Net Literacy Alliance

Net Literacy will receive a Jefferson Award for Public Service (http://www.jeffersonawards.org/) on June 16th in Washington DC.  Net Literacy’s work will be recognized by US Senators Lugar and Bayh.

The Jefferson Awards are a prestigious national recognition system honoring community and public service in America.  They began in 1972 to create a Nobel Prize for public service. Today, their primary purpose is to serve as a “Call to Action for Volunteers” in local communities.

The Board of Selectors chooses the winners. The national Jefferson Awards honorees are a “Who’s Who” of American history makers. They have included: Barbara Bush, Rosalynn Carter, Colin Powell, Peyton Manning, Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong, Sandra Day O’Connor and Alan Greenspan.

The Jefferson Awards has over 150 Media Partners in over 90 communities across the country. A local panel of judges selects the winners who are grassroots. These Media Partners are major local newspapers, television and radio stations.

Net Literacy was nominated for the Jefferson Award by Helen Lenke, a senior citizen that learned how to use a computer and the Internet through the Senior Connects (www.seniorconnects.org) program in 2003.  In 2004, she purchased her own computer and a broadband connection.  Six years later, Mrs. Lenke still sends boxes of cookies to her friendly student volunteers…and keeps up with them via email.   The student volunteers fondly refer to her as their “cookie monster.”