Bright House Networks

Net Literacy is grateful that Bright House Networks took a chance on a group of middle school students that in 2004, wanted to reduce the digital divide and increase Internet safety awareness. Since then, Bright House Networks and Net Literacy have partnered together, donating more than 5,000 computers to schools and nonprofits. Bright House Networks has also supported Net Literacy’s student volunteers helping them to produce Internet safety PSAs and has carried them on their networks.

Listen to Bright House Networks’ Brooke Krodel explain why Bright House Networks has helped Net Literacy’s students for so many years, by clicking on the logo below.

Thank you Bright House Networks, for giving back to the community that you serve and making a difference to so many. To watch a video of the City of Indianapolis proclaiming Bright House Networks and the Techpoint Foundation Day, click on this link.

Respectfully,

Daniel Kent
Student President

The Broadband Expo

This Expo will provide the emphasis on rural broadband that has been only but a small segment at other events. This is an event that provides educational sessions and an exhibit hall that focus on the full range of both challenges and opportunities to facilitate an efficient expansion of service in the rural market place. For more information, click on this LINK.

Net Literacy will be speaking at the Expo discussing the Digital Literacy “best practices” site, and Josh Miles of MILES design will be on a panel discussing marketing. This is an important conference to attend – especially if you are interested in rural broadband.

Techpoint Foundation

The Techpoint Foundation was instrumental in the creation of Net Literacy, providing Net Literacy its first funding by matching a grant from Bright House Networks in 2004. Since then, the Techpoint Foundation has continued to support Net Literacy by also providing mentoring, guidance, and advocacy. In 2005, Techpoint Foundation Vice Chair Marv Bailey joined the Net Literacy Board of Directors and in 2009, Techpoint Foundation Board member Damon Richards joined the Net Literacy Board of Directors.

In 2009, Net Literacy’s Student Executive Committee (Will Petrovic, Brian Kelley, and Daniel Kent) submitted an $8,000 grant request which supported 20 of Net Literacy chapters’ volunteering efforts. The chapters also competed for four $1,000 grants and the winning schools’ programs ranged from conducting summer camps that repurposed hundreds of computers and constructed a website, to teaching hundreds of elementary school students Internet safety skills. The Student Executive Committee was also involved in the selection and awarding of the grants to the chapters.

In 2010, Net Literacy’s Student Executive Committee requested last year’s combination of chapter mini-grants and $1000 grants be continued, and also applied for an additional $4,000 to help expand the use of technology to youth-oriented nonprofits in rural Indiana interested in building or expanding computer labs, for a $12,000 grant request.

The additional $4,000 will enable Net Literacy to continue its program of increasing computer access throughout the State, as requested by Net Literacy Honorary Board member Lt. Governor Skillman in 2009. Working with the Indiana Association of United Ways, Net Literacy has distributed 500 computers to 17 United Ways serving 85 agencies to date in 2010 – and the Techpoint Foundation’s additional funding, together with funding from Intel, will enable the program to expand into more than a dozen new counties during the 2010-2011 school year.

Please contact danielkent@netliteracy.org for additional information.

Net Literacy is grateful for the Clowes Fund’s and the Hoover Family Foundation’s continuing support for Net Literacy’s digital literacy and digital inclusion projects.

After funding Net Literacy’s 2009 summer program, in 2010, the Hoover Family Foundation provided Net Literacy an annual grant of $10,000.

The Clowes Fund has supported Net Literacy since 2008, and this year, the Clowes Fund granted Net Literacy $17,500 for the years 2010 and 2011.

This funding enables student volunteers to repurpose thousands of computers each year which are donated to schools and nonprofits. Since 2003, Net Literacy has increased computer access to over 150,000 individuals. During the last three years, Net Literacy has donated over 11,000 computers. Research shows that as an independent variable, students with a computer at home are 6-8% more likely to graduate from high school. We couldn’t make a difference and be providing the computers we refurbish and our digital literacy services at no cost without the support and advocacy of our partners.

Thank you – Clowes Fund and the Hoover Family Foundation!

Respectfully,

Daniel Kent

David Johnson (right) teachers new volunteers

Net Literacy’s seven summer programs impacted over 300 students. Student volunteers learned how to build websites; repurposed almost 1000 computers that were sent to schools and dozens of nonprofits; storyboarded, scripted, shot, and edited twenty financial literacy videos, taught Safe Connects Internet safety skills, learned group dynamics and team building skills; constructed business proposals using PowerPoint that included value propositions, P&L charts, and streaming video.

Thanks to our generous donors, that included Lilly Endowment, the Luminia Foundation for Education, Lilly & Company, Bright House Networks, the Techpoint Foundation, the Clowes Fund, Net Literacy student volunteers learned job skills, life skills, and made a difference to their communities.

With nearly 150 attendees and a “dream team” of speakers from the FCC, nonprofits, broadband providers, and other government organizations, the Broadband Adoption Summit was a success and thoughtfully discussed barriers to and catalysts that will enhance broadband adoption. Above, Net Literacy’s Daniel Kent presents a Net Literacy Hero Award to Blare Levin, the FCC’s Executive Director responsible for crafting the National Broadband Plan for Congress. Highlights of the summit, co-sponsored by Net Literacy, the US Internet Industry Association, and Broadband for America, can be viewed by clicking on this link.

The Summit was webcasted by the US Telecom Association and was videotaped by Broadband For America. The five media articles that were written will help increase awareness to digital inclusion and the importance of increasing broadband adoption. Net Literacy and the USIIA will jointly co-author a series of white papers further detailing the issues discussed during this summit.

Speakers included the key architects of the National Broadband Plan, including Blair Levin (FCC Executive Director), Brian David (FCC Director of Broadband Adoption), John Horrigan (FCC Director of Consumer Research), and Karen Archer Perry (Advisor, Adoption and Use National Broadband Plan Team). Trade associations addressing the Summit included USIIA CEO David McClure, US Telecom CEO Walter McCormick, and Fiber to the Home Council CEO Joe Savage. Other speakers represented national companies, including Bright House Networks, Dell, Intel, and Cisco Systems, among others.

The Summit’s agenda is at http://www.netliteracyalliance.org/blog

While thousands of students have donated over 200,000 hours in service to their communities and increased computer access to over 150,000 individuals, we just could not be doing this without the financial support of more than a dozen corporate and foundation funders.

Since 2007, Intel, whose leadership serves on Net Literacy’s Board of Directors and financial support has helped us scale our programs. Intel has enabled our student volunteers to increase computer access to 10,000s of individuals, increase Internet safety awareness through the production of three Department of Education approved Internet safety videos, and increase financial literacy to middle school, high school, and college students through the IDOE approved Financial Connects portal.

The Lumina Foundation For Education repeated funding of our Computer Connects programs has provided computers to schools impacting thousands of students.

Lilly Endowment has funded Net Literacy programs since 2005, and has supported our Safe Connects, Financial Connects, and Computer Connects programs.

2010 marks the first year that the Eli Lilly Company has supported our Computer Connects program that teaches homeless students and students on Off Campus Instruction life skills and job skills.

Without your support and advocacy, we would be unable to increase digital inclusion. So in behalf of the thousands of Net Literacy student volunteers, thank you!

Respectfully,

Daniel Kent
Student President

Based upon a forty page response to the Request for Comments issued by the FCC regarding broadband adoption that I wrote in behalf of the Net Literacy student board, the FCC contacted me in January and I spent almost an hour talking with several members of the FCC’s National Digital Broadband Plan task force. The three most important recommendations that Net Literacy made were that

- a national Digital Literacy Corps be created to increase digital inclusion and broadband adoption at the community level (www.digitalliteracycorps.org)
- K-12 students on free or assisted lunch programs receive priority receiving resources and subsidized computer hardware and broadband
- Executive Order 12999 be strengthen to give schools a “right of first refusal” on surplused Federal computers to increase the use of technology in the classrooms during a period where funding for education is being reduced across the country

Net Literacy’s student volunteers were gratified that the FCC recommended the creation of a Digital Literacy Corps and that K-12 students on free or assisted lunch programs receive priority in the National Broadband Plan. Our response to the FCC included over 100 comments and recommendations, most of which were incorporated in the National Broadband Plan, because in part, the comment process was designed to validate FCC’s own assumptions through the use of public feedback to their proposals. Net Literacy was gratified to see that our new recommendation “that ENL population groups (English as a New Language) be recognized as a population group with low broadband adoption” was included in the Plan. Our request regarding Executive Order 12999 was not included, but I have met with Senators Lugar’s and Bayh’s to discuss how the inclusion of this in new legislation will impact student success and increase high school graduation rates.

The National Broadband Plan specifically cited our Senior Connects program that has increased computer access to over 40,000 Americans and our Community Connects program that has increased computer access to over 110,000 Americans in over 500 community centers, senior centers, preschools, faith-based organizations, schools, libraries, and other nonprofits.

No plan can be perfect in all aspects for every constituency when addressing a major challenge that America faces – but the FCC has done an outstanding job in reaching out to Americans to solicit feedback and comment; and thoughtfully created a road map that will ensure Americans receive the richness and benefits provided by broadband.

As a youth-founded all volunteer nonprofit whose outcomes cost about 10% as much as some other larger digital inclusion solution providers, we commend the FCC in providing a strong ROI on the taxpayer dollars invested in this project.

Respectfully submitted,

Daniel Kent

Broadband Adoption Summit

All Day “Roadmap to Broadband Adoption” Conference to be held in Washington DC on June 22nd

Broadband for America, Net Literacy and USIIA invite you to join in a special conference to help bring the rest of America online through programs to stimulate broadband adoption.

Aimed at broadband providers, community service agencies, municipal managers, consultants, educators and economic development leaders, this conference is a roadmap to use of federal stimulus grants to build effective and sustainable community programs for broadband adoption and use among the one-third of Americans not currently online. For more information, contact USIIA at conference@usiia.org or click here.

If you have applied for or received a broadband stimulus grant or loan, this is a must-attend event for your company!

Monday, June 21st

4:00 pm Joint meeting of the USIIA Board of Directors

5:30 pm Open Reception (Attendees and Speakers)

7:00 pm USIIA Board of Directions Dinner Invitation Only

Conference Agenda*

8:30 am Continental Breakfast

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9:00 am Conference welcome by Dennis C. Hayes, Chairman, USIIA

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9:05 am Introductory remarks by Harold Ford, Jr., Broadband For America Co-Chair

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9:20am Introductory remarks by Don Kent, Net Literacy Chair

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9:35am Keynote: A legislator’s view of the American Recovery and Re-Investment Act with respect to broadband adoption. What did Congress intend, and where do we go from here? Walter B. McCormick, Jr. (President & CEO of the US Telecom Association)

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10:05 am Break

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10:15 am “The Broadband Adoption Paradox” – An overview of the research indicating that broadband adoption rates remain a problem in the United States, and where efforts need to be made to correct this problem.

Panel Leader: John Horrigan, Consumer Research Director at the FCC (and formerly the Associate Director, Research, with the Pew Internet & American Life Project). Panelist: Rick Herrmann (Intel, Manager, US Public Sector Initiatives, State, Local, Education, and Advocacy) and Robert J Shapiro (Chairman of Sonecon).

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11:00 am The Omnibus Broadband Initiative with Blair Levin. Now a Communications and Society Fellow at the Aspen Institute, Levin was formerly Executive Director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative at the Federal Communications Commission, and will share his insights into the nation’s broadband plans, policies and needs.

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11:45 pm Lunch on your own

11:45 pm Speakers Luncheon – By Invitation Only

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1:00 pm Conference welcome by Daniel Kent, Founder and Student President of Net Literacy

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1:10 pm “Where Will We Get The Computers?” A panel discussion of how to create and implement an effective program for computer re-tasking and distribution.

Panel Leader: David McClure (USIIA President). Panelists: Don Kent (Net Literacy Chair) and Kerry Murray (Dell’s Senior Council for Global Public Policy).

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1:40 pm “Outline for Community Adoption Programs” An outline of a sustainable broadband adoption program, necessary programs at the federal, state and local levels.

Panel Leader: Rick Jones (Cisco Systems, Director, Strategic Relations, US Public Sector). Panelists: Brian David (Federal Communications Commission Adoption and Use Director) and Mamie Bittner (Institute of Museum and Library Services Deputy Director)

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2:30 pm Break

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2:45 pm “Community-Based Adoption Models” A more specific discussion of the models for community programs, including where to conduct them, who should be targeted and how to manage the programs within various county/municipal/township organizations.

Panel Leader: Karen Archer Perry (Federal Communications Commission National Broadband Taskforce ). Panelist: Emy Tseng (National Telecommunications and Information Administration Program Officer, BTOP) and Elisabeth Stock (Computers For Youth President)

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3:30 pm “A Student Empowered Digital Literacy Corps” A discussion of the Net Literacy model for development of a corps of high-school and college student volunteers to implement the community-based training programs.

Speaker: Daniel Kent (Net Literacy Founder and Student President)

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4:00 pm “Promoting Broadband Adoption” A panel discussion of how to better market the value proposition for broadband within communities.

Panel Leader: Marva Johnson (Bright House Networks Networks Corporate Vice President Technology Policy & Industry Affairs). Panelist: Joe Savage (President, Fiber-to-the-Home Council), Laurie Lipper (Children’s Partnership Co-Founder and Co-President) and Narvarrow Wright (President of Maximum Solutions)

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5:00 pm Reception

* Note: Conference agenda is subject to change.
** Accepted pending Agency approval