Habitat, AOL wire families
North Carolina pilot could be expanded throughout U.S.
By Todd Cohen
Habitat for Humanity and AOL Time Warner aim to plug low-income homeowners into the digital economy.
Building on an initiative launched in 2000 in Winston-Salem, N.C., AOL Time Warner and other partners are investing $1 million over two years in a pilot project to equip homes built by Habitat for Humanity of Forsyth County with computers, software, training and Internet access.
Tentative plans then call for national expansion of the pilot, which will be evaluated by researchers at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.
Starting in 2005, a new nonprofit would give owners of every new Habitat home in the United States the option to get technology, Web access, training and upgrades ñ with the costs built into their 20-year, zero-interest mortgages.
more...
10:39:00 PM 
|
|
