TheFatLadySings has proposed a measure to help decrease the digital divide that separates rural communities and communities of color from online organizing and new media tools, like twitter and Facebook. She wants to help leaders of community health coalitions to attend Netroots Nation to learn about online organizing tools that can be used to end disparities in health care, and also send two members of Native American Netroots to Providence.
Communities Joined in Action is a national alliance of community health coalitions working to end disparities in health care. CJA believes health care is a Civil Rights issue and it works to create Civil Rights facts on the ground by teaching coalitions in underserved communities to use the Affordable Care Act and other tools to insure access to quality health care among the poor, people of color, the homeless and other hard-to-reach populations.
This year, we have created a Marketing and New Media Committee dedicated to teaching coalitions to build power through community organizing, and to make use of online organizing tools. We have submitted a Pepsi Challenge Grant to bring 24 coalition participants to Netroots Nation in Providence, RI to caucus with bloggers and to learn on and offline organizing techniques.
Attending NN12 will be possible from a grant of $50,000 from the Pepsi Challenge where Pepsi funds "amazing ideas that refresh the world." But first we have to get the votes to win the grant.
While not belitting the devastation of a "high school without prom," if Pennies4Prom can get a $5,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project to cover the costs of prom night that might otherwise prevent students from attending during these bad economic times, then we should be able to get enough votes to win a grant to decrease the digital divide.
We need lots of votes: TFLS's proposal is now ranked at # 271 but you can vote for her proposal once each day of this month. Ten grants are awarded. (Since I drafted diary, we have moved to 208th place. Please move us up!)
If each person who reads this diary could ask 5 friends to vote for TFLS's proposal, we can rise up in the voting ranks:
We need your help. Specifically, we need you to promote and vote for our grant application. Go to the registration page to sign up. (If link does not work, go to sitemap page, and click onto the Join Refresh Everything at bottom of page.)
Then go to the page of Lifting the Digital Curtain and vote for us. You can vote once a day. We certainly hope you will vote for us every day in December!
In 1998, President Clinton "condemned the racial 'digital divide' in America" and in 2002, proposed an initiative to move from "digital divide to digital opportunity." But the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a new report based on 2010 census data that shows the digital divide still persists along geographic, economic, and ethnic lines. We all know this. But TFLS's initiative can make a difference where the political process has failed.
Today, people without access are "increasingly isolated and disadvantaged as more of life’s basic information, like vital community news or transit schedules or job listings, has moved online." Millions are being left behind as even health care moves online.
New media is making inroads where the political process has failed. New media is being used to save indigenous languages that have been excluded from schools on political grounds:
The Chakma people are using social media and web technologies to create awareness and spread their language. Chakma Scriptsis an interactive website which includes discussion forum, tutorials on Chakma script and Language, e-book, videos etc. to spread the use of the language. The indigenous community is growing strong with their presence in blog, Facebook,Open dictionary, online news letters etc.
There are also private organizations and coalitions, like Communities Joined in Action, that are helping to break down the digital divide barrier:
Ada Fuentes, 28, who immigrated to San Francisco from Honduras six years ago, recently entered the digital age thanks to Caminos, a nonprofit organization in the Mission that teaches computer skills to low-income Latina immigrants.
In the past 18 months Ms. Fuentes has learned Web browsing, word processing and spreadsheets — skills she used to start a fledgling company selling cleaning products online.
“I’ve been getting more and more business,” she said in Spanish, also marveling at how Skype has enabled her to video chat with relatives in New York and Los Angeles.
But Ms. Fuentes said her learning was initially stymied because her only online access was at public libraries, where demand for computers was so great that she was limited to 30 minutes a visit. She has since bought a laptop and set up a wireless Internet connection in her home.
We have also witnessed success stories when community organizing is interconnected with online organizing and new media tools, like twitter and Facebook. All it takes is one person to step forward.
Last year, a high school student posted a message at her FB calling for a student walkout to protest budget cuts that impact class sizes and after-school activities. In just under a month, 18,000 students statewide accepted her call for a mass student walkout despite efforts by school officials to intimidate students with threats of suspension, criminal charges and banning.
This happened because one high school student was "seriously pissed off" about her governor's proposal to significantly cut the education budget:
"All I did was make a Facebook page," Michelle told the New York Times. "Anyone who has an opinion could do that and have their opinion heard."
Gov. Christie's office tried to downplay the success of students sending a message to him, but The New York Times and other MSM covered the story.
Success is not limited to achieving the desired end goal, which can take years. Success is also measured by accomplishing positive steps taken to reach that goal, particularly when good outcomes to move closer to the goal can be done more efficiently and when our message can reach the public despite a media in bed with greedy corporate interests.
Private initiatives, like TFLS's proposal, can interconnect new volunteer recruits with community activism. This week the UN issued its first World's Volunteerism Report, finding that there are "more people volunteering online." In fact, "online volunteering, online activism through social media, and micro-volunteering" are now "fast growing trends."
Online tools can facilitate activism and advocacy to work toward ending the disparity of healthcare. With so much opposition and misinformation by the well-funded GOP, Teabaggers and right-wingers, we should utilize every available resource. Internet and new media campaigns can mobilize action plans, educate the public, and recruit more community volunteers.
Please support TFLS's excellent proposal to decrease the digital divide by voting for her grant proposal:
We need your help. Specifically, we need you to promote and vote for our grant application. Go to the registration page to sign up. (If link does not work, go to sitemap page, and click onto the Join Refresh Everything at bottom of page.)
Then go to the page of Lifting the Digital Curtain and vote for us. You can vote once a day. We certainly hope you will vote times for us every day in December!
Have you emailed 5 friends? Thanks.