, Nikki is visiting digital media programs in Ecuador, Argentina and Chile. Below is Nikki's latest note from south of the Ecuator.

From: Nikki Payne
Sent: Wed 1/11/2006 7:21 PM
To: Will Reed
Subject: updates

Hey Will!
I hope this letter finds you well....I've always wanted to say that! Leaving Gauyaquil...it was awesome so far of the three centers I've seen I like CefoCine the best! Wait till you see what these kids made! simply fantastic.... I also got a phenomenal interview with Rafael I want to model my program after his... I have so many things I want to show you guys. each center gave me tons of material. CefoCine has something similar to our job tech program and other programs gaining them recognition al over south America! They have a fantastic place and are opening up a new one. I think we should stay in contact with them as they grow! I rode the bus in guayaquil... what an adventure! there is no rhyme or reason but we managed. No place takes Credit cards.. they are like the black plague.. so I'm having to eat at the hotel which is kind of expensive and annoying... especially when there are so many KFC's around!

Best wishes

Nikki

January CTC Brown Bag

2006-01-11T16:16:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, January 25, 2006
12 Noon to 1:30 p.m.

The East End Life Center

2002 South Wayside

Houston, Texas 77023

An informative session regarding the
new Medicare Prescription Drug Plan

Presented by
J. Hiloxi Jones, Southeast Texas Public Information Officer
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
&
Mary Southwick, Project Coordinator
Better Business Bureau Education Foundation

NAACP Family Technology Center - CTC of the Year

2005-11-13T05:57:00.000-06:00

Houston's NACCP Family Technology Center was recently announced as the CTC of the Year in the Houston Area. Three CTCs received Honorable Mention awards. These were Eastside University Village Community Learning Center, The M. D. Anderson YMCA, and the East End Life Center.

Joshua Cousin - The Bookman

2005-10-21T04:07:00.000-05:00

Joshua Cousin has joined the Technology For All staff as the Community Technology Center assistant at South Union CDC, the first new site of TFA's Community Technology 2.0 project.
-
Joshua is a new resident of Houston from New Orleans and was introduced to TFA when he came to the ACT Center (Astrodome Community Technology Center Report -PDF file) at Houston's Astrodome to write in his blog. Joshua hopes to begin attending college at a Houston area university in the Spring. Joshua writes his own blog at http://booknote.blogspot.com/

Empowering Our Communities

2005-10-21T03:56:00.000-05:00

Technology For All

Presents the
Fourth Annual Community Technology Conference

Community Technology Awards Presentation

It was confirmed today that Laura Breedon will speak at TFA's "Empowering Our Communities" Conference. Laura Breeden is the director of the America Connects Consortium (ACC), based at Education Development Center, Inc. in Newton, MA. ACC was established by the U.S. Department of Education in 2000 to strengthen community technology centers across the nation, by providing training, information, tools, and other resources that build organizational effectiveness. From 1996 to 2000, Ms. Breeden was an independent consultant focusing on Internet strategies and organizational development, based in Menlo Park, California. Her clients included SRI International (Menlo Park), the Morino Institute (Reston, VA), the James Irvine Foundation (San Francisco), and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), as well as other leading institutions that study, develop, and promote the use of network technologies. From 1994 to 1996, Ms. Breeden was director of a highly competitive, multi-million dollar federal grant program (now known as TOP) designed to demonstrate the benefits of the "information superhighway" in the public sector. Under her leadership, more than 200 organizations received a total of $60 million for innovative community projects, through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Ms. Breeden also spent eight years in industry, developing Internet services for educational and research organizations. Born in Kentucky, she is a graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
-

Several other workshops focused on community empowerment, including empowering the new Katrina evacuee community, will be a feature of the conference in Houston, Friday, November 4, 2005. A unique panel discussion with Katrina evacuees and volunteers who spent 19 days working with evacuees at the Astrodome and Reliant City will be a feature of the conference as we also discuss "Community Technology 2.0" and our next steps in serving both existing CTC constituents and the 150,000+ new residents in Houston from Louisiana. Don't miss an opportunity to meet other community technology leaders and resource providers! At this exclusive event, gain new tools and resources to learn how you can work together to accomplish your mutual goals for the community! Also, celebrate together over lunch with community leaders recognized with awards for their leadership and vision in serving the community. Don't miss the opportunity for enrichment!

Friday, November 4, 2005
United Way Community Resource Center

50 Waugh DriveHouston, TX 77007
9 AM to 4 PM ~ check-in at 8:30 AM
Registration Levels

-$10 Students

$20 Nonprofits and community technology centers

$30 All others
$40 at the door on the day of the event
Click here to register NOW!or call Pam Gardner, 713.454.6415.
For more information.
www.techforall.org

Also FEATURING... Art McGee, NASA Resources, Digital Media for Youth, Security needs for CTCs, Awards, Door Prizesand other tools to serve your community including our new neighbors from Louisiana!

Community Technology 2.0

2005-10-12T22:17:00.000-05:00

Community Technology 2.0 to Support Hurricane Recovery
Technology For All, Houston Hope and South Union Community Development, Inc. Unveil Ongoing Effort with Evacuees in Houston’s Low-Income Neighborhoods

HOUSTON, October 7, 2005 – Today Technology For All (TFA) announced its ongoing Hurricane recovery plans in collaboration with South Union Community Development, Inc. and community technology centers serving Houston Hope and other low-income neighborhoods across Houston. Starting first with a new community technology center (CTC) at South Union Community Development, Inc. (South Union CDC), Technology For All will facilitate the implementation of “Community Technology 2.0”, a broad effort to train and support up to twenty (20) community technology centers (CTCs) involved in hurricane recovery efforts in addition to their ongoing activities to address the needs of their neighborhoods.

According to FEMA data, an estimated 57,000+ new residences (175,000+ persons) have been established in the Houston area by Katrina and Rita evacuees. Many have established residence in one of the designated Houston Hope neighborhoods. Sunnyside, for example, which is served in part by the South Union, has experienced an estimated 20% increase in population as over 3,500 persons have moved into the community. Other Houston Hope neighborhoods have also experienced significant increases in population as Katrina evacuees have established new homes in a new city. With almost one thousand new residents, Clinton Park, a relatively small neighborhood of 2,400, has added 30% to its population. Many Katrina evacuees have established new homes in Houston Hope and other low-income Houston neighborhoods served by TFA affiliated community technology centers.

During the weeks immediately following the Katrina disaster, Technology For All was active in providing supportive services with the thousands of Katrina residents of the Reliant Astrodome and Reliant City Complex. TFA created the ACT Centers (Astrodome and Arena Community Technology Centers) as well as a 110 computer station community technology center at the Reliant Center. With the assistance of over 300 volunteers who provided almost 11,000 hours of volunteer service, TFA assisted Katrina evacuees find and reconnect with loved ones, register online for various services and gain the computer skills necessary for assimilation into a new life and a new city. With a total of 210 Internet connected computers at all three locations in Reliant City, numerous corporate contributions made the project possible. Corporate contributors to the project included SBC, Yahoo, AMD, SimHouston, Plains All American Pipeline, Reliant Energy, Motion Computing, Trend Micro, CompuCycle and HP.

Community Technology 2.0 will take the ACT Center project to the logical next step. It is also an extension of the ongoing needs that community technology centers address with existing residents in Houston’s low-income and under-resourced neighborhoods. In working with over 16,000 Katrina evacuees during 19 days at Reliant City, TFA identified several key needs of the evacuee community. Many evacuees have limited computer and literacy skills. Many tools for effective assimilation into the Houston culture and community are online. TFA will replicate the lessons learned in working with the Katrina evacuee community and implement a training program for Katrina evacuees to gain the knowledge, skills and abilities they need to participate successfully in Houston’s information society. TFA will pilot the new program in collaboration with South Union CDC which is establishing a new community technology center at its facility at the corner of Lydia and Tierwester Street in the South Union neighborhood near 288 and 610 South. As the pilot is underway, TFA, working with Houston Hope, will choose up to 20 additional sites in Houston Hope and other low-income neighborhoods. These sites for expansion will be in collaboration with existing CTCs or CTCs under development.

TFA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is dedicated to empowering under-resourced communities using the tools of technology. TFA provides various services, including workforce training, recycling and redeployment of corporate technology assets, document-conversion services for the business community, online content for workforce training, and consulting and leadership in its work with over 350 community organizations operating community technology centers (CTCs) in Houston and 56 other U.S. cities. Since 1997, TFA-Houston has assisted Houston-area community-based organizations in creating and developing more than 210 CTCs serving low-income and under-resourced communities.

“Technology For All is focused on expanding our services to the communities we serve,” said TFA’s President and Chief Executive Officer Will Reed. “Today, with our new Katrina neighbors, we have an opportunity and responsibility to help them gain the tools they need to assimilate into a new life in a new city. CTCs are in a unique position to serve a variety of needs with our new neighbors”

“This is a wonderful opportunity for South Union CDC to serve both our existing community and the new residents who have become a part of our community,” said South Union CDC Board President Efrem Jernigan. “We want to do our part to welcome and work with our new neighbors.”

###

Technology For All (TFA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on empowering low-income and under-resourced communities using the tools of technology. In the Houston area, Technology For All-Houston has helped create and develop over 210 community technology centers (CTCs) in collaboration with community-based organizations across the region. Nationally TFA provides supportive services to over 360 individual CTCs in 56 U.S. cities. TFA’s local and national offices are located in Houston’s East End at 2220 Broadway, Houston, Texas 77012; phone: 713-454-6400. For more see http://www.techforall.org/ .

South Union Community Development, Inc. (SUCDI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization endeavoring to bring a “Ray of Hope” to the South Union and surrounding communities with the awareness that “Achieving Goals is Obtainable with Knowledge and Technology.” South Union CDI is located at 3601 Lydia, Houston, Texas 77054; phone: 713-747-7002 or 713-419-8352. For more, see http://www.southunioncdi.org/ .

Houston Hope (HH) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working together to create hope in several of Houston’s poorest neighborhoods. Houston Hope represents the private sector side of a collaborative public/private initiative that will improve the quality of life in designated Houston Hope neighborhoods and bring hope for a brighter future to their residents. Houston Hope offices are located at 2220 Broadway, Houston, Texas 77012; phone 713.454.6464. For more see http://www.houstonhope.org/ .

Quick Stats and Factoids

2005-10-06T07:43:00.000-05:00

ACT Center
(Astrodome Community Technology Center)

Quick Stats

· 210 Computers in 3 locations—Astrodome, Reliant Center (including a children’s center), and in the Reliant Arena.
· Served approximately 16,000 clients over 19 days (Adults, Children and Youth)
· 307 volunteers provided over 10,800 hours of volunteer service
· 22,557 family records entered
· 2000+ family members reunited (approx.)
· Volunteers also assisted clients with housing and job searches, relocation issues, FEMA applications and setting up email and using other online tools
· TFA-Wireless facilitated roving volunteers to work with clients on the floor of the astrodome in addition to in the ACT Center.

FACTOIDS

Technology For All’s (TFA) efforts, and a generous donation by SBC, to provide broadband Internet access, created the ACT Center in less than 36 hours in a facility built nearly 40 years ago. This access not only enabled the ACT Center to provide the services it did, but also enabled the Red Cross to implement its IT infrastructure in the Astrodome as well as provide Internet connections and information for other organizations such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Continental Airlines, which provided one-way tickets to reconnect families.

Reliant Energy provided the equipment, installation and ongoing support for over 50 computers located at the Reliant Center. Reliant Energy also provided the equipment for networking the computers to the internet as well as numerous printers. In addition to the computer equipment and support Reliant Energy volunteers staffed both the Astrodome and Reliant Center CTCs.

Trend Micro provided anti-virus solutions for the 60+ PCs located in Reliant Arena and Reliant Center.

SimHouston and CompuCycle worked together to prepare the initial 40 machines for installation at the Astrodome. Compucycle provided the computers and equipment. SimHouston provided software.

Plains All American Pipeline provided TFA 20 computers prepared with a complete software load and ready for installation at the Reliant Arena. These computers have been redeployed by TFA into a community technology center (CTC) at the South Union Community Development Corporation in service to the over 1000 evacuee families that have moved into the neighborhood.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) donated 150 Personal Internet Communicator (PICs) devices, which not only helped families find loved ones, but which also gave kids a chance to surf the Internet, and play on children’s Web sites. These PICs are being redeployed at CTCs serving the evacuee community in the greater Houston area.

HP provided the use of 15 laptops for the paging center and ongoing registration efforts.

A total of 210 computers and PICS were installed by TFA and its corporate and community partners at the Astrodome, Reliant Center and Reliant Arena.

Staff from TFA worked together with Yahoo engineers to assist in the creation of a customized portal / search engine that crawled the disparate Web sites and databases, which helped to connect family members throughout the country and even the World. Yahoo reports that its site received more traffic over the Labor Day weekend after Katrina than at any other time in Yahoo history.

The ACT Center enabled evacuees to set up email accounts, which was required to check the status of FEMA applications online. Many evacuees were unable to get in touch with a FEMA representative by phone, as the phone lines were overwhelmed. (Setting up an ISAAC account with FEMA, required to check the status of an application, required an email address that a PIN was emailed to.)

TFA quickly collaborated with Yahoo personnel to quickly code and network the paging system capability, which for many, was the only way for separated family members to find each other in the multiple, enormous facilities where thousands of persons were residing in shelters.

The ACT Center fax machine purchased by TFA was used not only utilized by TFA and the ACT Center volunteers to obtain birth certificates and replacement driver’s licenses, but also by many agencies and organizations located in the Astrodome, including FEMA and the Red Cross. TFA’s fax machine was the only FAX machine available to all agencies in the building and to evacuees.

SBC donated CallNotes numbers which not only provided a way for dislocated loved ones to find each other online and then contact each other, but CallNotes also allowed for evacuees to register online for FEMA. The FEMA online registration system required one contact number to be entered. Without the SBC donation of CallNotes, we would have been forced to enter a non working number like 000-000-0000.

When evacuees located missing loved ones in the ATC Center, they were invited to ring a cowbell. Each time it rang, it brought hope to all evacuees in the room, and the room would erupt into applause, hugs, and joyful tears.

ACT Center volunteers continue to assist Katrina evacuees and additional volunteer support is needed by TFA at twenty (20) local CTCs. The impact of working with disconnected and impoverished evacuees, combined with the empowerment that the technology provides, is creating not only a renewed sense of volunteerism, but a realization by evacuees of the true power that technology tools can bring to their lives. VOLUNTEER TODAY! Contact Pam.Gardner@techforall.org or call her at 713.454.6415

Check out the summary ACT Center Report (pdf) at http://www.techforall.org/TFA_051003_ACTCtrRpt-v4.pdf

TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL
2220 Broadway
Houston, Texas 77012
713.454.6400
http://www.techforall.org/

MARTA Rocks

2005-10-06T07:38:00.000-05:00

See the note below from Eugenia, one of our most active and dedicated volunteers. She writes of Marta, a volunteer from Chicago who showed up at the ACT Center at the dome to help. Marta and Eugenia assisted Larry, a Katrina evacuee.

"Hey everyone,
Larry arrived in Chicago today, where Marta picked him up at the airport, took him to the luxe hotel she had arranged for him at the medical center, and got him into an orthopedic specialist about his arm and shoulder. He called me tonight and said he was going back in for an MRI (tomorrow?) and that in the meantime he was trying to decide which of the two beds in his room to sleep in (he'd been sharing an apartment in Houston with about 8 other people so it was quite a luxury for him to have two beds to himself).
Thanks Marta!"

Will Reed
www.techforall.org

Katrina's sister Rita

2005-09-25T05:51:00.000-05:00

I apologize for the lapse in communication. Preparations for Katrina's sister Rita took priority over the past few days.

The community technology center (CTC) at the Reliant Arena (adjacent to the Astrodome) was shut down on Tuesday as the remaining Katrina evacuees at the Astrodome complex were moved to Arkansas for safety and out of Rita's way. Rita's damage, while significant in the areas affected the most, could have been catastrophic if the storm were to have made a direct hit on Galveston and then Houston. Over 5.5 million people live in the Greater Houston area. The only damage Technology For All (TFA) sustained were a few bent antennas on the TFA-Wireless project. TFA's CTC at Mission Milby is intact. The other CTCs in the area sustained minimal damage such as missing shingles, broken tree limbs etc. The streets are full of debris from the wind, but that will be cleaned up in a few days.

The task ahead continues to be working with the over 100,000 Katrina evacuees that remain in our city. TFA is committed to providing the leadership to assist and challenge CTCs across the city to assist in this important work. Many of the evacuees have limited literacy and limited computer skills. Thus, many do not have the knowledge, skills and abilities they need to earn a livable wage in the Houston economy. This creates what I believe is both an opportunity and responsibility for community technology centers across the region.

To give you a sense of some of our work over the past several weeks with Katrina evacuees, I have pasted below the excerpt of an email from Jim Forrest, one of our TFA staff members. It illustrates the human side of our Katrina work.

Will Reed
www.techforall.org

"We are doing OK here. This is the first time I have had time to respond as I have been getting my home, and others secured. On Wednesday morning I decided to remain here at the house. The house has never flooded and I now have all my shutters in place. With all the problems on the freeway it appears that it may have been an OK good decision. The cell phones were almost completely useless on Wednesday but as of later last night (Thursday) the calls are going through.

Now that the storm appears to be heading more to the east of Houston I am feeling a little more comfortable with that decision. I have a generator, plenty of food and everything secured. Jesse, the young man that came home with me is doing great. He was such a big help in getting everything done here. I have finally gotten in contact with his mom in a high school shelter in Covington Louisiana.

Mabel, his mom, is with her semi comatose disabled sister and her 10 month son since the storm. Jesse was finally able to talk with her for the first time in almost two weeks. The last time she saw him he was being air lifted from their home by helicopter. She was being relocated from Covington to Folsom Louisiana yesterday and I have not spoken with her since early yesterday morning. It may be sometime before she is able to have Jesse with her again so I am planning to get him in school as soon as the storm passes.

I also have spoken with the young man that I made friends with earlier in the week, Jerel. He is safe in Houston with his mom and brother at a Holiday Inn near the Astrodome. Mark (thanks Mark for helping Claudia) helped her get additional days and they are going to ride out the storm at the hotel.

I received an email from him regarding his status yesterday afternoon. They have moved to from the 8th floor to the 2nd floor and are going to ride out the storm at the hotel. Jerel sent the email from the hotel computer. It is amazing because he didn't know how to use a computer just 7 days ago and now he is using it to communicate with the world."

I noticed they have opened a Rita Family Messages web site. I plan to update my status information this morning. As I mentioned cell phone service was bad and I was unable to answer the calls............"