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URGENT -- Please Re-Post as Appropriate 
 
                               TIIAP Funding At Risk 
                             Time to Tell Your Stories 
 
        News is breaking that the Telecommunications Information 
Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP) is under fire.  With its first 
round of grants hardly awarded and results too early to show, this extremely 
promising Federal assistance program is in danger.  The prospect of TIIAP 
losing substantial funding in 1995 -- for this current grant cycle -- is real. 
 
          If this is important to you,  please send us your stories -- now. 
 
        While the big fight is over Big Bird and public broadcasting, this 
small program that's helping to make the Internet work for everyone may die 
on the vine, unnoticed.  There are two recission bills.  Cuts proposed in 
both bills have the prospect of being combined.  Until yesterday there was 
risk of the entire TIIAP program being killed.  What will remain has not 
been decided.  The range as of April 6 appeared to be between a low of $9M 
and a high of $49M.  The first grant cycle, awarded in late 1994, was about 
$23M. 
 
 
Tell Your Stories 
 
        Do you know a story about a community network, or how the public 
Internet was used locally -- and recently -- in a way that: 
 
*       Created a job opportunity 
*       Helped start a business, especially a very small business 
*       Saved someone's life 
*       Diagnosed a disease 
*       Provided disaster relief and/or coordination - floods, earthquakes, etc. 
*       Improved literacy 
*       Created a unique educational opportunity 
*       Prevented a crime 
*       Prevented a suicide 
*       Helped the homeless or critically poor 
*       Improved the quality of life for the home-bound 
*       Involved an Enterprise Community or Empowerment Zone 
*       Involved Americorp National Service Initiative projects 
*       Involved the Cooperative Extension Service of USDA 
 
        Especially important right now:  Stories from rural Virginia and 
rural Maryland.  But, we need to hear from all over the country.  We need to 
show -- very, very quickly -- that there is a broadbased constituency for 
this program from Congressional districts all over the country.  And, that 
the program is supported by local public officials, businesses, educators 
and citizens. 
 
        Please let us know right away.  We will quickly compile these 
stories, and get them to the White House and the Hill, fast.   We need real 
stories about real people.  They do NOT need to be about currently funded 
TIIAP projects, important as that is.  Please send us any leads, whether 
they be first hand or second hand. 
 
Please send your story this way: 
 
*       Be brief.  What's your name?  How do we contact you? 
*       What's the application area, such as health, disaster relief, crime 
prevention? 
*       Tell us "who, what, when, where and why". Who benefitted? Was there 
press? 
*       What system or service made this possible? 
*       What Congressional District do you live in? 
*       Who is your mayor is, or closest equivalent public official? 
 
 
Concerned Citizen Letters Needed Now 
 
        This could be on a fast track, or it may take several weeks.  If the 
White House vetoes the recission bills, there may be more time, but there is 
no indication this will happen.  Predictions at this time are pretty hard to 
make.  A letter or fax to your Congresscritter or Senator can help.  If you 
send a letter, please let us know, and send us a copy if you can. 
 
        Use your own words.  Be polite and direct.  Give a local example if 
you can.  DO NOT send email.  Send a real letter with your signature, or a 
fax with your signature.  Handwritten letters really get looked at closely. 
Say something to the effect: 
 
        "I strongly urge you to support full FY 1995 funding of the TIIAP 
program in NTIA/DOC and to oppose any proposed cuts.  This program is 
helping make the information economy work for everyone, in communities such 
as mine.  America is at a crossroads.  Jobs and opportunity in the future 
depend on the information highway.  This program is helping build onramps. 
I do not believe TIIAP is unnecessary pork barrel government spending. 
There are lots of examples of that.  TIIAP is not one of them.  TIIAP is a 
solid example of what government ought to be doing.  The more people that 
use the net to get useful things done, the more valuable the net becomes for 
everyone and the country. TIIAP is creating economic and social value, not 
wasting taxpayer money." 
 
        Language couched in economic and community development terms will 
likely have the greatest impact.  Remember, one well written constituent 
letter from a concerned citizen is read as if there were THOUSANDS saying 
the same thing.  Especially, if you are a USER of a community network, your 
letter can have a real impact right now.  If you live in a rural community, 
your letter will also be very important. 
 
        As we learn more, we will pass specific suggestions along.  Stay 
tuned, and if you have a WEB browser, stay in touch with daily reports being 
posted by the Benton Foundation, http://cdinet.com/benton.  Members of the 
key committees in the House and Senate are also posted on this Web site. 
See anyone who works for you?  Send them a letter. 
 
 
    ================================ --- =================================== 
 
 
        The Center for Civic Networking has a reputation for independent 
research, analysis and promotion of the public use of telecommunications for 
community economic development, service delivery and participation in 
governance.  Two years ago this month, the Center produced a conference in 
Washington, DC, sponsored by Apple Computer, Inc. and the National Capital 
Area Public Access Network.  One hundred public service telecommunication 
practitioners from communities around the United States met together for the 
first time, and "talked story".  Administration officials from the White 
House, Department of Commerce, USDA and other agencies attended, as well as 
industry. 
 
        From the advisory input of many who attended that conference, the 
National Strategy for Civic Networking was produced, which cited dozens of 
examples of how these services were being used around the country.  This 
paper has been circulated worldwide. It is used in college courses and was 
directly cited in the Administration's Agenda For Action for the National 
Information Infrastructure. 
 
 
                   We talked story and we made a difference in policy then. 
 
                                It's time to talk story again. 
 
 
 
Thanks a lot for your help. 
 
 
Richard Civille 
Center for Civic Networking 
 
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  Center for Civic Networking                      Richard Civille 
  P.O. Box 53152                                   Executive Director 
  Washington, D.C.  20009 
  (202) 362-3831                                   rciville@civicnet.org 
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