SCN

Believe it or not, there once was a time (as recently as the turn of the century) when only the fortunate few had access to computers and the Internet. In 2000, only a mere 360 million people, or 6% of the world's population had use of the Internet as compared with 2.4 billion people today, or 34.3% of the world's population. (See HERE)

Back then, this created what was affectionately known as the "digital divide" between the haves and have-nots--where those with technological experience had a decided advantage, in terms of education and career, over those who did not, particularly the poor and disadvantaged.

This struck not a few people in the technologically rich Pacific Northwest as unfair, and so they joined together to bridge the divide and enable broader access to the information highway.

This group was first organized in 1994, and called themselves Seattle Community Network (SCN), and they have continued their non-profit operations even until today (see their website HERE)

Not only does this philanthropic organization provide free Internet access, and website hosting, and email services, and training, but as the name indicates, it also offers an excellent way to draw communities closer together.

The organization describes itself as: "The Seattle Community Network (SCN) is a free public-access computer network for exchanging and accessing information. Beyond that, however, it is a service conceived for community empowerment. Our principles are a series of commitments to help guide the ongoing development and management of the system for both the organizers and participating individuals and organizations."

In 2000 to 2001, I had the pleasure of serving at SCN as a VISTA volunteer. Unfortunately, my on-line journal has since been deleted, though some of my work is still on display (see HERE and HERE and HERE)

From its inception in the mid 1990's until now, there have been an untold number of disadvantage people who have become technologically literate and their chances of success improved because of this great organization, For nearly two decades they have been unselfishly bringing much good into the world.