Foundation Journal

You can help break the ‪ "digital divide" in ‪Kansas City‬ by joining a Digital Inclusion Town Hall this Friday, January 16 with local organizers from KC Digital Drive, Connecting for Good and the Kansas City Public Library. You'll need to register for the event . Friday, January 16, 2015 9:00am @ Central Library Continental breakfast provided Organizers of the 2014 Kansas City Digital Inclusion Summit — a first-of-its-kind event addressing troublesome gaps in residents’ access to computers and the Internet — return three months after that daylong gathering to deliver their official report. The October summit examined trends, discussed challenges and opportunities, spotlighted current inclusion efforts, and shared best practices. Since then civic leaders and other individuals and organizations have been exploring ways to bridge Kansas City's digital divide by providing better Internet access and quality tech education. The town hall meeting also features an announ...

During the October 17, 2014 Digital Inclusion Summit (see Jason Harper's report ) in Kansas City noted Digital Inclusion Strategist Angela Siefer identified herself as a “huge, huge advocate of city involvement in digital inclusion” projects towards improving affordable Internet access in low-income neighborhoods. This position represents a challenge to Kansas City to build bridges that close a digital divide in our community. Kansas City would do well to look at the example of Philadelphia and Minneapolis to launch big impact efforts, as Ms. Siefer pointed out in her presentation. And through the efforts of an emerging digital inclusion coalition that includes the KC Public Library, KC Digital Drive and Connecting for Good, a roadmap has been defined to bring city and other resources to this effort. Through a city-run project called "Keyspots" Philadelphia placed 80 free wireless hotspots in operation. Through their efforts they are offering 847 workstations across...

I attended the regular meeting of the Kansas City-based Homelessness Task Force organization at the downtown public library in Kansas City, Missouri today. I arrived at the meeting a few minutes early and joined the 20 or so people waiting to enter the library when it opened at 9:00 am. Most people waiting -- older men and 20-somethings -- would fit a description of a homeless individual using the library to come in from the cold, damp morning. As I learned later none of these individuals attended the meeting of the organization responsible for overseeing solutions to their problem. In fact, a few task force representatives left the waiting crowd to enter the library through another entrance. The crowd included weather-beaten men without teeth, a young man listening to music on his phone with a tooth brush hanging out of his pocket, two 30-something men conversing about backpacks and KC life -- "this was one of the baddest banks" in its time, announced one of them, referrin...