Galveston Community Netwo
rk
(GCN) is a
group of nine organizations with member
organizations including schools, local governments, non-profits and
others concerned with improving our community. GCN GCN is dedicated to use
technology to benefit the community. This includes;
providing computers for public access to the Internet, providing local services
via the Internet and developing infrastructure necessary
to support this access and services. GCN’s goals are to provide a service to
the community taking advantage of the member organizations
technical expertise and increase and facilitate cooperation on information
technology issues between member organizations. There is a tremendous benefit
in the communication lines, information exchange, and the vision we can bring
towards combined technology for our organization and Galveston Island.
Certificate of Incorporation
Documents
Certificate of incorporation.pdf
Office Sec. of State.pdf
Gal·ves·ton
A city of southeast Texas located
south-southeast of Houston on Galveston
Island.
Com·mu·ni·ty
A group of people living in the same locality, involved in sharing,
participation, and fellowship.
Net·work
An intricately connected system of things and
people;
The Galveston Community Network (GCN)
plan consists of providing social and other services to a broad range of
residents and visitors to the community. Our goal is to bridge the digital
divide on Galveston Island by (1) leveraging current electronic communication,
training, and educational resources; (2) improving public access to hardware and
infrastructure, (3) providing current and relevant community content; (4)
increasing awareness, utility, and training; and (5) establishing a sustainable
program that builds upon the initial phase.
(1) Leverage current resources.
We will identify resources available through
Galveston proprietary and non-GCN entities in order
to avoid to unnecessary duplication of effort and inefficient use of
funding , and then work with those entities to bring
them and their resources into the network.
(2) Improve public access to
hardware and infrastructure. We will strategically place community access
kiosks and public access computer stations with Internet access in high need
locations. While this project may not directly provide high-speed access for the
general public to their homes, the desire is to encourage and support vendors in
providing high-speed access to the general public by leveraging our collective
buying power.
(3) Provide current and relevant
community content. We will survey both local residents and visitors to
identify what information should be available at the kiosks will in order to
meet both resident needs and the needs of visitors wishing to identify goods and
services on the island. The same information will be available on the GCN Web
site at public access stations throughout the community.
(4) Increase awareness, utility,
and training. Computer access, training and content will be dedicated
towards improving information, employability, and education to for
residents currently lacking information access. As part of the plan, the GCN
will increase awareness of the utility of the Internet and will include relevant
training components.
(5)
Establish a sustainable program that builds upon the initial phase. Costs
of services can be reduced by sharing high bandwidth Internet access off of
Galveston Island and by providing less expensive high
speed access between and among the sites of the GCN organizations. By mobilizing
general community support we will increase the probability of sustaining
services past the grant period.
