Enron Mail

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
Cc:
Bcc:
Date:Wed, 1 Nov 2000 03:56:00 -0800 (PST)

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