Your Action Vital to Prevent Information Redlining

OMB Watch has been working with a number of national organizations to prevent information redlining. Information redlining refers to the threat that low-income, minority, and rural communities might be excluded from the Information Superhighway or the deployment of information technology in general. This exclusion could be caused by such factors as a lack of the physical infrastructure, exorbitant costs or irrelevant information -- or by lack of information that is affordable, relevant and useful. Lawsuits have already been filed in certain cities to protest patterns of deployment of fiber-optic cables which seem to deliberately avoid low-income and minority communities

The Benton Foundation and OMB Watch have been hosting monthly meetings with interested organizations and individuals in Washington, D.C. to design projects that can expose grassroots organizations to the benefits of access to the newly-developing information technology and get them involved in the fight against information redlining. Three proposals are currently being developed: conducting briefings on the value and uses of information technology for community groups around the country; assisting in the development of community telecomputing centers, and; undertaking surveys and focus groups to get more information about the interest and potential value of the emerging "information superhighway" to grassroots organizations and their clients. Copies of these proposals are available through OMB Watch.

We would like to get your input on the proposals as well as the monthly meetings Online communication is available -- either through HandsNet or over the Internet. We would also like your input about how access to information technology could aid your organization in its mission and help people in your communities.

For more information, contact:
HN2595
Harold Colton-Max
OMB Watch
1742 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C 20009
Phone: (202) 234-8494
FAX: (202) 234-8584
e-mail: coltonh@rtknet.org

Chicago Coalition for Information Access / Maintained by
Robin Burke <burke@cs.uchicago.edu>
Last modified: Mon Nov 14 17:41:24 1994