This series of courses has been designed to help small business owners, nonprofits, neighborhood associations and others work develop their online presence. Our time in each session will be split evenly between learning via the courses and working on our individual projects in a peer group.
The Free Network Foundation envisions communications infrastructure that is owned and operated cooperatively rather than by corporations or states. They have been awarded a Neighborhood Opportunity Tier 1 grant for their "Troost Corner Connected" Project. This initiative will provide internet access at the intersection of 31st Street and Troost Avenue that will be widely available to the nonprofits and apartment buildings nearby as well as the bus stop for the general public.
Through its Troost Village Digital Reconciliation Project, Reconciliation Services (RS) will train and deploy Trained Neighbors Teaching (TNTs) to increase digital life skills, internet and computer access, and improve residents' ability to use these skills and resources to connect to jobs, education, and healthcare and obtain necessary government-issued identification documents. The RS Internet Cafe at 31st and Troost will eventually be run by the TNTs as a community hub for the digital skills project and overall improved access to vital resources.