The Asian Community Technology Center (ACTC), in the Asian Press building at 417 University Avenue West in St. Paul, is one of 11 partner sites in the University of Minnesota’s innovative Broadband Access Project (BAP).

The Broadband Access Project is a $3.6 million initiative of the University’s Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center (UROC) to improve high-speed Internet access, awareness and use in four federally designated poverty zones in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The Broadband Access Project supports development and enhancement of the 11 community-based public computer centers for underserved populations, including African and African American, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander immigrants, and American Indians.

Did you get a chance to read my article on the Project for Pride in Living? My piece talked about an organization that has been compassionately making provisions of necessity for low-income individuals in the community. I was blessed to have had the opportunity to sit down with the Executive Director, Steve Cramer, and just recently, that blessing became a gift when I met the retired founder of the Project for Pride in Living, Joe Selvaggio.

I didn’t know what to expect as I sat and waited in the backyard gazebo, the birds’ serenade keeping me company. Selvaggio entered. His swagger was calm and gracious, and when our hands and eyes locked, I felt an instant connection – internal notification that this was an assignment I would enjoy immensely. Although now inactive with the PPL, Selvaggio still dabbles in the business of helping low-income people, and why wouldn’t he? In his forty-year career, he has pursued multiple avenues of servitude, including Catholic priest, founder of Project for Pride in Living, and founder of the One Percent Club, a philanthropic organization for people of means.

Project for Pride and Living (PPL), 1925 Chicago Avenue South, is a non-profit agency that has been providing services to Minneapolis communities for 38 years. The agency assists low-income individuals and families with housing, education, employment training, and support services. The agency opened the PPL Learning Center, its first computer lab and job training program, five years ago at the Chicago and Franklin headquarters location.

Sarah Koschinska heads PPL’s self-sufficiency program and leads PPL’s digital inclusion efforts. She co-chairs PPL’s technology directing team. Previously, she was PPL’s community technology manager and assisted in developing and opening the learning center.

Panic buttons, they’re everywhere. From roller coasters to cars, from life alert to bank safes, you can find panic buttons almost anywhere. Now you can also find panic buttons on the Facebook pages of U.K. teens. Senior senator, Amy Klobuchar, would like Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, to expand the panic button to U.S. citizens. She wrote a letter to the CEO as to why we should have a panic button as well.

In the letter, Senator Klobuchar said that their top priority was to protect kids from online predators. Research has shown that 1 in 4 American teens have been victims of cyber predators. Only 10% of teens discuss their experience of abusive behavior online with their parents. Even less than that report it to law enforcement. “It’s clear that teenagers need to know how to respond to a cyber attack and I believe we need stronger reporter mechanisms to keep our kids safe” she says, also that “As the web site’s membership expands, new concerns have arisen about how to best protect young users from online predators”. With those issues in mind, she asked Mr. Zuckerberg these few questions:

How many times have you had to scramble for those necessary resources needed to make your engine go? You scroll down through your cell phone contacts, spin the Rolodex, and Google the ‘Net to find the solution that dots the Is, crosses those Ts, and ends with a period.  Perhaps, during your “seek and ye shall find” venture, a “kick the bucket” attitude surfaces while impending failure makes its bed in your thinking. But no matter how badly you may want to dispatch an SOS signal, you still conceal a smidgen of self-will. If you can relate to this scenario, please come with me as I replay and escort you on my recent field trip.

Bullying once was something done in the hallways at school or by note passing in math class, but now in the world of broadband technology and its vast availability, notes don't need to be written and mouth-to-mouth gossip doesn't need to be heard in order for a rumor to be spread. All that is needed in this age and time is the ability to click, copy, paste and send.

According to the Pew Internet Report of 2007 about Online Harassment and Cyber Bullying, by  researcher Amanda Lenhart, 1 in 3 teens who spend time online have already experienced online harassment. The report found that 32% of all online teens have been the targets of persistent online bullying such as threatening messages, unauthorized postings of pictures and the spread of rumors through online connection. Adolescents who broadcast their thoughts or share their identities are more likely to be victims of this harassment opposed to those who are less active on online communities.