Connect Ohio Launches YouTube Video PSA Contest

Ohio residents now have a chance to become the stars of an upcoming statewide public service campaign for Connect Ohio’s Every Citizen Online program.

Connect Ohio launched this YouTube video public service announcement contest today and is looking to gather meaningful stories of Ohioans using broadband technology.

The winning video(s) will be 30- or 60-seconds in length and demonstrate the usefulness of the Internet to the daily lives of Ohioans, creative ways people use Internet technology, and how “Life is better with Broadband.”

Videos must be uploaded to YouTube.com, and then submitted to Connect Ohio at http://connectohio.org/consumer_training/video_contest.php.

Entries are due by March 21, 2011, and winners will be announced in April.

The contest winner(s) will receive an Apple iPad and may be selected to appear in Connect Ohio’s Every Citizen Online public service announcements.

To learn more and view rules of the contest, visit http://connectoh.org/consumer_training/video_contest.php.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Calls Closing the Digital Divide “One of the Most Important Civil Rights Issues Of Our Time.”

By Chris McGovern, Manager, Research Development, Connected Nation

Last week, the Minority Media and Telecom Council (MMTC) hosted its 2011 Broadband and Social Justice Summit. Among the many high-profile speakers at this conference, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called closing the Digital Divide for every socioeconomic group “one of the most important civil rights issues of our time,” affecting individuals’ ability to apply for jobs and access healthcare. Connected Nation research shows that there are adoption gaps among every socioeconomic and demographic group, but these gaps are broader among particular racial/ethnic lines. For example, Connected Nation research shows that in the states/territories that CN serves, 28.3 million adults do not have home broadband service. This includes approximately 3.2 million African Americans, 6.2 million Hispanics, and 400,000 Native Americans. Altogether, minorities make up a much larger share of non-adopters than adopters.


The factor that remains consistent across all of these racial/ethnic groups is that the top barriers to broadband adoption are the lack of a home computer and the belief that they do not need home broadband service. This belief that home broadband is just an unnecessary luxury highlights the need for locally-driven digital literacy programs that help families see the importance of having home broadband service because, as Chairman Genachowski pointed out, “the costs of digital exclusion are rising.”

Chairman Genachowski’s comments can be found here: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-304191A1.pdf.

To increase home broadband adoption in Ohio, Connect Ohio recently launched the Every Citizen Online program that showcases the many educational, healthcare, economic, and communication benefits of home broadband adoption.

Connect Ohio’s Every Citizen Online Classes Launched

The first Every Citizen Online course (left) at Pioneer Career and Technology Center in Richland County, Ohio kicked off on January 3.

Connect Ohio’s Every Citizen Online classes have officially launched.

Every Citizen Online provides free computer training sessions at public libraries and community colleges throughout Ohio and will introduce new users how to access the Internet and how to best utilize all the Internet has to offer.

The goal of the project is to showcase the many educational, healthcare, economic, and communication benefits of broadband use, and to encourage adoption by residents statewide.

This week, six local libraries and/or community centers in Ohio began the training sessions. In addition, Connect Ohio has been running public service announcements on television and radio stations thorough out the state. You can view the PSA’s here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C5EA400DC26CE4C4

Here are some recent articles about the program:

Zanesville Times Recorder - Free Computer Classes at Perry County District Library

Toledo Blade - Sandusky County library offers computer classes

This Week (Columbus) - Columbus nonprofit looks to get 'Every Citizen Online'

Confronting the Broadband Adoption Challenge – How do We Fix it?

How do you boost broadband adoption? That was the subject of a webinar hosted by Intel and other industry leaders to stress the importance of tackling the key barriers to broadband adoption. Connected Nation Chief Executive Officer Brian Mefford served as one of the panelists in the discussion with other broadband researchers and technology leaders.

Mefford was joined by Michael Santorelli, director of the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute; Aaron Smith from the Pew Internet & American Life Project; Eric Greenman, manager of Service Provider Marketing at Intel Americas; and Bill Wallace from DigitalBridge Communications. The webinar was hosted by w2i.com.

There was a common theme among the findings and experiences of the group, most notably: populations, particularly those that are older, have less education, or lower income, continue to lag behind in broadband adoption.

However, all parties agreed that simply providing affordable broadband service to an area or particular group of people does not mean that adoption rates will instantly rise.

Coupling affordable high-speed Internet with digital literacy programs, like computer classes, and community involvement and technology planning programs have the most significant impact on broadband adoption rates, they said.

At Connected Nation, the efforts to address the issues of broadband adoption are two-fold, Mefford said. The first is to identify the reasons that people do not use broadband. The second is to address those issues at a community level.

“It’s not just about identifying the common barriers at a macro level,” he said. “We must drill down further to the local level and understand particular communities’ nuances. By doing so, we are able to bring forward and execute the most relevant and high-impact solutions to broadband adoption barriers.”

Already, Connected Nation has designed or started such community-specific programs. Connected Nation, along with Intel and other technology companies, have proposed a program called Every Citizen Online (SM), which will work with local communities to provide affordable broadband service, along with digital literacy training and a personal computer.

In addition, Connected Nation’s work through its state-based initiative, Connected Tennessee, has seen the fruits of such local-level collaboration.

In Tennessee, work to provide expanded access to and use of broadband has seen significant success. Since Connected Tennessee’s 2007 inception, more than 250,000 Tennesseans have gained access to broadband.

In addition, Connected Tennessee has donated more than 2,000 computers to children, families, and communities through its Computers 4 Kids program. One such donation, to the Saint John Baptist Church After-School Program in Stanton, stands out.

Click here to view a video about the impact of the C4K donation and the importance of community involvement in combating broadband adoption barriers.

Overall, the key to widespread adoption and use of high-speed Internet is a group effort — from community leaders to local business to technology providers.

To learn more about the work of Connected Nation and its partners, visit www.connectednation.org.

Connected Nation State-level Digital Inclusion Work Hightlighted at FCC Public Hearing

Connected Tennessee’s Executive Director Michael Ramage Invited to Speak at Federal Communications Commission’s Field Hearing in Memphis

Memphis, Tenn. -- Today, the digital inclusion work of Connected Tennessee, a Connected Nation state-level initiative, will be highlighted during a Federal Communications Commission’s field hearing in Memphis.

Connected Tennessee’s executive director Michael Ramage will speak at one of a series of FCC’s public hearings promoting an open discussion between the commission and the public on the development of a national broadband plan.

In Tennessee, work to provide expanded access to and use of broadband has seen significant success. Since Connected Tennessee’s 2007 inception, more than 250,000 Tennesseans have gained access to broadband.

Connected Tennessee has accomplished this goal by involving all of Tennessee’s 95 counties in a technology planning and outreach process called e-Community Strategies. Through this process, each county creates local leadership teams, comprised of leaders from both the private and public sector. These teams work to create county-level technology plans in order to address a particular county’s challenges related to technology growth.

In addition to this process, Connected Tennessee has distributed more than 2,100 computers to children, families and community-based organizations through its Computers 4 Kids program. In October, Connected Tennessee’s Computers 4 Kids program was awarded a “community service” award at the 7th annual TechStar Awards in Kingsport, Tenn. The honor was given for the program’s commitment of time and resources to improve the community through technology.

Following the success of state-based programs like Connected Tennessee’s Computer 4 Kids, Connected Nation and several leading technology companies including Intel, Fujitsu, Velocity Micro and ZT Systems announced in August the creation of Every Citizen Online (SM), a public-private partnership program that will enable computer ownership and broadband use in low-income and unconnected homes throughout the United States.

The program will help vulnerable populations overcome the top barriers to adoption: broadband awareness and training, computer ownership and subscription affordability.

Joining together technology companies and local entities, the program will provide digital literacy and help unconnected consumers purchase a new broadband-enabled computer using an instant rebate, bundled with a year of discounted broadband service.

Related Links:

Press Release: Connected Nation Partners with Technology Leaders to Apply for Broadband Stimulus Funds to Connect More U.S. Households

About: Every Citizen Online (SM)

Whitepaper: Investing in Sustainable Broadband Adoption (PDF)

News Article: Intel's Maloney talks beer and broadband (The Hill, 10/29/09)

News Article: Q&A with Brian Meffford, CEO, Connected Nation About Every Citizen Online (Wireless Government Report, 12/07/09)

News Article: http://connectednation.com/in_the_news/connected_nation_in_the_news/2009/08/us-stimulus-intel-invests-in.php

News Article: Intel, Dell, Fujitsu Partner with Nonprofit to Increase Low-income Internet Access (The Daily Tell, 08/18/09)

News Article: Connected Nation, Technology Stalwarts Launch Every Citizen Online (Cherokeean Hearld, 08/19/09)

News Article: Connected Nation: Access Not the Biggest Problem (TMCNet, 08/14/09)

News Article: Intel, Dell Join Nonprofit To Bring Cheap Internet Svc To Poor (Dow Jones Newswire via The Wall Street Journal, 08/13/09)

View press release here.

Connected Tennessee’s Computers 4 Kids shows power of technology at home

Audrey Carey was born and raised in Gallatin, Tennessee but moved to Atlanta several years ago with her four children.

After living there for five years, Audrey was called at work one day that her home had caught on fire. Her children were home, and thankfully, no one was hurt. The house, however, was destroyed.

Audrey and her kids lost everything and were forced to move from place to place until finally settling into a shelter. Not long after that, Audrey packed up her four kids and all their belongings and moved home.

The day after commenting to her mother about how badly she needed a computer for her kids, Audrey received a letter in the mail from her Department of Human Services case manager telling her she would soon be receiving a brand new computer from Connected Tennessee’s Computers 4 Kids program.

She had been selected based on her outstanding performance in the DHS Families First program, a program that emphasizes work, training and personal responsibility. “My kids started jumping up and down,” she said.

Today Audrey is working at a nursing home, attending night school to obtain her GED, and preparing for massage therapy school. And, thanks to her new computer, Audrey’s daughter was recently able to perform research to win an essay contest that won her a $500 prize.

For Audrey and others benefiting from Connected Tennessee’s Computer 4 Kids program, a home computer and the subsequent use of broadband in their home can change their lives.

At Connected Nation, we recently announced a partnership called Every Citizen Online (SM) which will sponsor these kinds of computer donations and literacy education throughout the United States.

To learn more about Every Citizen Online (SM), click here.

Every Citizen Online (SM) partnership notes success of Connected Tennessee’s similar effort, Computers 4 Kids

Connected Nation has recently partnered with technology companies including Intel and Lenovo to form Every Citizen Online (SM), a public-private partnership designed to enable PC ownership and broadband use in low-income and other unconnected households.

The partnership has applied for Sustainable Broadband Adoption funds available through the NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. To read what Intel’s policy blog is saying about the program, click here.

The Every Citizen Online (SM) program can look to a recent milestone of Connected Tennessee’s Computers 4 Kids program as an example of the impact these types of such public-private partnership can have in communities.

Last week, Connected Tennessee’s Computers 4 Kids (C4K) donated of its 2,000th computer in a donation event at the State Capitol’s Old Supreme Court Chambers, making a distribution of computers to more than a hundred area youth.

To view a video of the event, click here.

The event featured remarks from various state leaders and awarded brand new Dell computers to 120 foster children throughout Davidson County and the Mid-Cumberland region.

The recipients hail from 13 different counties across the Mid-State (including Davidson, Stewart, Montgomery, Houston, Humphreys, Dickson, Cheatham, Robertson, Williamson, Sumner, Trousdale, Wilson and Rutherford) and have all recently graduated high school or earned their GED.

Connected Nation and Tech Leaders Apply for Funding to Put Computers in U.S. Households

The top reasons non-Internet users cite for not having broadband at home are lack of relevance, price, and lack of a computer (2009 Pew Internet & American Life Project).

According to Pew research, 21% of those who cite price as a barrier to broadband adoption are African Americans, 27% are age 65 and older, and 27% live in rural areas.

Today, Connected Nation joined and a host of technology companies (Intel Corporation, Fujitsu, Velocity Micro, Inc., and ZT Systems) to apply for broadband stimulus funding for Every Citizen Online(SM).

Every Citizen Online(SM) is a public-private partnership program designed to enable computer ownership and broadband use in low-income and unconnected homes. The program will help vulnerable populations overcome top barriers to adoption: broadband awareness and training, computer ownership, and subscription affordability. Joining together technology companies and local entities, the program will provide digital literacy and help unconnected consumers purchase a new broadband-enabled computer using an instant rebate, bundled with a year of discounted broadband service.

The program will leverage federal stimulus dollars to enable low income and other unconnected consumers to purchase his/her a choice of a broad range of personal computers at a deeply reduced price, receive discounted monthly broadband service and local community support.

The initial phase of the program will target 150,000 computers introduced to households.

For more information about Every Citizen Online(SM), visit www.connectednation.org.