La Plaza Telecommunity
Board of Directors Meeting
January 15, 2002

Executive Director's Report

Be reminded the following stats complete the FY 2001, January - December.

I.  December Statistics
A.  Public Access Sites
	Location		Number of Users		Hours Open
	YFC			668				108
	Penasco		264				30
	Taos Pueblo		121				30
	Questa			Lab not open due to lack of funding.	

B.  Classes
Easy Web Page	5
Word 2000		5
CyberYouth Project  	3
	Website and storyboarding classes
Total			13

	
C.  New Registrations
Primary Accounts	40
Secondary Acct	  1
Reactivations		28
Total			69

D.  Closures
Per User Request
Moved		16		Not Using	8	No computer	1
Other ISP	  8		None given	2	email at work  1
Total		36	

E.  Excess Hours
Accounts billed	39
Excess hours		1636.74
Dollars billed		$818.37

F.  User Online Hours
Total Hours	57163
Total Users	1795
Average online time	31.85 hours

II.  Current Third Party Funding Projects
A.  AMC Cancer Research Grant - work continues with project.  The project website is
 being constructed by AMC media department, with some input from La Plaza and local
 residents for local, southwest, flair.   Two Community Outreach Trainers will be hired in
 March, 2002 for approximately 12 months of contract work for research of website content.

B.  CyberYouth Project- classes and content continued by the youth who are developing the
 website of tobacco use in Taos county.

C.  M.E. Healy Grant - the training center is completed.  Jovanna and Nancy are
 developing the brochure that will describe the class content being offered in the lab.
  Class schedule for Jan and Feb is completed and classes are being taught.

III. New Third Party Funding Submissions
A TechFoundation - $35,000 request to train Taos County nonprofits in basic computer use,
 Internet tools, and collaboration for technology tools.

B.  Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - $55,000 request to develop a wireless Internet
 system on Taos Pueblo.  One of three initiatives that Gates Foundation is
 offering Native American communities for access to computers and technology
 training.  La Plaza was invited by Taos Pueblo to submit this request.

C. McCune Foundation - $10,000 Letter of Intent submitted to fund the Community Outreach
 Trainer position at Town of Taos Youth and Family Center. 

IV.  Community Development and Capacity Building Activities
A.  Taos Community Foundation:  met with Elizabeth Crittenden Palacios, Ex Director, and
 discussed the benefits of La Plaza and TCF collaborating on training for the
 nonprofit sector.  TCF agreed to be a collaborating partner with the recently submitted
 TechFoundation grant.

B.  I continue to meet with the TAG group (northern NM Telecommunications Advisory Group)
 to network and share telecommunication ideas, concerns, and solutions.  

C.  Nancy Montano represents La Plaza at the Taos Training Alliance meetings.   Nancy
 assisted John Otis with a group of engineers who have recently decided to develop an
 engineering training facility in Taos.  

D. La Plaza was well represented at the Taos County Chamber of Commerce Christmas party
 where the 6 winners of the La Plaza annual essay contest were presented.  In
 attendance were Pete Warner, Ira Schwartz, Reva Suazo, Gene Goetz, Nancy Montano,
 and I.  The presentation and the winners were very well received and the
 Chamber wants La Plaza to participate again in 2002.

E.  I presented to the Enchanted Circle Fire Association the necessity and opportunity
 for online communication with an all-inclusive listserve.  The members
 are representative of the local uses of email: some are proficient, some use
 occasionally, some are not online.  I offered training and technical assistance in
 setting up the listserve and training one of the group to manage the list.

V.  Technology Report
A.  All systems are operating at optimal speed and service.  The main server has 100%
 uptime along with our T1 router and the two UUNet connections in Phoenix and LA.

B.  I am waiting for Tom Decker to contact me regarding the logistics of La Plaza using
 space on the Decker Communications tower.  Once that is received I will contact
 the Town of Taos, Taos County and Taos Business Alliance for presentations
 regarding contributions to building the infrastructure for the wireless system.

Respectfully submitted:
Judith Pepper