Our Empowerment

To Our Partners In The Citywide Movement For Digital Access And
Inclusion:

If you've heard about the City of Chicago's Request For Proposal to set
up a citywide wireless network providing 24/7 Internet access, you may
be imagining what a tremendous impact a citywide wi-fi network can have
on business development, community development, job creation and
Chicago's reputation and status as a world-class city.

If you haven't heard about the wi-fi network, you should understand
that the City of Chicago is proposing to establish a wireless access
network throughout Chicago. More than 400 cities in America and around
the world have established or are currently accepting bids for setting
up wireless networks.

Estimated costs that will be spent by the winning bidder in setting up
the citywide wi-fi range between $18,000,000 and $25,000,000.00; at a
city-mandated MBE/WBE percentage of 22%, between $3,500,000 and
$5,500,000 in contracting opportunities for MBE/WBE businesses will
emerge from the project.

The potential community benefits and revenues generated from the
project are estimated to be as much as $100,000,000 a year (more than
$1,000,000 a year for each of Chicago's 77 neighborhoods) for
neighborhoods utilizing the wi-fi network.

What can the establishment of a citywide wireless network mean for your
community?

A.) 24 hour connectivity to the Internet at greatly reduced cost or
free for low-income residents

B.) Opportunities for local businesses to establish Internet-driven
business operations

C.) Access to educational and training resources for residents to
improve their technology literacy and marketable job skills

D.) Tremendous opportunities for residents to connect to new kinds of
media, low-cost banking, bill-payment and city services, and many other
resources

E.) An opportunity for your community to attract business and job
creation entities that can significantly enrich your job and income
creation prospects

F.) Access to cash resources to bring computers, training resources,
and small business contracting opportunities to your neighborhood (as
much as $5 million a year from the wi-fi services revenues invested in
neighborhood access activities, according to Philadelphia's wireless
plan).

Usually, local communities hear about these opportunities after they
are issued and settled and everything is decided.

We have an opportunity to have an impact on the process as it develops
and moves forward. According to Layton Olson of the Illinois Community
Technology Coalition, the final draft of the RFP will be issued
sometime in August 2006. Potential bidders on the wi-fi project want to
speak with community representatives about how they want to work with
the winning bidders and use the wi-fi network

As representatives of eighteen (18) Chicago neighborhoods, you are
coming together to lead the participation of your communities - and
hopefully more of Chicago's 77 neighborhoods - in collaborating with
the City of Chicago's wi-fi network implementation effort. The eighteen
communities are:

COMMUNITIIES:

Austin, Lawndale, South Shore, Englewood, Bronzeville, Roseland,
Woodlawn, East Garfield, Pilsen, Kenwood-Oakland, Chinatown, Uptown,
West Pullman, Auburn–Gresham, Edgewater, New City, Burnside, Logan
Square, North Lawndale, Chatham-Chesterfield

The first step - launching an educational process for interested
residents.

FIND OUT WHY THE CITY'S WIRELESS NETWORK PROJECT IS A MULTI-MILLION
DOLLAR DEAL THAT WILL AFFECT YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY FOR YEARS TO COME.

To find out where the meetings are being held, check out the following
web address:

http://digitalaccesschicago.pacnetsites.com

For all the information on the citywide wireless access effort, who's
involved, job opportunities that are being created by the wi-fi effort
and where community meetings are being held.

You'll be hearing much more about the citywide organizing effort around
digital access and inclusion over the next 45 days so watch your
e-mail. This is an important movement; you are all a part of it and
have a significant stake in its outcome.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO ANYONE ELSE YOU KNOW WHO IS INTERESTED
IN DIGITAL ACCESS AND INCLUSION FOR ALL CHICAGO COMMUNITIES.

Pierre Clark

Digital Access And Inclusion For Chicago

pclark@englewoodlink.org

digitalaccess@englewoodlink.org

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