AFN Right Click News                                                                              FEBRUARY 2016
Empowerment Through Technology

Greetings from the Executive Director


Valentine's Day may be over, but it is not too late to show the community how much you care about digital literacy and giving others access to the Internet to better their lives. On March 8, we will be participating in the 4th Annual I Live Here I Give Here's Amplify Austin 24-hour fundraising event. You can still make Austin Free-Net your nonprofit Valentine by scheduling your Amplify gift today or by creating a campaign fundraiser web page on our behalf.

Thanks to your support, Austin Free-Net achieved many milestones last year:
444        Volunteers helped AFN Clients
1,455     Digital Literacy classes or sessions offered
14,702   Training participants
145,078  Total Computer user sessions logged

We are proud of our accomplishments, but recognize that it takes volunteers, donors, community partners and a dedicated staff to make this happen. We hope that you will continue to help us achieve our vision: A World without Digital Barriers.

Sincerely,
Juanita Budd

Program News
AFN Amplify Austin Kickoff
Join us f or our Open House on March 8, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. to kickoff our 2016 I Live Here I Give Here Amplify Austin campaign. Visit our computer labs at the DeWitty Center and learn how your support is making a difference in the community. We will also have door prizes and light refreshments. Reserve your spot! If you can't make it, join us live on Facebook as we capture the fun in photos.

Our neighbor, Austin Film Society and Leap to Success would also like to invite you to their outdoor event, Amplify Assembly@ Austin Public, the same evening, 6 - 9 p.m. Several nonprofits, including AFN, will be displaying information for the community. You are welcome to walk to their event after visiting with us.

Congratulations RST Graduates

Congrats to our new class of technology students! Partnering with the Refugee Services of Texas, AFN was awarded a Hyatt Community Grant to provide digital literacy classes to adult refugees in Austin. Our bilingual instructor Astrid Caldes recently worked with Spanish speaking students from Cuba and Honduras.  
 
Read more
Volunteer Training Summit Builds Connections
 
How can we better serve the needs of our clients? This was one of the many questions discussed at AFN's first Digital Literacy Volunteer Training Summit, held on January 29, 2016. AFN volunteers and non-profit staff members from several organizations attended the half day event hosted by the Housing Authority of the City of Austin and sponsored by Google Fiber.
 
COA Digital Empowerment Community of Austin
 
The Digital Inclusion Program of the City of Austin recently launched the Digital Empowerment Community of Austin (DECA), a cohesive network of organizations and stakeholders working to provide access to technology in our community. AFN is a partner in this community initiative.

On Friday, January 22 more than 40 community stakeholders from nonprofits, government, private companies, the academic community and more convened to network and discuss a new digital inclusion program model. 

 
Read more about DECA & the February 26 meeting topic
Board Spotlight
New AFN Board Member

Austin Free-Net is happy to introduce the newest member to our board of directors, Elizabeth Quintanilla.

Elizabeth is a positive, creative, people-oriented, performance-driven Marketing Gunslinger.  As a consultant and speaker, she focuses on understanding the customer perspective and consults on a variety of topics: online technologies and strategies, social business, marketing (traditional, online, social, content, Go-To-Market), product marketing, and demand generation. 

Read more    
AFN Links
In This Issue
AFN Client Success
Jan Morgan's curiosity about computers and the Internet has led her to new opportunities she did not imagine. Jan is a single parent who lives in the Lakeside apartments, a residence subsidized by the Housing Authority of the City of Austin. She is also a proud graduate of AFN's Tech-Starters I and Tech-Starters II, six-week classes sponsored by Austin Pathways. She started the program with little computer skills and attended 36 different training sessions. She successfully finished the classes with 280 new computer skills!

Read more
AFN Supporters
Thank you to our 2015-2016 Supporters & Partners






Digital Divide News
Austin Free-Net | newsletters@austinfree.net | 2209 Rosewood Ave.
Austin TX 78702/   512-236-8225