Robin Wu's blog

Since you already know that ZeroDivide was awarded Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) funding last week for our Generation ZD Digital Literacy Program, it's time to talk about the seven great organizations we are partnering with in this effort.  Let's build in a little western states geography lesson as well and start from Hawaii, cross the ocean to the Pacific Northwest, go southbound, and then move slightly eastward. 

To no one's surprise, although broadband is available to most Americans, large disparities exist among states and localities, income levels, urban and rural areas and racial and ethnic groups.  A just-released report from the Pew Center on the States found that an estimated 100 million Americans who lack broadband at home say they can't afford it, don't know how to use it, don't think it is relevant to their lives, or can't get it.  Driven by tight budgets to do more with less, many states are looking to broadband as a potential vehicle for promoting economic growth and delivering educa

Several ZeroDivide staff participated in today's Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) 2010 Annual Meeting held in the wood-paneled Julia Morgan Ballroom of the Merchants Exchange in San Francisco.  The theme of this year's annual meeting was Philanthropy Transformed: Exploring New Pathways.  In his opening remarks, Colin Lacon, President & CEO of NCG, spoke about resilience, adaptation, and transformation and that, to be successful, you have to evolve, just as business and even government does, including adjusting to new platforms in technology.  Like everything else, wor

The Kaiser Family Foundation just released findings from the third in a series of national surveys about young people's media use.  The study found that young Americans, ages 8 to 18, spend more than seven and a half hours per day, except for the time in school, using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device.  This is an hour more per day than what was reported in the last study, conducted in 2004, and

Two days ago, Deborah Alvarez-Rodriguez, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties, along with ZeroDivide President and CEO Tessie Guillermo, and Robert Wexler, Principal at Adler & Colvin, spoke on a panel about the future of social enterprise organized by the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Social Enterprise Alliance. 

Earlier this month, I attended the National Civic Summit in Minneapolis, a two-day event which was free and open to the public, with much involvement from Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.  Since e-democracy and civic engagement are a core part of ZeroDivide's community investment portfolio, it was exciting to get a glimpse of some of the the new and existing tools in this area. 

Social networking is key to the success of the youth programs of ZeroDivide grantee REACH LA.  Ovahness Leaders and Girl2Girl (G2G) Leaders use social networking to communicate with their youth constituencies and promote their programs and activities.  For them, MySpace is still the networking site of choice.  The minute a decision is made about an event (such as the Ovahness Skate Party), it is posted on the Ovahness MySpace=2.0 site. One REACH LA staff person then posts the information and sends out messages to all the Ovahness friends.

New results from a poll of California youth ages 16 to 22 reveals a yearning for the traditional structures of marriage, parenthood, and religion as well as the desire for and benefits of a college education.  Past CTFC grantee New America Media commissioned Bendixen & Associates, in co-sponsorship with the University of California Office of the President, to conduct the first ever cell phone survey of the state's youth.  Since a growing number of American youth re