[Peace] Prairie Grassroots Sunday 10AM-11AM on 90.1FM and www.weft.org (webcast)

[Lori A. Serb]

Broadband Internet access and the recent Economic Recovery Act: what  
it means for the poor and working class in Champaign County?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1, S. 1) is a  
federal public law passed by the 111th United States Congress and  
signed into law by President Barack Obama. The recent Economic  
Recovery Act Funding is provided to award competitive grants to  
accelerate broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas and  
to strategic institutions that are likely to create jobs or provide  
significant public benefits. What does this mean for UIUC, Urbana and  
Champaign? On Prairie Grassroots Sunday 10AM-11AM on 90.1FM and www.weft.org 
  (webcast) I will be discussing this topic with 3 members of  
Champaign-Urbana Open Access Coalition: Abdul Alkalimat, Safiya Umoja  
Noble and Andrew Zimmerer in the studio please tune in. For more  
information: www.cuopenaccess.org

Lori Serb

More information:

OPEN FORUM ON BROADBAND IN C-U & CLOSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE: took  
place on APRIL 25TH. For more information: www.cuopenaccess.org
The first of a series of forums on broadband and the stimulus bill  
will be held in C-U. We are calling all Champaign County residents and  
their organizations to meet to discuss our next step in the  
information revolution. The US government is about to grant $7 billion  
to build fast  internet connections in poor neighborhoods and rural  
areas – broadband to every home. The main target is the underserved,  
to create and save jobs for people who need them. Can we make sure  
this serves our local needs? Can we transform our community into a  
national leader of community informatics, using a fully networked  
social life to increase quality of life for all members of the  
community? A one day meeting at the Graduate School of Library &  
Information Science at the University of Illinois will be held on  
April 25th from 8:30am to 2:00pm will hammer out a common vision and  
build networks of community organizations to carry out a program of  
action.  We are particularly reaching out to churches, PTAs, trade  
unions, librarians, parents, students, schools, social service  
agencies, farmers, farm workers, youth organizations and gangs, hip  
hop heads and all kinds of cultural producers, businesses, and  
political leadership at all levels. This is a call to everybody to  
join the information revolution!"


Champaign-Urbana Open Access Coalition: An emerging inclusive  
coalition of community organizations and individuals who are exploring  
the possibilities of open access to broadband and digital inclusion  
within Champaign-Urbana, focusing on the North End and surrounding  
rural communities. Their website www.cuopenaccess.org is designed to  
foster communication and information exchange as this process  
develops, with the intent of organizing access that is open,  
affordable (or free) to neighborhoods in C-U that are currently  
underserved.