RAIN received support from the USDA Rural Utilities Service to begin working on a Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) project in June of 1998 ($210,200 ). That first project is called DLT1, and serves three communities. A second round of funding was awarded for six additional communities, called DLT 2 ($346,700), which began work in January of 1999.

This project seeded the RAIN Rural Community Network program and focuses on Nipomo in San Luis Obispo County, New Cuyama in Santa Barbara County, and Oak View in Ventura county. Goals are to introduce hardware, connectivity, public outreach and training programs over two years.

A teacher from Dana School, Mr. John Dutra, attended a three-day teacher-training workshop in Santa Barbara August of 1998 in preparation for hosting the project’s Camp Internet distance learning program in the classroom 98/99

A portable computer has been ordered and received for presenting to the school as a match to their overhead projector purchase which will enable community access to large screen online forums and training at the towns largest meeting room, the school multi-purpose room. A parent night April 21^st 1999 is the intended time to make the formal presentation of the computer to the school and community center. Mr. Ron Walton is the vice principal working with RAIN on this presentation.

RAIN held an open house at the Public Library September 1998, which included an online chat with Senator Jack O’Connell and candidates for a new County Supervisor seat, and displays about the USDA Rural development program, Camp Internet, and Landon Pediatric Foundation's telemedicine activities. The Director of the County Library System, Mr. Brian Reynolds was present. The local newspaper covered the event and gave it substantial coverage and photo space.

The Community Health Centers of the Central Coast organization, originally seeded by the USDA, has entered into a signed agreement with RAIN to develop Internet connectivity for all of their 12 clinics, and to host a public access computer at their headquarters waiting room in Nipomo. The computer has been received, the kiosk furniture for display has been ordered and delivery is awaited. The relationship with this clinic system promises to be one of the strongest components of the project, and funding applications are being circulated to help upgrade their entire clinic network. Project partner is Mr. Ron Castle, CEO.

An open house at the clinic is planned for May of 1999. This event will invite local doctors and patients to come learn about the RAIN DLT efforts in their community, and to begin promoting a bi-lingual online information center coordinated between RAIN and the clinic system.

Nipomo has an active 4-H program, and the lead family is being kept abreast of the RAIN project’s activities, and work has begun to coordinate activities with the 4-H Youth Tech Corps as part of the community services.

The Neighborhood Technology Trainer position is under consideration for combination with a DLT 2 trainer position to increase the professionalism of the effort.

Local dial connectivity for Nipomo will go active April of 1999, thanks to innovations in new technologies RAIN has harnessed that allow for wider geographic coverage at a lower hub cost for the organization.

The Cuyama Valley is a very remote, difficult to serve location and the DLT1 project is fortunate to have good community support in the valley. RAIN has been working with the elementary and high school to perform outreach services to the community since late 1997.

September of 1998, RAIN hosted the community’s first online chat with the regional County Supervisor, Tom Urbanske, who would otherwise have had to drive a three hour round trip to attend a live community forum. Turn out was strong – over 30 people – at the high school computer lab for the event, and it launched RAIN’s presence in the community. The event was co-hosted by Susan Gerard, District Superintendent.

Santa Barbara County Health has begun to participate in the project, and has offered space for equipment at the rural clinic which is only open three hours a week, requiring a three hour round trip drive for the public health nurse who visits from Santa Maria. The nurses participated in the community chat, and are working with RAIN to develop strategies for school-based clinic services. Plans are underway to host informal Internet training and health information access sessions during the clinic’s three open a hours a week, which serves primarily Spanish speaking farm workers. Lead Nurse is Ms. Bobbie Rosek.

The high school and elementary school in the Valley have received Camp Internet learning kits and the elementary school sent a teacher to a training sessions RAIN held August of 1998. The high school has a past-USDA researcher, and now science teacher, Diane Bellis, who coordinated RAIN’s participation as a sponsor of their annual science fair, resulting in the award of a refurbished computer for a student. RAIN is working with the National Geographic Society on the Sustainable Seas Expedition, a major nationally visible learning activity, and has nominated the Cuyama High School as a potential participant in the SSE Student summit in May.

A Neighborhood Technology coordinator has been hired for Cuyama, and he will be directing volunteers and other consultants in local projects. Juan Gonzalez is a bi-lingual agriculture manager who is making a transition to computer-based work, and has a long-term resident of the Valley, is an excellent resource for the project. He has attended a training session with RAIN in preparation for services to his community.

Connectivity is a major hurdle for Cuyama. RAIN has struggled through the paperwork and has received preliminary approval for subsidized connectivity service for the health clinic and health education program through the Universal Service Fund. This subsidy will pay the difference between the urban cost of services ( under $500 a month ) and the rural cost for services ($3,600 mo. ) and represents a significant cost savings to the project. In the interim, RAIN has begun offering a low cost long distance / Internet package, and has over 50 reservations for service in hand. A computer has been purchased and received for installation at a community site, which is under discussion with members of the community.

The Oak View School, and Principal Larry Hardesty, has been a strong participant in the distance learning program, with a 5^th grade class regularly participating, and the entire school and families participating during a recent Family reading night Event. The teacher, Joan Archer, attended the three day teacher training workshop August 1998, and was the focus of a Los Angeles Times newspaper article about the RAIN project in the fall of 1998.

RAIN has provided a computer to the school, a full set of learning materials and display items, and opened its first Internet access. The computer also was installed with a RAIN-provided Network modem that has allowed the library measurable cost savings by sharing one single line between their Internet computers.

RAIN has also provided a computer and network modem to the public library, and has been providing Internet access to the library at no cost since 1995. The library has a Homework Center where kids from the school come in for the afternoon to continue their RAIN distance learning activities on Camp Internet.

RAIN has also provided a computer to the local family clinic, and the physician has participated in an online community chat, and has hired a new public health nurse to take on regular participation with the project.

In October of 1998, RAIN opened the Oak View project with a community chat that included the County Supervisors office answering public concerns, and they again participated in the March family reading night online chat event.

The Family Reading Night in March 1999 saw RAIN bring in exciting resources to the school and community – a live marine touch tank to compliment the Camp Internet study of the channel islands, and a special guest speaker from California State Parks. RAIN also funded having books from the public library available at the event for check out to the families to encourage literacy.

RAIN has had local dial connectivity in Oak View since 1993, and has focused its hardware efforts in this community on establishing public access stations in three locations – school, library, and clinic.

The Neighborhood Technology coordinators for Oak View have been lead by Jane Middleton, who strategically also staffs the afterschool library homework center and is an excellent community liaison. Jane assists in Mrs. Archer’s classroom to help the students work with Camp Internet twice a week. Tom Stafford is another consultant to the project and is a substitute teacher in Ventura County Schools who will be working in the community as a RAIN consultant.

RAIN is upgrading to all Y2K compliant equipment this month under the USDA funding to ensure services after the end of the year. This equipment change is also coinciding with the switch to a new telephone carrier who is enabling the project to centralize equipment, cut costs, and serve a broader geographic region. A new Sun SPARC server has been received, a new cisco router ( DLT2 ) and a network switch ( DLT1) are being programmed for service this month. RAIN has also acquired the video camera and editing software funded for production of online programming ( DLT1) and has had the community consultants working on developing video and audio resources from the communities ( see the web site ).

This upgrade in hardware coincides with a change in network technology infrastructure that will now enable RAIN to serve with great efficiency and cost savings eight of the nine DLT locations from one central hub. The ninth community, Cuyama, is awaiting final approval from the Universal Service Fund and then will also be able to be served by the main hub infrastructure. This new communications utility system is made possible thanks to advances in the telecommunications industry since the passing of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and represents a substantial cost savings – and equipment management achievement - that places RAIN at the cutting edge of technology services.

The community of Shandon, the most remote from the project hub, has been visited, and local dial access is underway. The community of Oceano is adjacent to Nipomo and shares the same library facilities. Joint activities between Nipomo and Oceano are in process, including contact with the Oceano clinic that is under County Health Care.

The community of Guadalupe was selected for a Camp Internet scholarship funded by the US Dept. of Commerce’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The teacher at the Mary Buren School is Anne Webb, and she and Principal Jose Nichols hosted RAIN for a classroom presentation in March of 1999. The school is hosting a family night on May 20^th that RAIN will participate in as a guest speaker. The Guadalupe clinic is also a participant in a previous USDA DLT project and will be linked in to the RAIN Network. The closest library is in Santa Maria, already being served by RAIN for Internet access. Casmalia is a small nearby community with a school population under 50 students. The project trainer who will be selected will be able to serve both communities. Community computers have been ordered and received and will be delivered in May.

Piru school is a site where a county library, school facility, and 4-H program all coexist on one site. A computer has been ordered and received for the library, ad will be delivered in April, the first DLT 2 equipment to be released. Sespe is a nearby cluster of farmworkers, and their main housing project was co-funded with USDA support. Efforts are underway to determine if an onsite or mobile computer facility will best meet their needs.

III. Related Activities

USDA Contacts RAIN has been in regular contact with Mr. Jim McIntire of the USDA Rural Development Office of Santa Maria to work on jointly promoting the project, and to keep the local branch of the USDA informed of project progress. RAIN has also been in contact with Mr. Harry Hutson, the regional USDA project manager based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. Mr. McIntire has called two meetings to introduce RAIN to his regional directors, and RAIN has also provided materials to Janice Wadell at the State USDA Rural Development office. RAIN is also working with UC Cooperative Extension, a USDA-supported agency, on collaborative 4-H and human and community development resource sharing.

The distance learning portion of the project is strong and self-perpetuating. In the last year, the project has continued to build on its alliance with National and State Parks, University of California, museums and other resource agencies. This year, the project has won a Smithsonian Innovation Network Laureate recognition, and has been selected as a primary project partner by National geographic Society for its Sustainable seas Expedition. RAIN is also strengthening ties to NASA for space exploration study units, and towards securing access to Internet 2 for increased bandwidth.

RAIN had an article published about its rural health and community networking efforts in the California Health Care Association newsletter in March of 1999. RAIN’s Director, Timothy Tyndall, also participated in a rural health care conference in eastern California in March of 1999, and was asked to make a special presentation to a working group on rural health during the conference. New healthcare resources are being integrated into the project thanks to assistance from the Community Health Centers of the Central Coast and the Landon Pediatric Foundation.

RAIN has entered into an agreement to collaborate with State 4-H programs in all counties being served by the DLT project. This infusion of 4-H and University of California Cooperative Extension resources into the project will provide materials with health, education, agriculture, and home economics resources to the project. Other resources recently arranged are online computer classes from commercial sources, and possibly an online health database from a non-profit source.

RAIN has been contracted under the Electronic Commerce Resource Center program of the US Department of Defense Logistics to provide outreach, training, and technical support services in the Southern California region. Rural communities will be invited to participate in this training effort, and can receive technical support from RAIN via an 800 toll free number, and online.

RAIN was interviewed by the Director of the Center for the Economy and the Environment, National Academy of Public Administration from Washington DC in March. The result of that meeting was the transfer of information about the successes and challenges met by the RAIN DLT project. He was very interested in learning more about RAIN’s inter-agency coordination, and the DLT project is one excellent example of this effort.

RAIN has again been invited to participate as a presenter in the Rural Telecom Conference held in Aspen, Colorado in October, and will attend to present information about the DLT project to a national audience.

RAIN has been building a project web site, and has brought in photography consultants and volunteers to develop resource materials for the project’s web site. The web location is www.rain.org/dlt. The site includes information about the overall project, and is working on developing community-specific resources, as well as gateways to the distance learning and telemedicine efforts.

RAIN has printed and is distributing a project brochure ( see enclosed sample ) that combines information on DLT1 and DLT2 communities. Announcements in newsletters and local press are also taking place. Door hangers for a door-to-door campaign have also been designed for use in attracting participants to training sessions.

A users manual is being produced for community-wide distribution, and a modified version for use by medical professionals. These manuals provide a starting point for program participants, and outline the activities they will be invited to participate in under the DLT project. The public access manuals will be available at the project kiosks in libraries, clinics and schools, and will be used by the community-based trainers as workbooks for students of all ages.

RAIN has been contacted by a representative from an inland desert telemedicine project interested in collaborating with RAIN for the next funding cycle, and RAIN is analyzing extending services to the inland mountain and desert regions in San Bernardino and Riverside counties east of Los Angeles as the next expansion module for the project, creating a five county range by the year 2000.

RAIN is working closely with the Nipomo health care provider in the DLT project to locate additional sources of funding to expand their network connectivity between all twelve of their sites. An application, written by RAIN on their behalf, has been submitted to the US Dept. of commerce NTIA/TIIAP program, and will also be submitted to the California Endowment. Mr. McIntire of the USDA has also requested a copy of this proposal for review.

The connectivity challenges faced in Cuyama have been instructional in revealing how desperately remote rural locations need federal support to gain equal access to information technologies. RAIN has been working for over two years to change the technologies of its infrastructure to better accommodate rural members, and these changes are taking place this month, partly thanks to USDA support for upgrading the hub equipment to Y2K complinance.

RAIN’s work to date with project partner Landon Pediatric Foundation, and from interviews with other doctors, has revealed that there is a great need for generalized telemedicine health resources for patients, and the partnering with the Community Health Centers of the Central Coast organization has the promise to provide the breadth of low income family health resources the project seeks to develop as online resources. In future years, a broader physician base will be developed, with input and participation sought from generalists and a variety of specialists. Contacts at the State level are helping the project share its success stories, and develop new rural health care partners to strengthen its position statewide.

Each of our communities has a different level of Spanish / English speaking residents, and this has to be taken into consideration in developing training manuals and training programs. We are carefully selecting at least one bi-lingual consultant in appropriate communities to overcome these language barriers.

The web site will require ongoing community input to develop a local flavor that compels community use. Building a team of students from 4-H and Boy Scout / Girl Scout groups may be one way to infuse local spirit in to the web site.