Back with friends at CCN

I had the pleasure of attending a convening yesterday of leaders and participants in the Communities Connect Network (CCN). The Network received a tidy sum of stimulus funding for its "Communities Connect Network Project" to provide training and hardware to community technology providers across Washington State, and they're going for it! NPower has been a CCN partner for a number of years, and if was fun to reconnect with old friends (David Keyes from the City of Seattle, Mike Crandall from the UW Information School, and Carole Fulsom-Hill and Luz Monroy from La Casa Hogar in Yakima...) and to meet new participants like library staff from Burlington, La Conner and Yakima Nation.  I'm excited about the social media webinars that NPower will be offering through CCN this fall, and even more thrilled that the CCN experience sets us up to extend the trainings to our nonprofit audience in Washington and Oregon.

Communities Connect Network Project

With leadership from EdLab Group and the City of Seattle's Information Technology Program, and in partnership with NPower Northwest and other training providers, CCN has big plans for expanding the capacity of public computing centers. As a result of the project, thousands of low-income families in Washington State will be able to access broadband services related to education, jobs, and health, as well as the civic tools that information technology provides. Participating organizations include public libraries and nonprofit organizations across the state. CCN is creating a new web-based portal to house information about the program and to provide a forum for participants to connect with each other. The portal is under construction, and a sneak peek provided yesterday by David Keyes from the City of Seattle had the room abuzz. For now, you can learn more about CCN at their current site at http://www.communitiesconnect.org/

NPower's Role

As a training partner in the Communities Connect Network Project, NPower Northwest will provide a series of social media trainings (101, 201 and 301) this fall to help public computing center staff and volunteers to better deliver on their missions. The webinars will help participants to use social media to communicate more effectively with clients and supporters, and do it in a way that is manageable and meets the organization's communication goals.

Details on the webinar content and access to registration for CCN partners will be provided on the CCN site soon. And for our general nonprofit audience, we'll be offering free brown bags based on the CCN Social Media 101, 201 and 301 series starting this fall as well. Look for announcements in our Plugged In enews and watch for the events on our training calendar.

Thank you to our partners at EdLab for hosting the convening this week, and for providing us with an opportunity to contribute to the Communities Connect Network Project.

- Peg Giffels