OE Report - April 2008
Contact:
Austin Bonner, Director of Communications
202-393-2233
Austin Bonner, Director of Communications
202-393-2233
OE Report - April 2008
In This Issue:
One Economy & CETF launch Bring IT Home California
The Beehive Helps Thousands File Taxes for Free
Results: One Economy's 2007 Annual Report
One Economy VP Joins the Rockwood Leadership Program
One Economy Launches Bring IT Home America
On April 8, One Economy launched the Bring IT Home America campaign at an event demonstrating the broad range of support for a national strategy to increase digital inclusion. This two-year campaign is a member-supported effort that marshals the resources of government, business, and the nonprofit sector around a powerful goal: extending the promise of innovative technology to expand opportunities to those who need them most. 
Bring IT Home America is a national call to action that responds to the need for affordable Internet access, youth-led technology training, and public-purpose media, opening the doors of the 21st century to millions of Americans.
The campaign employs a three-part strategy for connecting low-income people to tools for building better lives: deploying broadband and hardware, employing youth to build a cultural bridge between technology and their communities, and creating informing, engaging online media. By the end of the campaign, One Economy and campaign members will have engaged 5,000 youth to provide technology training in their neighborhoods, brought broadband into the homes of half a million Americans, and reached millions more with the next generation of public-purpose media, the Public Internet Channel.
At the launch event, One Economy premiered a new short film that illustrates the opportunities technology is creating around the country. Click here to watch the video.
Honored guests included Governor of West Virginia, Joe Manchin III; Jim Cicconi, Senior Executive Vice President, External and Legislative Affairs at AT&T; Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association; and Director, Writer, and Actor Robert Townsend.
Other members include: Allstate, the California Emerging Technology Fund, Intel, Symantec, Verizon, Wells Fargo, Atlanta, Buffalo, Fort Wayne, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Raleigh, San Francisco, Savannah, Seattle, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County & Kansas City, Kan., Kansas City, Mo., Bertie County, N.C. and Greene County, N.C.
To learn more about the campaign and Bring IT Home America membership opportunities, visit www.one-economy.com/BIHA.
One Economy & CETF launch Bring IT Home California
On April 8, as part of the Bring IT Home America initiative, One Economy also launched the Bring IT Home California campaign, designed specifically for California residents. One Economy has partnered with the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) to make California a national leader in digital inclusion and a model for subsequent efforts around the world.
Bring IT Home California has two programs: Broadband@Home which seeks to connect 84,000 low-income Californians statewide to free or low-cost broadband at home and will pursue policy change for wiring affordable housing; and 21st-century Communities that will connect low-income households to high-speed Internet access, integrating technology with a community development. Nine 21st-century Communities in California will be developed with this comprehensive approach by September 2010.
A $2.5 million grant from CETF and AT&T's contribution of two years of high-speed Internet access for 10,000 households make this work possible.
The event highlighted the Mission neighborhood in San Francisco, one of the first 21st-century Communities selected. These communities include approximately 1,000 households made up of low-income residents and will work collaboratively with community residents, leaders of community-based organizations, public agencies, local philanthropic agencies, private sector organizations, and other mission-oriented entities that are committed to improving the lives of low-income people through online information and technology resources.
What is Hip Hop?
What is hip hop music and how does the industry impact my community? North Lawndale Digital Connectors recently answered this question during a three month civic journalism workshop and the launch of One Economy’s 247 TownHall (www.247townhall.org), an online civic engagement resource.
Over 50 youth Digital Connectors completed a structured journalism course including speakers from the Chicago Reporter, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications. Local partners and One Economy staff trained youth on how to use Flip video cameras and blogs to promote their stories. The youth chose the hip hop music industry as their topic and conducted on-camera interviews with their peers and neighbors.
Last month, the youth sponsored North Lawndale Youth Speak about Hip Hop! at North Lawndale’s College Preparatory High School. More than 100 youth listened to a panel of experts that included morning disc jockey Trey the Chocklit Jok (FM 92.3) speak about the state of the industry. Youth also premiered their footage on an original video, “What is Hop Hop?”
The Motorola Foundation and the City of Chicago’s After School Matters program support the Digital Connectors program. One Economy and the Motorola foundation are working together to create Chicago's first connected community through the development of broadband infrastructure, computer acquisition programs, online content, and training.
The Beehive Helps Thousands File Taxes for Free
Doubling the number of Beehive users who used the site to file their taxes in 2007, 7,188 taxpayers used the free Tax Tool to prepare and file their income taxes. We expect more than $7 million dollars to be returned directly to low- and moderate-income households with this effort.
The Tax Tool guides users through the often complicated process of understanding and filing their taxes in accessible, easy-to-understand language. Information and resources include free tax preparation and e-filing through H&R Block, educational material on tax credits, and techniques to lessen the frustration of preparing taxes.
In addition to the thousands who prepared and filed their taxes on the Beehive, more than 150,000 low- and moderate-income households accessed financial literacy information, including information on the Earned Income Tax Credit and other important tax credits, the economic stimulus, ideas on spending and saving tax refunds, and other free tax related community based services.
Though the Earned Income Tax Credit returns billions of dollars to low-income working families each year—lifting more than 5 million families out of poverty annually—an estimated 15 to 25 percent of eligible taxpayers fail to claim the credit. One Economy created the Tax Tool to make it easy for working families to understand tax preparation and file for themselves. The Beehive builds financial literacy and helps families maximize their returns, without paid tax preparation.
To learn more about the Tax Tool, visit www.thebeehive.org/taxes.
Results: One Economy's 2007 Annual Report
This year's annual report highlights the results One Economy's work brings to communities around the word. Click here to download the annual report.
One Economy VP Joins the Rockwood Leadership Program
Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee, One Economy's vice president for Digital Inclusion, has joined the Rockwood Leadership Program—a learning community of national fellows who are working in national and state advocacy, media justice, research and media content production. Our Fellowship equips a diverse group of influential social change leaders with expert tools in organizational leadership and collaboration will enable them to build stronger and more strategic organizations and form strong partnerships with allies in the field of media, communications and information policy, leading to greater collective power, effectiveness, and more substantive policy change. As a fellow, Nicol will participate in a leadership training workshop and engage with national leaders across the country in this area.
- Director of International Operations
- Senior Web Designer
- AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer and VISTA Leader
- Interns: Communications, Junior Web Editor, and Public Policy/Business Development
- Freelance Writer, Atlanta
California Community Economic Development Association’s 19th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference
One Economy COO Mike Mantle is the keynote speaker
Tuesday, May 6
10:30 a.m.
Holiday Inn--Capital Plaza
300 J Street
Sacramento, California
RSVP at www.cceda.comCommunity Fellows & Emergency Preparedness Launch
One Economy's new program, community fellows, kicks off with a launch event highlighting the need for emergency preparedness.
Tuesday, May 13
3 to 5 p.m.
1726 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. (Next to HOPE Community Credit Union)
Central City, New Orleans
RSVP to rsvp@one-economy.comThe Cable Show '08
Nicol Turner-Lee, Vice President for Digital Inclusion at One Economy, will participate in a panel discussion titled, "The Role of State and Local Governments in Broadband Policy."
Monday, May 19
10:45 a.m. to noon
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
Room 217
New Orleans, LA
Sponsored by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association;
RSVP at http://2008.thecableshow.com