IMPORTANT: Help Us Save Critical Path!
I got this in the mail today. For those that don't know, Critical Path is run by Philadelphia FIGHT and provides free internet services to the larger AIDS community and allied groups.

Recently Critical Path had a drastic funding cut. Without adequate funding, thousands of Philadelphia families will loose internet access and many nationwide non-profits and organizations will loose websites, mailing lists, and email.

For more information on Critical Path, look here: http://critpath.org/isp/info.php

Please sign on to the attached letter that will be forwarded to Mayor Nutter if appropriate. Please distribute this widely.

Dear Friends,

I received this urgent message today. The Critical Path Project is the only truly free Internet service available to low income people and nonprofit groups in the Delaware Valley.

Here at Nonprofit Technology Resources, our own donations of free computers to children, (and other disadvantaged populations) include a free Internet account thanks to the generosity of our friends at Philadelphia FIGHT.

Now, they need our support to help maintain this essential resource. Please consider writing a note in response to Ms. Fink's message below.

Should the Critical Path Project be forced to close down, over 1,400 children and low-income families who received free computers from NTR in the last several years will be forced off the Internet. Please read the appeal below and write to Juliet Fink so she can pass your concerns to the Mayor and other possible sources of support.

And, while we are not being asked to contribute towards the support of the Critical Path Project directly, I suspect that a cash contribution from NTR won't be turned away and the same thing might be true of any contribution you might care to make.

Thank you for your attention to this!

Stan Pokras



> From: "Juliet Fink" <jjfink@fight.org>
> Subject: IMPORTANT: Help Us Save Critical Path!
> Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:55:41 -0400
> Organization: Philadelphia FIGHT
>
> **Apologies for cross posting - please distribute widely**
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> We received notice last week of a drastic cut in our funding for Critical Path. We need your help ASAP to save Critical Path!!
>
> Many of you use Critical Path to host your websites, receive and send email, create electronic lists, and access the Internet.
>
> Attached is a sign on letter that we will present to the Mayor to help us keep our funding.
>
> We need ORGANIZATIONS and INDIVIDUALS who use Critical Path to sign on TODAY!
>
>
> 1. If you are signing on as an organization, please email the name of the organization.
>
>
>
> 2. If you are signing on as an individual, please send your name and the organization that you are part of. If you are not part of any organization, but a user of Critical Path, we want your name too! **Please make note if your sign on is only as an individual.
>
>
>
> 3. If you can send any testimonials as to how Critical Path has helped your organization or provided you Internet access, that is also helpful!
>
>
>
> 4. Please send all endorsements to me as soon as you can at: jjfink@fight.org
>
>
> The Sign on Letter is also in the body of this email below.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Juliet Fink
> The Critical Path Project/Philadelphia FIGHT
>
>
> Dear Mayor Nutter,
>
> The undersigned organizations and individuals urge you to find the means to support and fund the Critical Path Project.
>
> For over 15 years, the Critical Path Project has been a major force in the Greater Philadelphia metropolitan region and worldwide in bridging the digital divide, offering free dial up Internet access and email accounts with no ads and no restrictions to over 10,000, mostly low-income families, as well as offering email, website hosting, and electronic mailing list hosting to local non-profit organizations, DHS family centers, and affinity groups throughout the nation.
>
> We are currently the Internet backbone for the majority of HIV and LGBTQ organizations in Philadelphia, and thousands of members of these communities utilize our free services. This is particularly important for those who cannot afford high speed connections at home.
>
> For the past six years, Critical Path has had a contract from DHS to provide Internet connectivity and host webpages for the Family Support Centers in the public schools. In addition to these functions, which Critical Path has always fulfilled, the contract has become part of the funding infrastructure that supports the Critical Path enterprise. This fiscal year, the contract was extended for two months, and is now due to end on August 31. While we recognize that DHS may have other funding needs at this time, we want to call to your attention the fact that this will be a devastating loss for Critical Path, and could result in our having to close down the entire network.
>
> If we are forced to close it, the loss of Critical Path will resonate throughout Philadelphia.
>
>
> * Over 10,000 people in the greater Philadelphia Metro region, mostly low-income, would lose their Internet access from Critical Path, many of whom may not have the skills or knowledge to know how to get access any other way at this time.
>
>
>
> * Thousands of people would lose access to their email accounts and the data saved in their inboxes and folders, including staff at organizations many of which receive funds from the City of Philadelphia, such as GALAEI, ASIAC, BEBASHI, The AIDS Law Project, Philadelphia FIGHT, and nearly 25 more.
>
>
>
> * Over 100 electronic Mailing lists, with thousands of local subscribers, many of which are key ways in which the non-profit community, educators, HIV researchers, and low-income Philadelphians discuss topics of importance to them and spread and receive information, will be shut down and forced to find another way to manage their lists.
>
>
>
> * Nearly 75 websites, the majority of which are non-profits funded by the city of Philadelphia, such as Project SAFE, CHOICE, COLOURS, Asian Americans United, and many more, will be shut down and forced find money in their budgets to pay for hosting and rapidly find an alternative solution. Shutting down these websites, for even a short time means that those in the community, will not have access life-saving information.
>
>
> A list of the organizations that currently utilize critical path is attached.
>
> We urge you to find the means to refund the Critical Path Project and by doing so put digital inclusion at the top of your agenda. In order to more fully describe the Critical Path system and the important role it plays, we are requesting a meeting with you, along with a small representation of the organizations and individuals represented below. We will contact your office for your response.
>
> We thank you for your action and leadership.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> The Critical Path Project
> Philadelphia FIGHT
> The AIDS Library
> The Youth Health Empowerment Project
>
> ********************************************************************
> Juliet Fink, Director of Education
> Philadelphia FIGHT
> The AIDS Library * Critical Path * Project TEACH
> 1233 Locust Street, 2nd Floor
> Philadelphia, PA 19107
> P: (215)985-4851 x141 F: (215)985-4492
> Email: jjfink@fight.org
> *******************************************************************