[Katrina-IT-Volunteers] AFN: Austin Chronicle 2005 Best of Austin"Katrina Evacuee Hookup"

[Dale Thompson]

I just want to say that the Chronicle award really belongs to all those
amazing people who responded to our e-mails and showed up day after day
during the most chaotic situation I've ever seen in my life.  To Chip and
Glenn and David and Jenn for providing an infrastructure that made it all
work.  Glenn even helped me respond to all those initial e-mails
individually!  Ally and Annell who showed up instantly when I called panic
stricken the first day and kept showing up.  Content for getting the
volunteer orientation materials started. Denise who found that great meeting
room scheduling web site that we all used to schedule ourselves, and tweaked
it so it made sense for a purpose for which it wasn't intended.  I could go
on forever.

 I am so proud to have had the privilege of working with you and of all that
you accomplished with your kindness and generosity and sincerely hope that
we can all get together for a picnic or party of some sort soon (assuming
we're all over that wretched cold).   You rock.

Dale Thompson
Austin Free-Net

PS - I'll start working on that picnic.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ana" <ana at austinfree.net>
To: <katrina-it-volunteers at soaustin.net>
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 11:13 AM
Subject: [Katrina-IT-Volunteers] AFN: Austin Chronicle 2005 Best of
Austin"Katrina Evacuee Hookup"


Dearest Friends,

In case you missed it, Austin Free-Net is on page 78 of the 2005 Austin
Chronicle Best of Austin as "Best Katrina Evacuee Hookup!"

Excerpt:
"Their [referring to AFN] presence at the Austin Convention Center during
the aftermath of the evacuation of New Orleans helped to create lifelines
for countless folks, some passing through, some now calling Austin home."

At the foot of this message,  you will also find an article from
Tolerance.org; it was sent to us by AFN Collaborative Board member, Carl
Webb. It address issues of the digital divide as it relates to Katrina. It
is timely and, I believe, will serve to underscore our own local efforts
such as:

:: the vital importance of the Convention Center computer bank set up by
the City, AMD, AISD, and others;

:: the 300+ volunteers that signed up early on and all those who continue
to step up.  Yesterday, among the most recent of examples, there were
those who helped set up a new lab at Foundation Communities' Hearthside
"hotel" where 100 units were set aside for @300 Katrina evacuees along
with their other clients. Today, Convio volunteers are doing their "Day of
Caring" at that location to help Hearthside residents to learn to use the
new lab to find family and friends, jobs and other vital resources online.
This lab includes 5 of the 50 AMD Personal Internet Communicators (PICs)
and other equipment donated after Convention Center services ended;

:: the great volunteer database created by UT staff that is now an
invaluable resource to AFN's volunteer coordination

:: the AFN site partners that have been stretching their resources to
include services to Katrina survivors;

Kudos to

:: AFN Collaborative Board members, AMD and Grande, who were also
recognized by the Austin Chronicle for "Corporate Acts of Civility,"
thanks in no small part to their work to support public access to the
Internet and  computing resources;

and, without a doubt

::  the exemplary leadership and generosity of AFN's fantastic City
staffers, Dale Thompson and John Neale (and their family members) who were
able to recruit over 300 volunteers, support the computer bank, and bridge
the various bureaucracies in order to get work done in a timely and
efficient manner.

Big thanks for your continued support and congrats to all of us.

Ana Sisnett
Executive Director
Austin Free-Net

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Katrina Highlights 'Digital Divide'
From:    "Carl Webb" <carlwebb1965 at yahoo.com>
Date:    Thu, October 13, 2005 8:17 pm
To:      "BDPA Austin" <bdpa-austin at yahoogroups.com>
         afrotexas at yahoogroups.com
         "Electronic Freedom Frontiers" <discuss at effaustin.org>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Katrina Highlights 'Digital Divide'

Oct. 6, 2005 -- Hurricane Katrina underscored the
persistence of America's digital divide. New research
indicates what can be done about it.
By Carrie Kilman | Staff Writer, Tolerance.org

In the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, droves of
New Orleans residents turned to the Internet for
information about evacuation routes and to get
detailed updates about the coming storm.

Afterward, the Internet became a major tool for
reuniting lost family members and matching people in
need with services and charitable organizations.

But for New Orleans' poorest residents, these online
tools were largely out of reach.

It was an unmistakable example of what some
researchers call the digital divide: the large gap -
between whites and people of color, between middle
class and poor - in Internet access.

In the days before and after Hurricane Katrina, "you
saw this asymmetry," said Alec Ross, senior vice
president of One Economy, a national organization that
helps low-income people use technology to build wealth
and assets.

"Middle-income people had good information and were
able to take action. Low-income people who didn't have
access to the Internet tended to have very bad
information, in terms of evacuation routes and
emergency preparedness. We saw very clearly what this
information deficit meant."

A growing problem
A recent report commissioned by the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights suggests the digital divide
isn't going away any time soon.

The report, authored by economist Robert Fairlie,
shows persistent disparities in access to online
technologies between whites and people of color.

The gap, according to the report, is most severe among
children. Nearly 80% of white children in the U.S.
have Internet access at home, compared to only 40% of
black and Latino children. Students who have home
computers, the research shows, are more likely to
graduate and have higher GPAs, and less likely to be
suspended.

The biggest factors contributing to the divide are
race and education level, Fairlie says. Language is a
barrier for non-English-speaking populations. For
rural America, geography plays an important role, too.


Internet access at home - as opposed to school, the
workplace or the public library - is important because
it's available at all times of day and allows privacy
for users who want to access sensitive information,
like bank accounts and bill payments.

"Internet access in schools has really gone up a lot,"
Fairlie says. "But where is the policy that addresses
the home issue? There isn't one. And that impacts our
ability to be informed, to communicate, and,
especially in disasters, our ability to get
information, like in Katrina."

As seen in Katrina, the costs of the digital divide
can be tremendous. Much information critical to
evacuees - whether searching for new jobs, requesting
bill extensions, or getting information about housing
vouchers - is most easily accessed online.

"We've always said it costs a lot to be poor - that if
you don't have certain things in your life, like a
checking account, for example, that can cost you up to
$1,000 a year, if you calculate how much it costs to
cash a check at a liquor store, or do bill payments
with certified checks," said David Saunier, vice
president of One Economy's media division. "With the
advent of the Internet and the poor being the last to
access it, that rift has gotten even bigger."

Signs of progress
With New Orleans all but emptied by Katrina, some
business and academic leaders are suggesting the city
be rebuilt as a wired, technological mecca. One
Economy is working with government officials - from
Congress to the mayor's office - to make sure
low-income residents aren't left out of the mix.

"I think you need to be living under a rock to think
that we don't rely on the Internet as an indispensable
part of our daily lives," Ross says. "Not being part
of the digital age isolates you from the mainstream.
It's our hope that by investing in (technology access
for) people who are moving back into the New Orleans
region, they will be better equipped to get better
jobs and better paying jobs."

The group's efforts in New Orleans mirror nationwide
campaign to link Internet access and public housing.
So far, 31 states have adopted legislation either
requiring or encouraging that all new public housing
projects funded by federal dollars be wired for
broadband.

A promising One Economy report suggests that when
low-income people of color do have home access to
high-speed Internet, they are more likely than other
groups to use it for educational and asset-building
purposes, like homework help and setting up checking
accounts.

"It's the idea that in today's world, access to the
Internet is as ubiquitous as having a refrigerator or
a microwave," Saunier says.

In the chaos of the Katrina aftermath, some signs of
hope are emerging.

"A lot of people used the Internet for the first time
when they were in the (evacuation) camps, entering
their information into the FEMA databases, signing up
for email accounts so they could find lost relatives,"
Ross said. "One thing this hurricane has shown is that
thousands of people have entered the digital age as a
result of this, and they aren't going back."

http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=1304

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