Message-ID: <28500325.1075840246280.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 03:56:00 -0800 (PST) From: will.reed@techforall.org To: clark97@swbell.net, scott_yeager@enron.net, jvalenti@mpaa.org, jtt@jttrotter.com, jhduncan@aol.com, klay@enron.com, pdouglas@salus.net Subject: Technology For All Update, October 2000 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: "Will Reed" X-To: "Andrew J. Clark III" , "F. Scott Yeager" , "Jack J. Valenti" , "Jack T. Trotter" , "John H. Duncan Sr." , "Kenneth L. Lay" , "Peter Douglas" X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Kenneth_Lay_Dec2000\Notes Folders\Discussion threads X-Origin: LAY-K X-FileName: klay.nsf TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL UPDATE FOR OCTOBER, 2000 ENRON ANOUNCES EMPLOYEE PROGRAM Computers and Broadband access to be given to Employees Employees encouraged to donate Computers to TFA $45 MILLION SMARTFORCE DONATION TO BE ANNOUNCED NOVEMBER 15 450,000 online courses over three years SmartJobs to be Key Component AMERICA CONNECTS CONSORTIUM TFA Participating as "friend" Online Resources to be Shared BLUECURRENT RELATIONSHIP FINALIZED Will manage and deliver Corporate Technology Assets Potential is 12 million computers redeployed over five year LINCT COALITION "LEARN AND EARN" PROGRAM TO EMPOWER DIGITAL DIVIDENDS CONFERENCE, SEATTLE TFA begins discussion with Hewlett Packard International Contacts developed ASIA FOUNDATION RELATIONSHIP BEING DEVELOPED LAY AND TROTTER ASSIST IN FUNDRAISING EFFORTS Houston Foundations Approached First with requests for $5 million Corporations and Friends Next Capital Infusion required to help TFA build capacity and long term sustainability PROGRESS CONTINUES ON IVERCITY DEAL Content to be created for TFA's constituents Convertible Royalty for TFA ROSEMARIE FOSTER TO JOIN TFA AS ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT DISCUSSIONS WITH INTERNET POLICY INSTITUTE NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, WASHINGTON DC, SAN DIEGO, ATLANTA ROAD-SHOW.COM DONATES WEBCAST PRODUCTION **************************************************** ENRON ANOUNCES EMPLOYEE PROGRAM On October 5, Enron announced "it will give employees of its wholly owned subsidiaries a high-speed computer and Internet connection, including broadband connectivity, for use at home, beginning in 2001. .......Through a company-wide computer drive, employees will be able to donate their existing home computers to Technology For All (www.techforall.org) , a national program working to bridge the digital divide." Technology For All thanks Ken Lay for his leadership in this decision that also helps TFA serve America's underserved and disadvantaged. For more information, the full press release is located at http://www4.enron.com/corp/pr/releases/2000/ene/87-PC-Enron.html . $45 MILLION SMARTFORCE DONATION TO BE ANNOUNCED NOVEMBER 15 On November 15 TFA and SmartForce (http://www.smartforce.com/corp/marketing/default.htm ) will post a joint press release announcing the donation of 450,000 scholarships for SmartForce eLearning courses to be delivered through the TFA secure website to end users seeking training with TFA collaborative program partners across the US. The 600 online courses available through the program are in English and Spanish and include everything from computer basics to various levels of technical certification. This generous gift to TFA will be utilized over a three year period and has a retail value of approximately $45 million. A key component of the gift will be the inclusion of a "SmartJobs" section on the web site that will list companies doing business with SmartForce that have pledged to interview job applicants who successfully complete training through a TFA/SmartForce course. Scott Yeager will call Greg Priest, CEO of Smarforce, on behalf of TFA and thank him for this generous gift toward the Technology For All initiative. AMERICA CONNECTS CONSORTIUM TFA is working with the America Connects Consortium (ACC) to help support Community Technology Centers across the US. The ACC received recently received a $2 million Department of Education grant to support CTC efforts. The benefits to TFA include program support for existing TFA programs and the ability to share best practices across the US. The consortium will assist TFA in its city by city model by helping encourage exisiting organizations to work together. In addition to sharing TFA online content TFA will also host online curriculum resources created by the consortium on the private side of our web site. The work of the Consortium will begin with an organizational meeting in Boston, November 15-16. For more information read the full release posted on the TFA web site at. http://www.techforall.org/showdoc.cfm?id=35&ret=new BLUECURRENT RELATIONSHIP FINALIZED TFA recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bluecurrent. Through the relationship Bluecurrent will assist TFA with the management and donation of corporate technology assets across the US. Through the creative use of donated assets as "currency" the Bluecurrent relationship will save TFA $13.5 million in projected cash expenses over the next five years to process and redeploy corporate technology assets donated to TFA. In addition, we believe this relationship will dramatically increase the computers available to TFA and its program partners. For more information about Bluecurrent go to http://www.bluecurrent.com . LINCT COALITION "LEARN AND EARN" PROGRAM TO EMPOWER One of the beneficiaries of the Bluecurrent relationship will be the ability of TFA to more quickly rollout the TFA/LINCT coalition "Learn and Earn" Program. This program will allow disadvantaged persons who participate in the program to learn how to use a computer and then mentor another person using the same curriculum. By completing both parts of this cross-age peer tutoring program, participants will then "earn" a computer to take home, thus creating new opportunities for education and economic empowerment. More information about the LINCT coalition "learn and earn" program can be found at http://www.linct.org/ DIGITAL DIVIDENDS CONFERENCE, SEATTLE Two weeks ago I attended the Digital Dividends Conference in Seattle. The focus of the Conference was "creating digital dividends" and exploreing innovative approaches to closing the global digital divide. The conference was hosted by the World Resources Institute, chaired by William D. Ruckelshaus, and reviewed business modesl and market development strategies to close the digital divide. I made several important connections at the conference including key personnel with Hewlett Packard. Carly Fiorina, HP's CEO, announced a huge global initiative by Hewlett Packard to address the digital divide in 1000 villages across the world. ASIA FOUNDATION RELATIONSHIP BEING DEVELOPED Through the introduction of Enron lobbyist David Merrill, former ambassador to Bangladesh during the Bush adminstration, TFA met last week with the President and several staff members of the Asia Foundation. The Asia Foundation supports economic development and other efforts in Asia and is funded by private contributions and the US State Department. The Asia Foundation indicated an interest in working together with TFA in the future as Enron expands its backbone to Japan and other Asian countries. LAY AND TROTTER ASSIST IN FUNDRAISING EFFORTS TFA and its local affiliate Technology For All-Houston are working together to follow through on grant requests of $5 million over a three year period from Houston area foundations. We have had initially o\positive responses from Houston Endowment and the Brown Foundation as well as several smaller foundations including the Hamman Foundation and the Sterling Turner Foundation. We are also preparing requests to Houston area corporations and friends of TFA that will go out in the next few weeks. A bridge loan from the Redstone bank has been secured to get us through the next couple of months. TFA anticipates a need for $4.5 million in cash over the next twelve months to help us build capacity and long term sustainability. With the creative business relationships being created we expect to be able to insure sustainability of the organization after the initial capacity is secured. However, until that time, TFA will be dependent upon the cash and in-kind contributions of foundations, corporations, its board members and friends. PROGRESS CONTINUES ON IVERCITY DEAL The IverCity "deal" is an example of an innovative and creative solution for long-term sustainability. Through the co-branding of the TFA/IverCity web site, we hope to drive web users to IverCity content and thus create the potential for a IverCity liquidity event that will benefit TFA's long term capital needs. Jack Clark has done a superb job creating the draft of the legal document outlining the deal. We thank Jack Trotter for his suggestion to create a convertible royalty rather than just equity by itself. The benefit to TFA is the ability for TFA to be compensated by the number of users we direct to the IverCity content which will be useful to TFA constituents. ROSEMARIE FOSTER TO JOIN TFA AS ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Effective, November 20, Rosemarie Foster will be joining the TFA staff fulltime as administrative assistant. She will begin working some partime hours this week. Thanks to Jack Trotter and Jack Clark for providing office space for Rosemarie. Additional TFA staff are being c\interviewed to assist with fund-raising, program development, web site development and network infrastructure support. DISCUSSIONS WITH INTERNET POLICY INSTITUTE Justin Cornett represented TFA recently at a "town hall" meeting of the Internet Policy Institute (IPI) in Austin. The IPI will be working with TFA in our Washington DC rollout. We will be meeting with them again next week in DC. We thank Ken Lay for his initial introductions to the board members and staff of the IPI. NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, WASHINGTON DC, SAN DIEGO, ATLANTA Through introductions from TFA board members and others we are beginning to develop key contacts in each of the cities noted above. Board assistance will be required as we also seek to develop co-branding corporate relationships. As per the wishes of the board, we are focused on New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles first. We will keep you posted and request your assistance as appropriate. ROAD-SHOW.COM DONATES WEBCAST PRODUCTION Road-Show.com, an Enron customer, recently donated a webcast for TFA to utilize on its website. The url for the site is listed below and will soon be accessible from TFA's web site as well. http://webevents.road-show.com/rs_TI/9282000/linkto_fta.htm Thanks for your support! Will --------------------------- Technology For All "Creating Opportunities Through Access" Will Reed 109 North Post Oak Lane, Suite 425 Houston, Texas 77024 USA 713.316.5750 Direct 713.316.5761 FAX 713.316.5790 Cell 713.806.1622 TFA Network Operations Center 3403 Marquart Suite 204 Houston, Texas 77027 713.961.0012 http://www.techforall.org E-Mail will.reed@techforall.org