Communities Connect Network presents to Washington State Legislature

The Communities Connect Network presented on November 30, 2007 to two committees with the Washington State Senate, one focused on economic development and the other focused on telecommunications. Communities Connect Network is a coalition of 200 community technology programs across Washington State. They provide technology opportunities and training to people who are often underrepresented in technology access, including females, low income families, minorities, homeless, and the disabled.

Participating organizations in the Communities Connect Network who were in Olympia included the WSU Center to Bridge the Digital Divide, NPower Seattle, City of Seattle Community Technology, 4-H Network News, Seattle YMCA, UW Information School, Stone Soup, South Puget Intertribal Agency, Intel Computer Club, Community TV Olympia, RECA Foundation, 4People, Puget Sound Center for Teaching Learning and Technology, and the STAR Center.

Pamela Roberts, Jefferson County 4-H coordinator, attended as a representative of 4-H Network News and shared with the committee the successes related to the project, including creating over 700 posts on the website (about half of which are videos), training almost 500 people on the use of free online communication systems, and the creation of about 200 free websites (half of which were for small businesses).