OneWebDay

For Immediate Release: September 16, 2009
Contact: Anne Singer, 202-271-4679 or Nathaniel James, 202-470-6059

Web-Savvy Volunteers Plan Brick & Mortar Makeover for Digital Nonprofit in Brookland

Annual OneWebDay Activities Focus on Community Service and Internet Opportunity

Washington, DC – In honor of OneWebDay, volunteers from the Washington, DC area will gather at Byte Back, a Northeast DC technology nonprofit, to help spruce up the facility and perform other kinds of service for its clients. OneWebDay was founded in 2006 as an all volunteer campaign to build an active community of Internet advocates in the United States and around the world. Originally imagined as a celebration of the World Wide Web – the services and content the Internet carries – OneWebDay has grown into a movement of organizations, citizens and consumers who are committed to universal and equal access to the Internet. Now in its fourth year, OneWebDay has a full-time Executive Director, powerful new partners and is planning events in 50 cities across the globe in 2009.

OneWebDay takes place annually on September 22, marked by a variety of activities, with a new theme each year. The 2009 theme is “One Web. For All” and focuses on volunteer service and expanding opportunity. Recognizing that OneWebDay technology volunteers, and the communities they wish to reach, can best be served on weekends and evenings, OneWebDay is coordinating with Mozilla Service Week (September 14-21) to provide more volunteer opportunities.

The Washington, DC OneWebDay group is organizing its volunteer service on September 19 as well as a national policy panel on September 22 (TBA). According to Chance Williams, lead organizer for OneWebDay DC, “The service component gives us a great opportunity to connect with local groups that drive digital inclusion efforts for people who call the District home, this place where national policy is made.”

The OneWebDay team has partnered with Byte Back, Inc., a Northeast DC nonprofit that provides computer training for under- and unemployed workers, as the site for OneWebDay service. Byte Back gives people marketable skills needed to obtain employment in today’s job market; specifically hands-on computer training that allows workers to keep pace with the rest of society. Byte Back identified three priorities for OneWebDay volunteers: physical work cleaning and painting the facility’s exterior; client outreach; and technical support. “We told Byte Back we had plenty of geeks ready to provide computer labor, but if what they need is physical labor, that’s what we’re going to give them,” said Williams.

Similar efforts are planned for other U.S. cities, including: technology workshops for parents and teachers at a Los Angeles Magnet school; pro bono information management consulting in New Orleans; computer tutoring for seniors and linguistic minorities and a public housing Wi-Fi installation in San Francisco. In these difficult economic times, OneWebDay 2009 volunteers are working for economic and educational inclusion. According to Nathaniel James, OneWebDay’s Executive Director, “Everyone understands the Internet is the pathway to opportunity, from educational achievement to success on the job. This year we are rolling up our sleeves to help make a difference right now for people who are getting left behind.”

WHO: OneWebDay volunteers; OneWebDay Executive Director; Byte Back leaders
WHAT: Cleaning and painting Byte Back building exterior, phone banking to clients, updating website and materials
WHERE: Byte Back, 815 Monroe Street, NE, Washington, DC 20017 (directly across the street from the Brookland-CUA Metro station)
WHEN: Saturday, September 19th, 10 AM to 4 PM Eastern; shift change and remarks at 1 PM

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About OneWebDay: http://onewebday.org
About Byte Back: http://www.byteback.org
About Mozilla Service Week: http://mozillaservice.org