FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 15, 1998
CONTACT: Judy Sparrow
(202) 482-2048
jsparrow@ntia.doc.gov
 

NTIA TO HOST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NONPROFIT NETWORKING
 

NTIA will host a conference to discuss the growing international nonprofit networking movement. Commerce Assistant Secretary Larry Irving announced the conference from the NTIA exhibit at the International Telecommunications Union Plenipotentiary Conference in Minneapolis, MN.
 

Assistant Secretary Irving said that the conference responds to "the overwhelming interest generated by the ITU exhibits. Delegate after delegate from around the world has asked us how they might create these services in their countries. The lessons we have learned from TIIAP can be shared to spur the use of telecommunications to increase the quality of global life, understanding, and cooperation. Through this conference we also can share the richness of the international culture here today with communities across America."
 

Last Monday, Vice President Gore delivered a speech in which he posed five challenges that make up a Digital Declaration of Interdependence, "The Digital Declaration of Interdependence can create a brighter world for us all," said the Vice President. This conference will help to reach the challenges posed by the Vice President by uniting communities all over the globe through technology.
 

To be held in the Spring of 1999, the conference will bring together individuals, organizations, businesses and governments interested in using telecommunications technology to provide education, health, public safety and state and local government services. If you are interested in participating, please call Judy Sparrow at 202-482-2048.
 

The NTIA exhibit featured 10 demonstrations of how telecommunications can be used to improve the quality of health care, public safety, lifelong learning, economic and rural development and other community based services. The demonstrations were provided by projects funded through NTIA's Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP).
 

TIIAP is a highly competitive, merit based grant program that brings the benefits of an advanced national information infrastructure to communities throughout the United States. TIIAP grants play an important role in realizing the vision of an information society by demonstrating practical applications of new telecommunications and information technologies to serve the public interest.

TIIAP is administered by the United States Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). NTIA serves as the principal adviser to the President, Vice President and Secretary of Commerce on domestic and international communications and information issues and represents the Executive branch before Congress, other Federal agencies, foreign governments and international organizations.