At the recent meeting of the State Homelessness Council in Miami, public comments were presented by several South Florida Community-Based and Faith-Based Organizations that are serving the needs of the homeless. One new administrative/management problem has been created for them by the new requirement that all entities receiving state funds, including non-profits receiving grant funds, must now electronically register with the Department of Management Service as vendors at http://marketplace.myflorida.com/ and then submit invoices and maintain communications via email and the website [fortunately non-profits are generally exempted from the 1% transaction fee that private vendors must pay.} At least one local homelessness emergency shelter was having difficulty complying due to lack of a serviceable dial-up PC modem. Happily that individual lack was quickly resolved by connecting them with their local Workforce Board that had an spare, unused modem that they "surplused" and gave to the shelter staff immediately. A good, quick happy ending for that single need in the short term. ["Give a man a fish...]

However that incident caused us to realize that there is a growing "digital divide" even for the service providers, and some of the smaller CBOs and FBOS do not have needed computer/IT equipment or access to the internet. As we all know, that is becoming equivalent to not having a telephone in this millennium, above and beyond the new vendor registration requirement. Some quick brainstorming and research confirmed that there is a definite need state-wide, and that there are some available resources to help close the gap, including surplus equipment that is being donated/transferred from Workforce Boards and state/local agencies/programs on an ongoing, but sporadic ad hoc basis. We also discovered that there is an organization created by the Legislature to address exactly such needs and serve as an intermediary for such access and exchanges.

That excellent new resource is the Digital Divide Council (DDC) at http://digitaldividecouncil.org that is currently staffed by the State Technology Office and has been operating 6 local pilots around the state in cooperation with Regional Workforce Boards and Front Porch Florida. Please check their website, especially their "Get Connected" feature that provides searchable lists of libraries and other non-profit organizations/services that provide public access to computers. For those of you who offer such access, such as workforce One-Stops for job search activities, please register your locations and services to be added to the DDC resource list. The "Get Connected" option will soon also offer an "Equipment Donation and Equipment Seeking" section to help facilitate the transfer of surplus/donated equipment from corporations, individuals, government agencies or others to communities and non-profits in need of such technology. Donors will be able to list their equipment anonymously on a "where-is, as-is" basis, and those in need of equipment can list their needs and specifications. This IT equipment exchange feature is not ready yet, but we will spread the word through these CBO/FBO Gateway alerts as soon as it is operational. Meanwhile, check out the DDC website, take advantage of the resource directory, list your organization if appropriate, and offer feed-back if you have questions or suggestions.