Background Information
Acronym: TCP
Address: 1351 3rd Street Promenade, Suite 206
City:  Santa Monica, CA
Zip:  90401
E-mail: frontdoor@childrenspartnership.org
Web Address: www.childrenspartnership.org

Forum Contact Person
: Name and Title:  Mara Rose, Technology Program Manager of Online Content Initiative
Phone:  (310) 260-1220
Fax:  (310) 260-1921
E-mail:   mrose@childrenspartnership.org

Mission Statement:
The Children's Partnership is a national nonprofit, non partisan organization.

We undertake research, analysis, and advocacy to place the needs of America's nearly 70 million children and youth, particularly the underserved, at the forefront of emerging policy debates.

The hallmark of The Children's Partnership is to forge agendas for youth in areas where none exist, to help ensure that disadvantaged children have the resources they need to succeed, and to involve more Americans in the cause for children.

Organizational Background/Description

The Children's Partnership works to ensure that all children, especially those at risk of being left behand, have the resources and opportunities they need to grow up healthy and lead productive lives. With input from its highly respected advisors, TCP researches new trends and emerging issues that affect large numbers of children and provides early analysis and strategies for action. In the fields of health care and technology, TCP helps build successful models in communities, and then takes these proven models to a larger audience through policy advocacy and public and private partnerships.

The Children's Partnership has been working on issues of children and the digital media since 1994, when TCP published the first comprehensive look at how the digital society impacts children (America's Children and the Information Superhighway). In 1996, TCP released the award-winning The Parent's Guide to the Information Superhighway: Rules and Tools for Families Online, a first of its kind guide providing parents with the information and understanding necessary to help children in the new age of information technology.

TCP currently runs three programs in community technology:

1. Online Content for Low-Income and Underserved Americans Initiative
   Based on the research findings of its year-long study on the "online content divide" and the extensive response from the community technology community, The Children's Partnership created a Web resource and advocacy tool to spur the development of online content for underserved communities, www.contentbank.org. This site launched in June of 2002 with three goals:



• To make quality content for underserved users to find, identify, and use
• To make it easier for community-based organizations and their users to create their own content
• To encourage the public and private sectors to develop useable content for low-income and underserved americans


2. Young Americans and the Digital Future Campaign
   Young Americans and the Digital Future is a multiyear information and education program to promote state and local policies that increase young people's access to the benefits of the interenet and other information technologies. The Campaign offers two web resources rich with information and tools, including 50 state fact sheets on youth and technology readiness as well as models and resources for communities and policymakers working on community tech issues: www.childrenspartnership.org/youngamericans/ and www.techpolicybank.org
   


3. California Advocacy Program
   A state-based model program to effect public policy changes that increase access to and use of technology in low-income communities. Through the California Community Technology Policy Group, TCP helps lead the policy efforts of the collaborative involving roughly 100 organization. TCP has helped pass serveral pieces of legislation, including SB 1863-Bowen that defines a "community technology program" into state law. It also allows for telecommunications services for community technology programs at the same discounted rate as schools and libraries receive.