Chicago Initiatives

A growing concern over the disparity in digital connectedness in Chicago has lead to several initiatives to bridge the digital divide in Chicago. The Mayor?s Council of Technology Advisors, CTCNet Chicago, CTC Accelerator, and CivicNet are working together to help provide all Chicagoans with access to technology.

The Mayor's Council of Technology Advisors
The Mayor's Council of Technology Advisors Mayor Richard M. Daley and leaders of the business, academic and research communities vowed to work together to implement a comprehensive economic growth strategy to make technology a larger part of the Chicago area economy.

The Mayor's Council of Technology Advisors, created in 1999, is composed of leaders from technology, universities and research institutions, finance and the larger business community. It is responsible for setting the direction for Chicago's future as one of the world's leading cities in the new economy.

For more information on the Mayor's Council of Technology Advisors and A New Economy Growth Strategy for Chicagoland (including a free download of the full report) visit http://www.chicagotechtoday.com

CTCNET Chicago
CTCNet Chicago is a membership of roughly forty Chicago community technology centers (CTC). These CTCs provide access to computers with Internet connections and to technology training. Additionally, CTCNet members work collectively to increase community residents? computer literacy. To learn more visit our CTCNet page.

CTC Accelerator
The IT Resource Center, a Chicago nonprofit organization with a seventeen-year history of assisting other nonprofits with technology, has thus developed the Accelerator to help initiate new CTCs or help existing CTCs expand their services. The Accelerator offers both services and tangible resources for CTCs. To learn more visit our CTC Accelerator page.

CivicNet
Chicago CivicNet is an initiative of the City of Chicago and the Mayor's Council of Technology Advisors. CivicNet aggregates the communications requirements of the City, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Park District, Chicago City Colleges, Chicago Housing Authority, and Chicago Transit Authority.

CivicNet positions the City's requirements as an anchor tenant for the development of a new communications infrastructure. The City intends to partner with multiple entities in the private sector to build out this infrastructure, which will be managed and operated by the City's private sector partners and marketed by them to all interested parties in the private, public, and institutional sectors.

The intent is to create a new communications infrastructure throughout the City for the Internet age, for everyone to use and to spur economic development. To learn more about CivicNet please visit ChicagoCivicNet.