[Visible-light-board-l] Visible Light Board-l Introduction materials

[Timothy Tyndall]

Visible Light, Inc.
Online education, telemedicine and technology services
 
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2008-2009 Organization Profile
 
Prepared for Visible Light Board of Directors
Confidentiality Requested
 
 
 
What Visible Light does and Who funds the Foundations Projects


Visible Light, Inc. is a California 501 (c)3 non-profit Corporation founded
in Santa Barbara, California in 1978 as an Arts & Education Organization.
Visible Light is now in its 30th year of service.  Beginning as a Santa
Barbara based arts & education organization dedicated to bringing
Educational Resources to low income families, youth and seniors.  Since the
beginning of the Foundation our goal has been to find new and innovative
ways to make education and art available to parts of our Community who often
do not have access or help in accessing important Education and Arts
resources in their community.  Visible Light has always worked to bring
multiple Agencies together to create new resources which can be made
available to the Community.  Since 1989 Visible Light has focused on the use
of new Technologies to facilitate the Foundation’s Goals.  Beginning at the
Santa Barbara Public Library the design for the RAIN Network (Regional
Alliance for Information Networking) was established and work began with
UCSB to establish a test project using the new Internet in 1991.  Our first
project put the City of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County Schools and the
Goleta Elementary School District online with special projects for students
and technology training for teachers.  Visible Light then received a grant
from Sun Microsystems which provided a Server and a grant from the National
Science Foundation which permitted the start of the RAIN Community Internet
project in Santa Barbara in 1992 and the start of RAIN’s Pacific Rim
Business and Education Network, (which led to the creation of BRAIN, the
Belizean Regional Alliance for Information Networking, GRAIN, the Ghanaian
Regional Alliance for Information Networking and establishment of Internet
connectivity for Americans living in Guam and other South Pacific areas.
The RAIN Network is the Public Internet ISP service and the
technical/bandwidth infrastructure for Visible Light and the Visible Light
Distance Learning Network and the Visible Light Rural Telemedicine
Consortium.  The RAIN Network is managed and operated through a partnership
between Visible Light and Homeplanet.
RAIN began what was one of the first public Internet access programs in the
United States bringing the bandwidth, modems and community Technology Skills
training classes out to Santa Barbara at a time with the Internet was used
only for University and Military research.

RAIN Community Internet is now in its 16th year of service as a Public
Internet Network serving schools, libraries, County and City Government
agencies and public users in the tri-Counties region and nationally. One of
the important functions of RAIN is to provide scholarships for very low cost
or free Internet access for Individuals and schools which do not have a
budget available to afford Internet access.

As a Community Internet system RAIN represents an important, perhaps
essential, alternative to large corporate owned Internet Networks. Advocacy
for the rights of low income families, youth and seniors is one of the main
purposes behind the RAIN Network.  Within the United States the growth of
Telecommunications and Internet Networks has reached a level requiring
Public oversight and effective advocacy for rural community Technology
Access as well as for equal access for low income seniors, families and
youth.  Only a few Corporations own or control the majority of access in the
United States to Internet and all the most important purposes it represents
such as Health Care, Education, small business marketing and Regional
Governments and we have seen occasions where multi-national Telecom
Corporations do not provide access to rural areas or to low income parts of
the community and those same giant Telecommunications Corporations do not
hesitate to turn off lines even if they serve clinics, schools, libraries
and local Government.   The guarantee of Universal Access to the Internet
has not been established by the Federal Government, which means
non-government organizations such as RAIN represent a side of Technology and
Internet planning and policy advocacy that much be kept active.

When Board Members meet with friends and neighbors I encourage discussing
this special aspect of The RAIN Community Internet Network.  The fact that
we provide Internet access with an emphasis on ensuring that low income
families, seniors and youth have equal access as well as the way we work
with health clinics, schools and libraries to ensure not only bandwidth but
if needed Content will be available. 

The roots of the RAIN Network are deeply woven into the fabric of "Community
Networking". One of the original purposes of the RAIN Network was to help
Santa Barbara, California develop a bi-lingual Community Network for the
City Council and for the Public Library. In the years since that beginning
RAIN has helped startup "Community" level Internet programs and connectivity
in 150 rural communities in California and the Southwest and Hawaii as well
as helping start free Public Internet programs in Belize, Ghana and Nepal.
The history of RAIN Network and the simultaneous growth of the National
Public Telecommuting Union (NPTN) in the very early 90’s provides an insight
to the origins of the Internet as a “public” resource, intended for all
people to use to create a more democratic, open and prosperous society.  It
was not until the Privatization of the Internet in the late 90’s that we saw
the dramatic change which led to Advertising being the driving power behind
search engines and multi-national Telecommunications Corporations being the
primary owners of our National bandwidth and access to Information.
As an Education Organization we focus on a diversity of target communities
with the strongest focus on low income and rural families, youth and seniors
  Visible Light’s Education Program is called Camp Internet.  Our Education
Program received a Smithsonian Institution Technology Innovation award I
1999 for work with K-12 schools in California.
Through Camp Internet we are able to offer ESL classes, Summer Reading
Programs, Afterschool Programs, Home School and Charter School support and
full year curriculum and teacher technology skills training for public
schools.  Through our grants efforts scholarships have been awarded to over
25,000 4th through 12th grade students.  Additionally over 900 teachers have
received Technology Skills training from Camp Internet.  
 
Through funding from the California State College system, USDA and the
California Department of Education we were able to offer summer workshops
and year long training programs for teachers between 1998 and 2004.  Each
student has been provided a full year of the Camp Internet program for use
at school and teachers have received technology skills training and year
long support for curriculum use in the classroom.  

Camp Internet’s work with "distance education" is very important to
fulfilling Visible Light’s Mission.  Through Camp Internet we have been able
to work with a tremendous diversity of families and individuals.  Camp
Internet’s use has included projects with the Santa Barbara Housing
Authority to establish a computer lab and bi-lingual technology training
program at a Housing Authority Housing Unit, a CYFAR (Child, Youth, Family
at Risk) grant working with the University of California and Santa Barbara
High School as well as a 4 year California Department of Education
Technology Challenge grant and 5 USDA distance learning and telemedicine
grants. 
 
Camp Internet, working as part of our Rural Community Projects has created
Master Technology Families and Youth Technology Corps in each of the rural
communities we have worked with.  
 
I believe there is more work to be done regarding establishing a Rural
Technology Framework which has a sustainable economy based on subscriptions
from homeschools, public schools and private schools.  Grants are important
for seeding projects but we then see the need to establish Endowments and
local/regional funding to establish sustainability for the Programs.  I have
directed several of our 2007-2008 year grants to Private Foundations to
begin the process of expanding the range of potential funding and
sponsorship for our Peace and Social Justice, Rural Education and
Telemedicine projects.  I also believe Visible Light will benefit from an
expanded outreach to our service areas encouraging community residents and
non-profit groups to actively support RAIN Internet and Camp Internet
programs through their subscriptions or paid banner advertising on the RAIN
web site. 
 
For the 2008-2009 year I would recommend the Board begin considering the
value of Endowments for Visible Light’s projects.  Most importantly the
Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution program would benefit from an
Endowment.  There are limited sources of grants funding for this type of
community education program and the establishment of a lasting Endowment
would ensure that our region continues to have the community technology
access, technology skills classes and online resources which the Peace
Studies program provides.
 
I would like the Board to form a committee and select one Board Member who
can take on the Endowments Development Project.  I believe this will help
move an important project forward.

As part of this review of the Work of Visible Light it is important to look
at the area of Community Economic Development.  Our focus has been on Rural
Community Economic Development but we have also worked with important
projects in Santa Barbara, Oxnard and San Bernardino.  From the earliest
days of RAIN Network’s activity in Santa Barbara work with Non-Profits and
Small Businesses has been central to RAIN’s growth.  At the invitation of
Senator Barbara Boxer RAIN Network provided resources and a presentation for
the White House Conference on E-Commerce in 1999 and served as the West cost
center for the DoD Electronic Commerce Resource Center project, (which
represented the beginning of a military-civilian technology transfer program
under the Clinton Administration which demonstrated peaceful and effective
exchange of telemedicine, e-commerce and education resources between the
military and civilian communities.  This effort has ceased since 2001 but
provides an example of how technology can be applied).
 
Visible Light’s advocacy for Public Access to Internet and Internet
Resources has provided hardware for Community Internet Centers, training for
library, school and local government staff, and Internet access for Rural
Communities in California and the Southwest. These projects have received
funding from:
 
USDA Rural Utilities Service (5 distance education and telemedicine grants
serving 150 rural communities in California and the Southwest – these grants
facilitated the development of Visible Light’s Distance Learning Consortium
and Rural Telemedicine Consortium) 
University of California (this is where we began as an education development
project first in the Department of Education and then in the Physics
Department.  UCSB provided the first servers for our Internet projects with
Elementary School students and with Santa Barbara Community Information
including City Government, Health and Housing information) 
Santa Barbara Housing Authority (working with the University of California
and RAIN on a CYFAR grant to provide hardware, connectivity and technology
training for Housing Authority residents. 
National Science Foundation provided funding for our first grant which was
for our Pacific Rim Business and Education Network. 
California Consumer Protection Foundation (for work with Chumash and
Hispanic youth in the tri-counties region). 
California Telemedicine and Telehealth Center, U.C. Davis to providing
funding for Doctor Technology Skills training 
Department of Defense (for Electronic Commerce Center and Government
Contract training in California). 
 Albertsons Corporation (for Community Wellness using our Mobile Lab) 
 U.S. Geological Service for GIS mapping (creating a GIS Metadata Warehouse
/ Web for the California region) 
 California Department of Education for Teacher Technology Training 

Telemedicine and Community Wellness have always been an important focus area
for RAIN as part of the Community Internet development and as part of our
Telemedicine grants.  The Visible Light Rural Telemedicine Consortium
represents 14 years of work bringing together Health resources in Ventura,
Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County.  Our Telemedicine Consortium
represents 24 Health Clinics and most of our clinics have a bi-lingual
outreach program and do their best to get services to migrant farm workers. 
Since 2005 the Telemedicine Consortium sought grant funding regarding
providing services during an Avian Flu Pandemic and regional Emergency. 
Grants are currently under review by the Blue Cross Foundation, the
California Wellness Foundation, USDA and the Pacific Healthcare Foundation. 
Dr. Chris Landon, lead Physician for our Telemedicine projects, has worked
on this project a great deal and believes that we will see funding open up
to regional Telemedicine Networks such as RAIN in the next year.  Review of
how difficult funding for this important area has been provides an important
insight into areas of Health Care and Telemedicine funding that are often
challenged by the political priorities of Federal, State and County
governments.
 
The RAIN Network Telemedicine Program has provided free computer hardware,
free Internet and free professional training for Doctors, Nurses and
Community Health workers since 1997.  The Fire Department in New Cuyama has
provided the location for a Telemedicine workstation in the New Cuyama
community, and the Landon Pediatric Foundation in Ventura has served as the
center for our work with Ventura County Health and other agencies in the
Ventura and Oxnard area. The Central Coast Community Health Care clinics
have served as our partners for telemedicine projects in the North Santa
Barbara and San Luis Obispo County area.

Our current Community Subscription level is low remaining at around 400
users, (counting school, Ventura County government, clinics and public
subscribers and community scholarships for low income individuals and
families).  I would like to request that the Board form a special committee
to work on the issue of building membership.  I believe as we approach the U
S. Elections in the fall of 2008 it is essential that RAIN is funded to help
provide Public Access to Internet resources and Internet communications in
this region.
 
I believe our role as a Public Advocacy Organization is going to increase as
we see the consolidation of Internet Access by Cable and big
Telecommunications Corporations through new FCC rulings. What is sometimes
called Internet 2 is a higher speed Internet which the Cable and Telco’s
hope to market for a higher price to subscribers who want the “fastest”
bandwidth for High Definition Internet video and music, online gaming and
social network access.  Essentially the Cable and Telco’s are trying to
create a second level Internet for higher paying customers.  This is not
something which will work to the benefit of working class or low income
families and it is important that Visible Light, as a Public Advocacy
Organization, consider how to respond.  
 
Since 1997 RAIN has received: 
 
3 year California First Five Community Wellness and Telemedicine grant
serving Ventura County.

5 USDA Rural Utilities Service distance learning and telemedicine grants,
serving 150 rural communities in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado
and Hawaii. 

4 year California Department of Education technology literacy challenge
grant serving 300 schools in California. 

2 community development grants from the California Consumer Protection
Foundation. The most recent grant funded use of the RAIN Community
Technology Center in Santa Barbara to provide a Computer Lab for family and
youth programs serving Native Americans, Hispanics and low-income families
in the Santa Barbara County area. This program continued the development of
RAIN's Youth Technology Corps program and Neighborhood Master Technology
Family program (which is modeled after traditional American Master Gardener
programs). 

1 year GIS Metadata Clearinghouse grant from the U.S.G.S. 

2 year Community Wellness grant from Albertsons Corporation 

2 year Telemedicine grant from the California Telemedicine and Telehealth
Center, U.C. Davis 

2 AOL Rural Technology Awards 

A Smithsonian Institution Technology Innovation Award 

A Department of Defense ECRC contract to open an Electronic Commerce
Resource Center in Central California for work with small businesses. . 


RAIN operates a solar powered Internet bus which provides a mobile lab for
families and seniors with limited mobility. Using satellite connectivity for
the Internet and a small lab of computers in the bus, RAIN has established a
next generation "bookmobile" serving our Central California region.  



Current Services:
 
RAIN Telemedicine Network – 3 year grant - Ventura First Five and Landon
Pediatric Foundation Telemedicine and Family Wellness Continuing Medical
Education and Family / Youth Education web site, video web site and Network
services including email, dsl, listservs, password secured web sites,
Internet video preparation and hosting, domain hosting, live chat sessions. 
Presentations at Telemedicine Seminars and Technology Skills training for
physicians and nurses 
Ventura County Library – host catalog and staff databases access, domain
hosting 
Ventura County Government – host domains, provide email accounts for staff 
RAIN – Homeplanet Internet services including domain hosting, web hosting,
email, National high speed Dial-Up access, National DSL services.  Special
services to non-profits, health clinics, libraries, schools.  Scholarships
for seniors and low-income families, youth.  
Camp Internet distance learning program – provides resources for public and
private schools, homeschools, seniors (life-long learning studies). 
(currently in need of funding to provide scholarships)
 
 Examples of Projects which RAIN Network is seeking funding for:



Peace Studies:

Peace Studies.  Peace Studies brings to life a part of History that is
rarely discussed. It brings forward an untold part of History that we must
know if Peace is to be a way of life. The Cultures of Peace have been a Big
part of the story around the world. The History of Peace Studies and the
Action of Peace Studies begins Now.
 
RAIN Network has developed a new Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
Community Education Program and curricula which is available both online and
as printed study guides and workbooks, in Spanish and English. Go to
http://www.rain.org to review our work.
 
The Peace Studies, Social Justice and Conflict Resolution youth and
community adult education classes offer a strong focus on peace education
resources of value to regional Government Agency staff as well as to the
community. The Peace Education Program strengthens peace education
activities by providing new learning resources which teach ways to build and
sustain peace, and establish a solid foundation of social justice
 
The curriculum accomplishes this by providing learning resources to reduce
violence, enhance personal integrity and foster mutual respect. The
intention of the Peace Studies program is to create a model of shared Peace
Learning activities between rural communities in multiple Nations which we
believe will then be expanded to create a Network of Peace and Conflict
Education which draws on the skills, and experiences of rural community
residents in many regions.
 
We believe that rural communities have a tremendous amount of knowledge and
experience which can add in a valuable way to Peace Studies work relevant to
residents in rural and urban areas around the world.
 
The Peace Studies curriculum teaches Conflict Resolution and Prejudice
Reduction. The curriculum includes Internet Video instructional units which
involve participates in documenting issues which create an important focus
on local success stories in peace making as well as creating visibility for
issues of peace and social justice which need to be dealt with.
 
The curriculum also makes Peace Studies, Social Justice and Conflict
Resolution study materials available for teachers, military personnel and
regional Government staff focused on the causes of violence within the
community and the processes of peacemaking, and the conditions which make
peace and social justice possible.
 
Participants not only learn important peace making and conflict resolution
skills, they also go away from the study with new skills in Internet
Technology Literacy that will permit them to continue the study long after
the grant is finished. The curriculum teaches problem-solving skills which
can change the climate of their schools and neighborhood. The video and web
materials provide the materials for people to use to then go out and teach
their friends and family.
 
RAIN Network has delivered a Peace Education and Conflict Resolution
curriculum to over 35,000 4th-12th grade students since 1995 through funding
provided by the USDA, the U.S. Department of Education, and private
Foundations. RAIN Network’s Peace Works Project has received poems and
stories of peace learning from young students in 20 different countries
since 2004.
 
The Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies program introduces participants to
the study of conflict transformation. The curriculum is designed to provide
the practical tools needed to work on issues related to Peace and Social
Justice as well as Conflict Resolution. Specifically, the curriculum
introduces tools for the analysis of conflict, offers training in the
methods of conflict resolution, imparts ethical, moral, and philosophical
insights into the process of creating peaceful social change and provides
opportunities for experiential learning through internships working with
RAIN Network’s Youth Technology Corps creating video documentaries and
serving as Mentors in their local communities.
 
The curriculum provides resources for the study of Conflict within the
community along with the theory and practice of Conflict Resolution, and
Nonviolent Social Change. Each unit of the curriculum is accompanied by a
video unit presenting discussions and practical examples of the area being
studied.
 
The curriculum has the ability to expand each participant's awareness and
understanding of how the practice of nonviolence can dramatically improve
the quality of their life. As each person incorporates the practice of
nonviolence into their day-to-day approach to life, they impact their
friends, family and their entire community. The guiding principle behind the
curriculum is that Peace encompasses respect of self and others,
co-operation, trust, non-violence and a sense of caring responsibility
towards the earth and society.
 
An important value to the program is that through the video learning units
there is a potential for positive impact on the wider community, outside of
the classroom and home, to include State and Federal legislators, regional
Government Staff and regional Peace Keeping agencies. The curriculum gives
special attention to peace education for adults providing lessons in
little-understood elements of human cooperation, such as trust, altruism,
and sacrifice, as well as the study of how violent collective action is
rationalized and routineized as nation-states conduct police actions within
their own borders and war with other nations.  
 
Visible Light seeks funding to provide the Peace Studies program to 5,000
families in California.
 
Community Health and Telemedicine GIS:
 
Community Health GIS mapping project. This project was initially funded by
the U.S. Geological Survey as part of RAIN's GIS Metadata Clearinghouse
(which provided one of the first Central California online centers for GIS
mapping).  The RAIN GIS system has been used in Telemedicine projects as
well as in the Camp Internet curriculum for middle school and high school
students.  Over 25,000 students in California have been able to study GIS
and data mapping as a result of Camp Internet programs. The Community Health
GIS map tracks pesticide use, car and bus exhaust and other pollution
factors in relation to low-income and migrant housing. This data is tied to
data on recurrent health issues in the same area. The GIS map also provides
an immediate point of access for finding where 24 hour care facilities and
hospitals are as well as where all participating clinics in our Rural
Community projects are located and what the clinic or hospital resources are
 


 
Family Strengthening – Distance Learning:

California Family Strengthening Project - working with School Districts,
Charter Schools and Home Schools to fund participation in the Camp Internet
distance education program. This new project sponsors Free Camp curriculum
and Internet connectivity for low income families in California. Through a
grant from Homeplanet.net, producer of Camp Internet, 250 free accounts for
Families are provided each year. RAIN Network is matching the grant with an
additional 250 free accounts making a total of 500 free education and
Internet accounts for families in California during 2008-2009 and is looking
for donors to match the scholarships with an additional 250 Internet
accounts for low income families, seniors and youth. 



Telemedicine Projects – 
 
Our primary Telemedicine focus this year is one the development of a
tri-County Emergency Preparedness and Avian Flu Pandemic education and
management program working with RAIN Network’s Telemedicine Consortium’s
clinics, with Camp Internet, for community Health education, and with RAIN’s
GIS systems for incident reporting, mapping for the public regarding closed
schools, open clinics, quarantine areas and other data.  
 
RAIN’s Telemedicine Consortium is composed of the Central Coast Health Care
clinics, the Landon Pediatric Foundation, and the Ventura Pediatric
Diagnostic Center.  
 
Since 1997 RAIN has provided free Internet access to low income seniors,
families and you, 40 free accounts for the seriously ill Children's Ward at
Ventura County Hospital called "Dan's Room",  providing Internet accounts
for the children in the ward, as well as Physician and Nurse Technology
Skills training and Continuing Medical Education. 
 
Clinics in our Rural Communities as well as clinics in Santa Barbara,
Ventura and San Luis Obispo have received support from the RAIN Network.
RAIN is seeking donors who can help fund the staff position needed to
continue RAIN's telemedicine and community wellness work. 

Community Health and Telemedicine Internet Video:
 
RAIN’s Telemedicine Network currently produces Family Wellness, Youth Health
Education, and Continuing Medical Education Telemedicine Video web Projects
in Ventura County through California First Five grant funding.
 
RAIN’s Telemedicine Network has also created video archives of lectures and
regular review sessions at Ventura Hospital by Dr. Chris Landon and other
Physicians. This has established an online library of Video information for
other health practitioners or community residents to refer to. RAIN is
seeking a donor to fund the video staff position and server/bandwidth to
continue this program. Visit the Telemedicine Video web at http://www.rain
org/video-magazine







 
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