Digital Empowerment Campaign Launched
Feature Story by Corrine Yu - 5/16/2002
More than 100 national and local organizations, including the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), CTCNet, the National Urban League, the National Congress of American Indians, and the American Council of the Blind, have come together to launch the Digital Empowerment Campaign, a nationwide grassroots effort to preserve and strengthen the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) and the Community Technology Centers program (CTC).The Digital Empowerment Campaign enjoys bipartisan support in Congress. The leadership of Senators Max Cleland (D-GA) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), who stood shoulder to shoulder with the coalition at the Campaign’s launch on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, and with the support of Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), reflects the fact that "expanding opportunity in the Digital Age is not a partisan issue, but an American issue," said LCCR Executive Director Wade Henderson.
As part of the launch, the national leaders of the campaign delivered a letter to Congress urging full funding for these modest, but critically important, community technology programs.
A new campaign website, www.digitalempowerment.org, will play a central role in educating the public about the programs and coordinating the campaign. The site features state-by-state breakdowns of federal support along with real life testimonials from beneficiaries of the programs.
TOP, administered by the Department of Commerce and CTC, administered by the Department of Education, provide equitable access to and utilization of computers and information technology for rural and urban underserved communities all across the United States.
