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Connecting Carolina:
Opportunity is just a click away by Jane Smith Patterson
Sometimes, we feel like there are good things out there just waiting
for us - if only we could get to them. Maybe we're not sure exactly what
that "good thing" is. Perhaps it is an education, a great vacation deal,
or the answer to a burning question. Sometimes we feel that we're prevented
from reaching those things because of a lack of money or information.
If you get this feeling, I have good news for you: across North Carolina
sites are popping up where people can get online for little or no cost.
These public Internet access sites usually are located in libraries, community
colleges, schools and community centers, and I encourage you to visit
one near you. By going online, you can get access to the answers you need
- or at least get pointed in the right direction.
Look at Myia Revels. Myia began using a local public access site to help
in her work with the Healing Lodge Project, a wellness and crisis ministry
run by the Native American Interfaith Ministry in Pembroke, N.C. The project
offers health screening and crisis counseling services to the local Lumbee
population. A nonprofit, faith-based organization, the group has limited
funding and regularly refers patients to other agencies for assistance
since they do not have the capacity to offer many services in house. However,
often folks don't have transportation to travel to these agencies, and
the ministry shoulders the additional cost of driving patients to their
appointments.
Myia and the ministry have been faced with two dilemmas. To offer more
services on site and reduce these transportation costs, the ministry needs
to build a larger, permanent facility. However, to pay for this effort,
they need to find additional grant funds, and without Internet access
it can be difficult to research what grants are out there. With some computer
and Internet experience under her belt, Myia knew she needed to find a
place where she could go online to research grant opportunities. In late
January, the Lumbee Tribal Council launched a brand new business resource
center, including a public access site supported in part through a donation
from the e-NC Initiative. Myia quickly learned about the site and began
using it to search for grants online.
In just a few short weeks, Myia found three grants opportunities for
the ministry. The grants could offer as much as $70,000 to the group,
and this could bring them a few steps closer to their dream of a new facility
and the ability to better serve the community.
In ways large and small, public access sites across North Carolina are
offering hope to people and organizations like Myia and the Healing Lodge.
The opportunities are unlimited, and access to them is growing. This past
year, e-NC helped make technology available to more citizens and communities
by awarding a total of $768,000 in grant funds to create or expand 135
public access sites across the state.
If you'd like to visit a public access site and need help finding one,
e-NC is here. Soon, you will be able to search a database we are creating
to find a site in your area. By visiting our Web site, www.e-nc.org, or
by calling our toll-free number, 1-866-NCRURAL, you will be able to take
the first step.
BDC/Alleghany Chamber
Sponsor Business After Hours for Realtors
The BDC and the Alleghany Chamber of Commerce jointly sponsored a business
after hours for local realtors, and vacation rental owners on February
4th. The BDC is looking to partner with lodging providers, real estate
agencies and developers to offer a solution to the problem travelers are
having in leaving electronic communication behind when they are on vacation.
"We're wanting to get the word out about the business technology that
we have available and visitors to the county are one group we want to
reach," said George Matuck of the BDC.
Approximately 35 attended the session and listened to the presentation
by Bob Bamberg.
Update on Medical Transcription
Project
Medical transcription students are still hard at work at the Alleghany
Campus as well as the Ashe Campus of Wilkes Community College. They began
their last course, Medical Transcription, March 24th after completing
one course in physiology/anatomy and two courses in medical terminology.
Currently there are 24 students in the program. According to Bonita Hampton,
Director of Continuing Education at the Alleghany Campus WCC, the students
should begin their On The Job Training here in Alleghany County in June
at the renovated Bassett Walker Building. The OJT will be in conjunction
with Medical Voice Transcription Services out of East Bend, NC. MVTS has
agreed to hire anyone who successfully completes the OJT. These graduates
will then have the option of working out of their homes or renting an
office at the BDC which will be equipped with computers and foot pedals.
The transcriptionists will receive their work to be completed from MVTS
through the Internet.
The WCC Alleghany Campus hopes to start another medical transcription
program in June 2003.
Church Donates Cable
to BDC for Bassett-Walker Building
Christ United Methodist Church on Zion Church Road in Hickory, North
Carolina, donated the cable which will be used to wire the Bassett Walker
building. This cable is Category E, solid copper cable with 6 cables in
one outer sheath. The church donated approximately 5 miles of cable of
which 4 1/2 miles will be used to wire the building. The BDC wishes to
thank Christ United Methodist Church, its pastor Charles Kyker, as well
as Dr. Alan Rice, District Superintendent of the North Wilkesboro District
of the United Methodist Church for this much appreciated gift. Dr. Rice
connected the BDC with Mr. Kyker and his church, who had the cable left
over after their church construction.
BDC Begins Web Hosting
and Signs New Tech Support Contracts
The BDC has begun offering web hosting services to the community. Among
the first businesses in the community to sign up for these services were
New River Community Partners, Buffalo Bob's, The Alleghany Chamber of
Commerce and Christ Church Episcopal. These services are available for
$19.95 per month for a simple Static HTML web page. For $29.95 the BDC
provides more disk space, more email addresses and database support. The
BDC has also signed new tech support contracts with Truline Truss, BCB
Trucking, and Northwest Regional Libraries (which includes nine libraries
in Surry, Stokes, Yadkin and Alleghany Counties). It is anticipated that
the BDC will sign a contract with Alleghany County Schools in March. This
agreement between the BDC and the schools includes a pooling of equipment
and personnel as well as a sharing of tech support services, materials
and expertise. According to Superintendent Duane Davis, this agreement
is a result of the "school system's growing use of and need for high technology."
NRCP/BDC Receives New
Grants
The New River Community Partners has received four new grants.-a RAFI
community grant for $30,000, a Duke Endowment Grant for $31,500, an Agriculture
Consortium Grant from the Rural Center for $20,000 and a USDA S.A.R.E.
Grant for $10,000 for a total of $91,500. Tasks involved in complying
with the grants include developing a New River basin brand identity, developing
a logo for the new brand, conducting a comprehensive inventory of area
producers and selecting 8-12 producers for the first year pilot phase.
After this a transactional, educational website, advertisements, brochures
and flyers will be developed along with quarterly newsletters. A business
model for sustaining and growing of regional cooperative marketing will
be created along with a targeted marketing plan. The producers for Year
1 will be selected from Ashe, Alleghany and Wilkes counties.
In January, the e-NC Initiative offered local governments in rural areas
the opportunity to state their interest in participating in its Local
E-government Utilization Program.
The project "Local E-Government Utilization Project" (LEG-UP) is designed
as a targeted, multi-phase effort that encompasses elements of infrastructure
and application development, information technology investment decision
modeling/training, portal development, applications training, and implementation
and evaluation to bring transactional e-government to local governments
in 55 rural counties and/or municipalities in North Carolina. Alleghany
was one of those counties selected to participate and will do so through
the BDC. LEG-UP will be completed in two phases, the first serving as
a pilot project. Assistance provided to selected local governments by
e-NC will include such elements as computer equipment, high speed access,
and training on developing an interactive Web page and transactional applications.
Governments not selected for phase one may still be selected for phase
two. A more than $1.5 million program, LEG-UP is being funded in part
through a $700,000 grant e-NC received from the U.S. Department of Commerce's
Technology Opportunities Program in late October 2002. E-NC matched this
contribution with $605,000 cash and $204,032 in-kind support from e-NC's
own private funds. The N.C. Center for Public Technology also pledged
$11,250 of in-kind support to the effort. The N.C. League of Municipalities,
the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, and the N.C. Rural Economic
Development Center also are partnering with e-NC on the project.
The BDC focuses on recruiting and training high quality, new and existing
businesses, industries and jobs in order to provide technological diversification
and economic opportunity throughout the community. In order to facilitate
reaching these goals, the BDC offers tailor-made training, business counseling
services, technology services and resources, incubation space and flexible
physical space in the form of offices, work stations, meeting facilities
and potential small building sites. All operational aspects are focused
on meeting the specific objectives and needs of businesses and individuals
within the BDC facility and our region in general. The goal of the BDC
is to assist the business community in fulfilling their unmet needs as
well as meeting their fulfilled needs in a more cost-efficient manner.
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