Monthly Statistics for July 1999

1. Public Access Sessions

Location         Total Sessions  Total Hrs   Avg Sesssion
La Plaza              833          837.62       1.01 hour
Penasco               298          439          1.47 hour
Questa                753          350.35       0.47 hour

Of the 833 visits to the Taos lab 110 are from registered users.

The increase in Questa is due to the Open Studio classes in the lab and the public access use by the artists
 

2. Classes

Class Title           #of Participants
Public Orientation        13
Intro to Email             5
Intro to WWW              11
Easy Web Design            7
Total                     36

Provided full day training to the 6 employees of Taos County Chamber of Commerce on Outlook 97 Fundamentals. It was very successful and is being used as the model to begin the training with the curriculum we purchased.
 
3. New Registrations for July 99

New Primary Accounts      93
New Secondary Accts       38
Reactivated                8
Scholarship Accts          1
Employee Accts             2
Accts opened in err        3
Total                    145

26 of the Secondary Accts are for the Open Studio Artists. These accounts are unbillable accounts for the duration of the project.
 
4. Closed Accounts July 99

Past due balance of >50 days 59
User Requested            31
Moving                    10
Not using                  3
Unable to access           2
No reason given            3
Miscellaneous             13
Total                    121

Technology

1. System Administrator: as was posted, Oban Lambie was hired as the System administrator and began work on July 26, 1999. He dealt with the T-1 line problem efficiently and effectively by communicating with ANS, our Internet provider from Albuquerque, and USWest until the problem was solved on Friday, August 6, 1999.
   
   
2. La Plaza Server: The system hardware funded by LANL Foundation has been ordered, once all the equipment and software is received an engineering consultant will come from Integrity Networking Systems to install and provide TA to the technology staff. Board will be kept informed of the actual dates and time lines for the install and transition from the old to the new hardware.
   
   
3. Penasco School Board awarded La Plaza Telecommunity the 1999/00 contract for Internet service. La Plaza, Integrity Networking Systems, Penasco Schools, and La Jicarita Enterprises will be meeting in Penasco on August 11, 1999 to develop the installation and implementation process for the wireless connection.
   
   
4. Town of Taos awarded La Plaza another contract for Internet service. The Town will be upgrading their wireless connection with sectorial antennas and radios to the Town offices and to the new Youth and Family Center southwest of town on Canon Bypass. This install will begin within the next few weeks.
   
   
5. Questa Schools decided to use Kit Carson Electric Coop as their ISP for school year 1999/00. As their contract ended July 31, 1999, I have requested the schools be removed from the Questa demonstration project radios as they are no longer paying for any service from La Plaza. The State General Services Department, Information Systems Division has issued the instruction to the engineering department and the deactivation will be completed by August 13, 1999.
   
   
6. Questa Demonstration Project:I met with John Dawson, State Informations Systems Division, regarding La Plaza's ability to take possession of the State radio equipment in Questa. An RFP has been created and reads: " This RFP invites offerors to apply for use of space at a specific location and asks them to present their needs and propose suitable lease amounts. The scope of the proposal consists of use of State radio system capacity extending from San Antonio Mountain, New Mexico, to the Village of Questa, New Mexico, and establishing a lease related to this use with monthly payments made to the state." The proposal is due Monday, September 6, 1999, 4:00 PM.

Third Party Funding Opportunities

1. National Cancer Institute (NCI) notifed the American Medical Services (AMC) in Denver, the grant that was submitted for intervention and prevention of cancer in Hispanic populations in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado was approved. La Plaza will be the implementation agency in Northern New Mexico and will collaborating with AMC, UNM Albuquerque, and Colorado State University. The grant is for 4 years and the submitted budget is being negotiated with AMC and NCI. La Plaza will receive $130,000 to $160,000 each of the 4 years for our project activity. Barbara Hau, La Plaza's project director, and I will begin preplanning with the collaborating agencies in October or November.
   
   
2. AOL Foundation: La Plaza has revised and will be submitting a $100,000 proposal to the AOL Foundation. This original proposal, to train 75 nonprofit agencies in Taos County in use of email, Internet, web design for better collaboration and communication, was submitted to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Support Organization initiative. The grant concept fits so precisely in the mission of La Plaza and was written with such integrity, we will continue to submit until we find funding.
   
   
3. Benton Foundation: La Plaza will apply to the Benton Foundation for a second funding cycle to train more local, underserved artists in Taos County. The 2nd phase allows for only $10,000 for budget; thus, we will be requesting supplemental funding from several New Mexico sources; PNM Foundation and Mc Cune Foundation.

Community Development

1. The Taos Tango III Charity Golf Tournament yielded $2,429 dollars to purchase computers for the 2nd annual essay contest for youth in Taos County. Nancy Montano is in charge of the contest and will begin developing the contest beginning in September.

Finance

Judith Pepper, Executive Director, La Plaza Telecommunity