Recognizing February 9-15, 2003 as Black Family Technology Awareness Week.

WHEREAS, The Workforce 2000 Advisory Council has spearheaded numerous programs and activities to bring telecommunications to the forefront of the African American experience in Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, The Workforce 2000 Advisory Council assisted in the launching of the Mayor’s Commission on Telecommunication that mobilized a public private partnership to increase the knowledge and participation of the Philadelphia Community in navigating the information superhighway; and

WHEREAS, The Workforce 2000 Advisory Council has announced that The National Black Family Technology Awareness Campaign, sponsored by the IBM Corporation and founded by Career Communications Group, will celebrate the fifth annual Black Family Technology Awareness Week February 9-15, 2003; and

WHEREAS, The goal of the public awareness campaign is to encourage, motivate and convince African Americans to incorporate technology into their daily lives; and

WHEREAS, This awareness of technology campaign covers a broad spectrum of topics and issues, such as computer ownership and Internet access, quality of Internet connections, production vs. consumption of technology computer literacy and skill level; employment in technical jobs, and ownership of Internet and other technology related enterprises; and

WHEREAS, Locally the First Annual African American Women in Technology Summit, which will be presenting technology strategies for women, will be running concurrently with the Black Family Technology Awareness Week events, under the auspices of Digital Sistas.net which is developing a technology mentoring program for middle and high school students, to familiarize them with vocations in engineering, science and technology; now therefore

RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Recognize February 9-15, 2003 as Black Family Technology Awareness Week and commend and congratulate the Workforce 2000 Advisory Council, and Digital Sistas.net for their commitment to the lofty goal of greater participation of African Americans and Hispanics in technology.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Carole Smith, Executive Director of the Workforce 2000 Advisory Council as a sincere expression of the gratitude of this legislative body.

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