Versión en español a continuación. Special Meeting of the Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission September 9, 2020 Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission to be held September 9, 2020 with Social Distancing Modifications Public comment will be allowed via telephone; no in-person input will be allowed. All speakers must register in advance by Noon September 8. All public comment will occur at the beginning of the meeting. To speak remotely at the September 9, 2020 Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission Meeting, residents must: • Call or email the board liaison at 512-974-7676 or jesse.rodriguez@austintexas.gov no later than noon June 8. The information required is the speaker name, item number(s) they wish to speak on, whether they are for/against/neutral, and a telephone number or email address. • Once a request to speak has been called in or emailed to the board liaison, residents will receive either an email or phone call providing the telephone number to call on the day of the scheduled meeting. • Speakers must call in at least 15 minutes prior to meeting start in order to speak, late callers will not be accepted and will not be able to speak. • Speakers will be placed in a queue until their time to speak. • Handouts or other information may be emailed to jesse.rodriguez@austintexas.gov by Noon the day before the scheduled meeting. This information will be provided to Board and Commission members in advance of the meeting. • If this meeting is broadcast live, residents may watch the meeting here: http://www.austintexas.gov/page/watch-atxn-live Reunión del Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission FECHA de la reunion September 9, 2020 La junta se llevará con modificaciones de distanciamiento social Se permitirán comentarios públicos por teléfono; no se permitirá ninguna entrada en persona. Todos los oradores deben registrarse con anticipación (September 8 antes del mediodía). Todos los comentarios públicos se producirán al comienzo de la reunión. Para hablar de forma remota en la reunión, los residentes deben: • Llame o envíe un correo electrónico al enlace de la junta en 512-974-7676 or jesse.rodriguez@austintexas.gov a más tardar al mediodía (el día antes de la reunión). La información requerida es el nombre del orador, los números de artículo sobre los que desean hablar, si están a favor / en contra / neutrales, y un número de teléfono o dirección de correo electrónico. • Una vez que se haya llamado o enviado por correo electrónico una solicitud para …
M E M O R A N D U M TO: FROM: Community Technology & Telecommunications Commission John Speirs, Program Manager Telecommunications & Regulatory Affairs September 11, 2020 DATE: SUBJECT: Recommendations for 2021 Grant for Technology Opportunities Program Background The City of Austin’s Digital Inclusion Strategic Plan, as adopted by Resolution No. 20141120- 074, includes every Austin resident having an opportunity to be fully engaged in digital society, accessing and using digital and communications technology. The Office of Telecommunications & Regulatory Affairs (TARA) is the lead office for implementation of this plan. The Grant for Technology Opportunities Program (GTOPs) is a grant administered by the Community Technology (CT) Division of TARA directed at improving the community's ability to fully participate in the digital society to achieve the goals of the Digital Inclusion Strategic Plan. Purpose The purpose of this report is to review the significant changes coming to the 2021 cycle of the GTOPs. Each year, CT staff performs a review of the prior grant cycle in preparation for the next year of grants. This annual strategic planning and review process considers feedback collected from surveys of applicants and grant reviewers, as well as the observations of staff participating in the grant process and the known structural changes to GTOPs. Analysis There are three categories of changes being proposed for the GTOPs 2021 cycle: 1) Adjustments to the application process to ensure a clearer and more direct relationship between the scoring criteria and the application and to better weight Focus Areas; 2) changes to the overall GTOPs structure to provide for efficiency, enhanced support for grantees, and to adjust the GTOPs schedule to accommodate the holiday months; and 3) eases the administrative burden of reporting on contractors. Together, these three changes could greatly improve service delivery and core program capacity to local Austin nonprofit groups. 1 Adjustments to the Application and Scoring Process Recommendation: Replace the current “Focus Area” system that guarantees funding based on category with a new system that gives bonus points to organizations that meet the “Focus Area” criteria. In past GTOPs cycles, organizations that were the highest scoring in a “Focus Area” were guaranteed funding, regardless of any other factor (such as relative rank in scoring to the other applications). Going forward, we propose to move to a bonus point system, where applicant can gain extra points by qualifying for a Focus Area. This will retain …
