Stay Connected
        

AFN Right Click News                                                                                  SUMMER 2015

Empowerment Through Technology

Program News

COA Health and Human Services Department Awards AFN A New Grant
AFN is excited to announce that we received a 2016-2017 Grant from the City of Austin, Health and Human Services Department to provide a technology program for teenagers! The $20,000 grant will establish a new web development program for high school students. The goal of the program is to create  healthcare information websites for low income families and introduce students to web development as a possible career path. We will be partnering with the City of Austin’s Youth and Family outreach department.

John Speirs, Parisa Fatehi-Weeks, Juanita Budd, Daniel Lucio and John Sirman

Read more

AFN Heats Up Job Search SupportMore than 50% of our clients report that they use our Internet services to search for employment online. In response to this digital need, we offered two opportunities this summer for clients to prepare for and look for job opportunities.In June, we co-hosted the second Employ & Empower Job Fair at St. David’s Episcopal Church. The goal of the Employ & Empower event is to provide targeted job readiness training and employment resources for the homeless population in Austin. Read more  

Volunteer ExtraordinaireAlix Potter 
Alix began volunteering for Austin Free-Net in January 2015 and has served close to 800 volunteer hours in just seven months! Since joining the team, she has been an integral part of ensuring that more than 70 students complete our Tech Starters program with the Housing Authority of the City of Austin. 
Read more 

AFN Out and About

The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials held their summer conference in Austin. Our training staff and volunteers shared information about our HACA Tech Starters program with officials at a Digital Inclusion community fair on July 31, 2015.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler with AFN Tech Starter graduates Ernesto and Blanca Resto.

AFN participated in AISD’s Back-to-School Bash by providing parents digital literacy information. Thousands of families came out for this annual community event celebrating education and the new school year.

AFN Links

Donate

GED and IT Testing
In This Issue
Digital Inclusion Fellow
Volunteer Highlight
Digital Divide News
AFN Client Success

Congratulations Dominick! He visited the DeWitty Center to share great news…a new Job! For a month, Dominick consistently came to our Job search and Computer Learning Lab to look for a new full-time position that would place him in the hotel or airlines industry. Read more

AFN Supporters

White House Helps Connect Home
The Obama Administration recently announced in July, ConnectHome – a plan to bring high-speed broadband Internet to low-income housing in 27 cities and one Native American tribal community. AFN’s local program with Google Fiber and HACA was a model for the new national program.
“This is exciting news for helping break down the digital divide in the country. Access to computers and the Internet, and the knowledge of how to use them, are necessary to lead a functional life in this digital age. We are looking forward hearing about more initiatives to provide access and training in the community,” said Juanita Budd, AFN Executive Director.Read More about this new initiative.