Mission

Twin Cities Free-Net, Inc. is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) tax exempt corporation.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Twin Cities Free-Net is to use Internet technologies to bring people together in communities of shared interest or need.

Key Points of Mission

• The core of our mission is to bring people together. They may come together "virtually" as well as physically.
• We will bring people together using Internet technologies. These technologies include e-mail, online conferences, the World Wide Web, mailing lists, and newsgroups.
• We will bring people together in communities of shared interest or need - not just in one big group. A shared interest might be a neighborhood, a religion, a social cause, or a hobby. A shared need might be a disability, a lack of fluency in English, a high crime rate, or a state of poverty.

Focus

1. Helping existing communities, such as neighborhoods, clubs, and churches, use Internet technologies to meet their needs.
2. Bringing people who are not yet part of existing communities into contact with those communities, or helping them to form new ones.

Strategies

1. We will provide communication tools and services.
2. We will make these tools and services accessible to the regional public.
3. We will train the public in the use of these tools and services.
4. We will build awareness of shared needs and available resources through promotion, outreach, and publicity.
5. We will obtain adequate funding for our projects.

The Internet

Universal access to the Internet is a worthy goal. But it is not our goal. Our mission is to bring people together in communities. The tools we employ can be used globally, but they work just as well on a local scale.

It is important to remember: Internet access is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

Rationale: Community Building vs. Information Access

Yet at the same time, we are experiencing an increasing sense of isolation from our neighbors and alienation from our communities. People are apathetic about government, and feel little connection or commitment to the places they live. There is a widespread feeling that "things are getting worse" accompanied by resignation and a lack of any sense of power to effect change.

Information technology is a double-edged sword. Depending on how it is used, it can serve to further isolate us from one another. One could make a good case that television, an information technology introduced several decades ago, bears considerable responsibility for the decay of our sense of community, in that it encourages us to stay glued to the tube rather than socializing with our neighbors.

Today, using the Internet is a similarly isolating experience. But the information technologies now available can also be used to reduce social isolation. Applications like e-mail and online group discussions can bring people together in ways never before possible. This is by no means a replacement for face-to-face interaction (though it can act as a social lifeline for the elderly and other people with limited mobility.) It is an important supplement to in-person contact, in an age when hectic lifestyles make it difficult to schedule meetings and social gatherings.

Hence, we are not concerned with information access per se. Rather, we intend to use information technology to bring people together in communities.