[Ccan-announce] A Great Day for Community Technology!

[Catherine Settanni]

The Minneapolis City Council voted 11-1 this morning to approve the proposed
public-private partnership model, move ahead with contract negotiations, and
proceed with pilot projects related to the Wireless Minneapolis project.

The best news of all is that now a Community Benefits Agreement is formally
required as part of the final contract, guaranteeing community input and
support for community technology programming into the future.

The City Council took a visionary position in adding this language to the
contract‹and should be applauded for their interest in, and action toward
bridging the digital divide. The rest of the country will notice this and
hopefully follow our lead.

Council Member Ostrow-- among others-- commented that he was moved by the
testimony of those of you who came to City Hall on Tuesday to educate the
Council about your programs and the needs of your constituents.
Thank you for your support at this critical juncture, it really helped frame
today¹s discussion.

If any of you have ever felt that civic engagement was not worth the effort,
this should make it clear that community engagement and organizing can and
does result in policy change.  Your community roundtable participation
helped insure that Community Benefits language was made a requirement of the
contract.

If you feel so moved, let your Council member know you appreciate their
support for community technology. Now we can move forward on the actual
community benefits agreement language and begin organizing around the pilot
projects.  For updates from the City, bookmark:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/wirelessminneapolis/
 
Cheers! We hope to see you next Wed. for the next roundtable meeting
(details at www.digitalaccess.org).
-- 
Catherine Settanni
C-CAN Director

http://www.digitalaccess.org



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