Date/Time: Saturday
September 10, 2005 at noon
Location: Martin
Luther King Civic Center - 14801 Shaw Avenue, East Cleveland
Contact: Norm
Roulet, REALinks - (cell): 216-534-1732 (email): norm [at] realinks [dot] us&YY=57644&order=down&sort=date&pos=0">norm [at] realinks [dot] us

At
a press conference on Saturday, September 10, 2005, at 12:00 noon, at
the city of East Cleveland’s Town Hall Meeting, Mayor Goggins will
announce the beginning of a free distribution of previously used
corporate laptop and desktop computers to East Cleveland residents
needing assistance.

Approximately
50 computers will be distributed to Shaw High School seniors and
senior citizens identified by the Helen S. Brown Senior Center. Over
100 additional PCs are being prepared for later distribution, and
additional donations are encouraged.

The
computer equipment includes Dell Pentium II and III desktop
computers, various makes and sizes of monitors, and some Toshiba
laptops with Pentium II processors, donated by Progressive Insurance,
Benesch Friedlander Coplan and Aronoff law firm, and Case
University’s Sociology Department. REALinks staff loaded the
computers with free open source software, including the Linux
operating system, OpenOffice and Firefox.

This
program is an outcome of the East Cleveland 2010 collaboration of
academic, government, corporate, and non-profit supporters of the
city’s pursuit of new economy opportunity for residents, business
and government. This collaboration now includes:

•
City
of East Cleveland

•
Progressive
Insurance

•
Benesch
Friedlander Coplan and Aronoff

•
Case
Western Reserve University

•
Cleveland
State University

•
Cleveland
Institute of Art

•
Cleveland
Foundation

•
McGregor
Foundation

•
OneCleveland

•
REALinks

•
David
Porter

Representatives
of these partnering organizations are invited to this East Cleveland
town hall meeting to discuss their vision.

In
addition to the ECHO computer distributions, this collaboration has
led to the city partnering with the Cleveland Institute of Art and
REALinks on a world class virtual community portal, and OneCleveland
bringing their ultra broadband capabilities, consulting and
relationships into the collaboration to make East Cleveland a
demonstration community in the world renowned Digital Cities
initiative.

We
are continually looking for key contributors and philanthropic
assistance with this effort. Donated resources in the form of
computer hardware, financial contributions, and volunteerism are
always greatly appreciated.