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Even though San Francisco’s city-wide WiFi has not yet launched, our 2005-2006 grant project with San Francisco Tech Connect is still having impact. Our project focused on developing a strategy for digital inclusion to ensure that all residents would benefit from city’s efforts to provide wireless Internet access. Because the priority was about maximizing technology benefit and access for communities, our work has proven to be the foundation of long-lasting change.

During the grant project, our Technology Circle members helped to pilot a series of community technology workshops that have since served as a model for a new series of neighborhood Technology Fairs in San Francisco. These fairs are the result of an innovative partnership between two Full Circle Fund grant partners, Tech Connect and Hamilton Family Center. The fairs are also part of the launch of Hamilton’s latest initiative, Pathways to Technology, through which formerly homeless families can earn a computer and internet service for one year in their new homes with on-going computer education, technical support and a special personal savings account.

> Get Involved! Volunteer at an upcoming Tech Connect Technology Fair - there’s one on April 3, April 9 and April 14. Volunteers are especially needed on the 3rd and 14th.

> Get Involved! If you are interested in membership in Full Circle Fund, our Technology Circle is meeting on April 28 at Current TV’s high-tech office. This meeting is a wonderful opportunity to find out how to get personally engaged in community change through technology.

For more on the municipal WiFi issue, member Adam Hirschfelder singles out this fascinating New York Times article about the diminishing momentum around municipal Wi-Fi programs throughout the U.S., including in San Francisco. These programs were intended to provide free or affordable internet access to low-income city residents.

Because they often relied upon and ultimately were highly dependent on corporate providers such as EarthLink, the sustainable future of community-benefit municipal wireless is now in question. If corporate providers change their business plans and pull out of the programs or if their technology is not up to the task, poor neighborhoods don’t receive equal access to the benefits of getting online.

For this reason, it is essential to engage all levels of the community in creating solutions so that the communities themselves are integral to the success of municipal WiFi efforts.

Posted in Tech Connect, Hamilton Family Center, housing, impact, results, Resource Round-Up, resources, digital opportunity, technology