OR, in flagrant hope that RantWoman's language access and digital inculusion communities overlap enough for people to pick this up and forward, RantWoman invites readers to bear with several really good reasons just to shamelessly reprint the CTO's email almost verbatim except for a couple annotations:
--The email refers to City budget, which affects everyone in Seattle.
--The email refers to several important community programs where, for people who pay attention, there are opportunities and references to important consumer protection options.
--There are references to public budget hearings, posted hopefully in time for people to request interpreters if that would facilitate participation.
--There may or may not be opportunities to meet RantWoman in person at some of these public events.
Read on!
Good afternoon,
The Department of Information Technology is the central information technology organization for the City of Seattle. Many of you know us through our Community Technology Program, which works to ensure digital inclusion for all, so that residents and neighborhoods have the information technology capacity needed for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services. The Mayor’s 2015 budget presented to Council today continues to fund the technology programs making a difference in our communities:
- Mayor Murray’s continued support of Technology Matching funds is critical to help bridge the digital divide that exists in Seattle. Between 1998 and 2014, a total of $3,430,832 has been put back into the community to encourage a technology healthy city and equal access to technology resources and education. In 2014, twenty-three community organizations were awarded grants ranging from the Vietnamese Friendship Association to Casa Latina. The 2014 grant projects <http://www.seattle.gov/tech/TMF/2014> are available online and we urge you to continue to support this important programming.
- The Office of Cable Communications http://www.seattle.gov/cable/ helps to protect consumers through direct customer service using the Cable Customers Bill of Rights. The Cable office helped resolved 442 of complaints in 2013 and has already resolved 998 complaints in 2014. The Office also processed 4,356 applications for low income and senior discounts in 2013 and through July of 2014 has process another 1,763 applications. In addition, the Cable Office and Community Technology Offices support a cable broadband program that offers free high speed internet service to eligible non-profits and community groups. To date, the program supports 308 free connections.
- The programming on the Seattle Channel http://www.seattlechannel.org/ is crucial to keeping Seattle informed about civics, arts and culture in our city and Mayor Murray is committed to enhancing programming on the Seattle Channel for immigrant and refugee communities. The proposed 2015/2016 budget supports important research into community to determine how to best structure and offer meaningful and impactful programming. In addition, the funding will help support outreach into Immigrant and Refugee Communities for Seattle Community Media, the public access channel, to start increasing awareness of their services and community support.
All of these programs help to create stronger relationships between City Government and the Immigrant and Refugee communities that we serve.
We encourage you to contact your Seattle City Council to express your support for the continued funding of our Community Technology Program. For a list of City Councilmembers, visit http://www.seattle.gov/council.
You can also attend one of the following public budget hearings:
• October 7, 2014 – Garfield Community Center at 5:30 p.m.
• October 23, 2014 – Seattle City Hall, Council Chamber at 5:30 p.m.
Thank you for your continued support of and engagement in our programs. We look forward to continuing to work with you in 2015.
Regards,
Michael
Michael Mattmiller
Chief Technology Officer
City of Seattle | Department of Information Technology
O: 206.684.8341 | @SeattleCTO | michael.mattmiller@seattle.gov
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