Minneapolis Telecommunications Network

The Open Media Globe
Submitted by Beth Peloff on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 15:25
Contact Information
Organization Name: 
Minneapolis Telecommunications Network
Applicant Name: 
John Akre
Address: 
125 SE Main Street, Suite 244 Minneapolis, MN 55414
Phone: 
612-331-8575 ext 307
E-mail: 
jakre@mtn.org
Website URL: 
mtn.org
Why is your organization interested in increased broadband usage among your members and community: 
Since the early 1990’s, MTN has understood the importance of internet access to advancement of free speech and has worked to increase internet availability and use among its members and community. In 1994, with the River Project, MTN became one of the first community networks in the country. The River Project provided a number of Twin Cities’ non-profit organizations with their first dial-up internet accounts and web site hosting. MTN brought the tools of web site creation to non-profit organizations and artists as a partner of the Benton Foundation’s Open Studio project. As part of this project, MTN taught some of the earliest classes on setting up your own website. MTN is an organization that is dedicated to giving a voice to those who typically are under-represented in our society, by providing them the tools and training that allow them to create media messages from their viewpoint. MTN is the place to go in Minneapolis to gain access to technology training and tools. Since 1995 we have maintained a computer lab. Over the years we have taught classes such as web design, Photoshop, iMovie, and video blogging. MTN also provides free wireless access to visitors to our access center, surrounding businesses and an adjacent city park. We believe that everyone should be able to access the internet. Every year, our producers turn in thousands of hours of interesting and informative programming to play on our cable TV channels. However, many people are not able to see the shows, since viewership of our channels is limited to those who live in Minneapolis and have cable. For example, the Twin Cities’ Somali community is spread out over the entire metro area. Much of the Somali language programming is relevant to not only the Twin Cities’ community but also to members of the Somali Diaspora throughout the country and the world. By increasing the broadband access and internet proficiency among this community, programming produced by MTN community producers will have a much larger impact. Increasing broadband use among MTN’s community will also benefit MTN. MTN wants to create broadband use among our members to make this organization work more efficiently and effectively. When our community producers are able to do things like reserve equipment, schedule their programs and sign up for classes online, MTN will be able to devote more of its staff resources in the areas of training and assisting members in the creation of media messages.
Demographic Information
Service Area Congressional Districts: 
Minnesota District 5
Does your organization serve vulnerable population groups? If so, please identify: 
Hispanic
Black/African-American
Asian
Native American or Native Alaskan
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
English as Second Language (ESL)
Disabled
Low Income
Unemployed
Youth
Estimated population size of your service area: 
383000
Please provide demogrphic information for the population you serve: 
The following numbers are from the 2000 Census. Since 2000, there has been a large increase in immigrants from Africa and Latin America. As of 2000, Minneapolis is 62.49% white, 20.46% black or African American, 3.31% American Indian, 6.95% Asian, and 7.63% Hispanic or Latino. 25.75% of families earn less than $25,000. 14.5% of the overall population over age 25 has not graduated from high school. Minneapolis has the highest rate of African American unemployment of any metropolitan area at 27.5 percent but one of the smallest African American populations in the country. The unemployment rate for workers of color is higher than for whites, even though workers of color participate in the work force at a lower rate than whites. Poverty rates among people of color are six times greater than that for the white population in the region. 14.5% of the population or Minneapolis is foreign born. Of those foreign born, 31.32% are from Asia, 23.01% are from Africa, and 33.42% are from Latin America. 19.62% of the total population speaks another language at home and 10.53% speak English “less than very well.”
Supporting Vulnerable Populations
Please describe the specific affirmative steps that your program will take to engage and serve the groups identified: 
MTN already has significant foot traffic at our center with over 200 people coming each week to attend classes, check out video equipment and produce and participate in television shows in our studios. At least 60 % of the people that come though our facilities are people of color and/or recent immigrants. We will work with our current producers to produce public service announcements that will inform their communities about the offerings and opportunities at MTN. As much as possible we will work with our existing base of public access TV producers who are also members of these communities to have them publicize these programs on their own television shows. We will partner with youth-oriented organizations working with “at risk youth” to educate young people in media literacy and video production skills with a focus on producing video content for the web. Additionally, we will work with neighborhood-based non-profit organizations who serve specific communities. For example, MTN is working with a local community center to provide video training and equipment access to a group of Latina women who will serve as citizen journalists for their communities.
Please describe the ways your center will be accessible to people with disabilities and technologies will be used: 
MTN is a community media center that is open six days a week, afternoons and evenings. MTN’s users regularly tell the staff and board of the organization that they consider us very welcoming and friendly. As an urban, public facility we serve an extremely wide variety of people. MTN’s staff has taken the time to work with members with special needs, assessing those needs and tailoring assistance to help them create media messages. We have worked with people with brain injuries, learning disabilities, mental illness, and impaired brain function due to medical conditions. For example one of MTN’s more active members has brain damage from a motorcycle injury. He is a regular presence at MTN’s video editing computers and has received extensive assistance. We’ve also worked with people with physical disabilities, coming up with creative ways to help them produce work. For example, MTN has worked with the deaf community, directing camera operators with sight lines to the director rather than headsets. MTN strives to make its facilities as accessible as possible. When we built our current facility, we made sure that the edit suites were accessible by elevator and that the edit suite doors were wide enough for wheel chairs. We are in the process of moving our Programming Department to the first floor of our facility so community producers will no longer have to access the elevator to turn in their program for broadcast.
Do you offer, or plan to offer, multilingual training and outreach? If so, please describe and identify languages it will be in: 
MTN has always been a place where multiple languages are spoken. In 2009, MTN averaged 100 hours per month of non-English programming produced at our facility. While MTN has made it a priority to employ multi-lingual staff in an attempt to assist with language barriers in the production process, we have found it difficult to find people who have both the language and video production skills we need. To try to get past that obstacle we are outreaching to colleges and youth job programs to hire multilingual interns that we can train in video production and instruction. Also, we are partnering with non-profit organizations which already have bilingual staff. We have worked with organizations such as the Minnesota Department of Higher Education, Pillsbury House and the Girl Scouts. MTN‘s partnerships have resulted in teaching production classes in Spanish, Somali, Ethiopian, Hmong and Arabic. Another way we have taught video skills to non-English speakers is by pairing MTN with native speakers of the language. For example, we have had classes in the Somali language by pairing an English-first instructor with an instructor who also spoke Somali. This is a model that we would use to broaden the audience for our course offerings. This spring MTN is partnering with a neighborhood community center offering a 28-hour intensive Spanish language production and editing class for middle-aged unemployed women. Also, MTN has loaded its public access computers with fonts from many different languages. This allows our community producers to included titles that are designed for their language, making the titles more readable.
Local Drupal Development Commitement
In addition to what the OMF will provide through this grant, we estimate that a successful implementation will require a minimum of 80 hours of local drupal support (through trained staff, contractors, or volunteers).
How many hours of professional drupal development support can you commit to securing between Oct 2010 and Oct 2012: 
100
What is the estimated Cost (or value, if volunteer) of this commitment: 
5000
Current Capitial Equipment Commitment
If your organization already has some or all of the equipment required to implement the Open Media Project, or the capital budget necessary to acquire it, that value will be included as part of your match. If not, grant funds will be used to acquire the equipment you require.
What is the value of current equipment you could dedicate to your local implementation of the Open Media Project? (if equipment is not owned, or available to dedicate to the OMP, enter $0)
Current Webserver: 
0
Current Digital Broadcast Server(s): 
28000
Current Dedicated RAID Storage: 
0
Other Current Equipment Value: 
5000
If other, please explain: 
Computers available for public use
Future Capital Equipment Commitment
If your organization already has some or all of the equipment required to implement the Open Media Project, or the capital budget necessary to acquire it, that value will be included as part of your match. If not, grant funds will be used to acquire the equipment you require. How much Capital Equipment budget could you devote towards the acquisition of the following equipment:
Future Webserver(s): 
1000
Future Dedicated RAID Server: 
2000
Technical and Administrative Support
We estimate that a successful implementation of the OMP will require a minimum of 80 hours of technical and administrative support (through involvement of your ED, bookkeeper, engineer and other staff). Any time contributed will count towards your in-kind match.
How many hours can you commit to securing between Oct 2010 and Oct 2012: 
235
List each staff member, position, number of hours committed, and hourly wage (or equivalent, if salary): 
Eboun Singhathip, Administrative Assistant, 30 hours, $14.67/hour Kevin Loecke, Bookkeeper, 10 hours, $17/hour John Akre, Web Designer, 40 hours, $20.17/hour Nate Mains IT Manager, 40 hours, $17/hour Beth Peloff, Instructor, 15 hours, $19.87/hour Vera Allen, Director of Programming, 30 hours, $17.45/hour Sarah Patterson, Programming Assistant, 30 hours, $12.59/hour David Paul, Transmission Specialist, 40 hours, $16.81/hour
Video Content Commitment
Partners will be supporting Sustainable Broadband Adoption by addressing the primary hurdle identified by non-adopters: a perception that broadband is not relevant to life, especially in low-income and minority communities. What is the value of the staff time and resources you are willing to devote to supporting the production of video content that will address 'broadband relevance' from the perspective of members from disconnected communities"?
Staff Time: 
40
Resources/Equipment: 
2000
If other, please explain: 
MTN will create video content to address broadband relevance by tapping the youth producers in its youth media programs. Primarily, MTN will enlist the assistance of the 50 to 75 students in the MTN/South High Video Voices program, a twenty-year old collaboration between MTN and a Minneapolis public high school. MTN will direct its youth media producers, who are versed in the world of broadband, to create video programs to address these issues from their perspective. MTN will also work with its diverse membership to incorporate these issues in the programs that they create for MTN’s cable channels.MTN will use its newsletter and web site not only to encourage its members to engage with this issue, but also to publicize and disseminate the content that they create.
Broadband Training Program
If you intend to provide training or education, how many people in total will your program(s) reach: 
100
How many hours of training do you expect to provide per person on average for your program(s), through completion of training: 
3
How many Full Time Employee (FTEs) will you employ for broadband and digital literacy training purposes: 
2
Describe the qualifications and training of full time employee instructors of broadband and digital literacy training: 
Our instructors will have a two year or four year college degree or equivalent experience. They will have strong computer skills and interest and experience in working with people from many different cultures, backgrounds, age groups and skill levels. Our instructors will also be enthusiastic, patient and friendly. We will put a priority on finding instructors who speak Somali and/or Spanish. Where there is a curriculum, they will co-teach with a supervising instructor for 2 classes,or until the new instructor is comfortable with teaching the curriculum. Where there is not yet a curriculum, the new instructor will work with MTN’s Teachers Team and a supervising instructor to create a new a class syllabus and class materials.
Job Creation
How many indirect jobs will be created from this project: 
100
How many direct jobs will be created from this project: 
6