As an educational nonprofit corporation, the AFCN's mission is "to improve the visibility, viability and vitality of Community Networking by assisting and connecting people and organizations, building public awareness, identifying best practices, encouraging research, influencing policy, and developing products & services". Their website is a must for all those seeking information on the many and varied aspects of developing and maintaining networks. Membership to this organization provides a number of benefits including their newsletter with current articles and stories pertaining to networks worldwide.

The Center for Civic Networking (CCN) is a non-profit organization which was developed in order to assist, educate, research and further the development of information infrastructure within local communities and therefore, improve the delivery of local government services. One of the many ways this is accomplished is with projects such as The Civic Network (http://civic.net/index.html).

" . . CTCNet . envisions a society in which allpeople are equitably empowered by technology skills and usage. . .

CTCNet shares with Playing To Win, its founding organization, a recognition that, in anincreasingly technologically dominated society, people who are socially and/oreconomically disadvantaged will become further disadvantaged if they lack access tocomputers and computer-related technologies.

CTCNet brings together agencies and programs that provide opportunities whereby peopleof all ages who typically lack access to computers and related technologies can learn to usethese technologies in an environment that encourages exploration and discovery and,through this experience, develop personal skills and self-confidence. 

This grass roots alliance organization is made up of computer scientists and others who are interested in the impact of computer technology on society. Their aim is to influence decisions regarding the development and use of computers because "those decisions have far-reaching consequences and reflect our basic values and priorities". In addition to much valuation information, this site provides excellent documententation about the design criteria for a national information infrastructure.

This nonprofit organization promotes "the development and sustainability of online civic participation and democracy efforts around the world through experience, outreach, and education. This is accomplished with information services such as the "Democracies Online Newswire" and descriptions of existing and projected programs. The existing programs demonstrate the use of the Internet for citizen interaction and participation in specific areas.

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Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems (ICIS) was established within New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service in January 1998 with five-year funding from the National Science Foundation. ICIS is bringing together social scientists, engineers and community groups in order to re-think the development and management of transportation, water, energy, communication, and waste management systems in ways that are more integrative and responsive to community needs and goals.

ITU, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, performs many activities in the telecommunications world including coordinating, developing, regulating and standardizing worldwide telecommunications and the organization of regional and world events.

This professional society "provides leadership in addressing issues that confront the future of the Internet". It is the central organizational point for the groups that are responsible for Internet Infrastructure standards. Professional membership of this society is comprised of 6,000 individual members and 100 organizational members from over 100 countries which are brought together by the common goal of "maintaining the viability and global scaling of the Internet".

The Morino Institute, developed in 1994, is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is find and promote ways in which "interactive communications can be used to benefit society, empower individuals and create opportunity". The focus of their work is where this medium can improve lives in the areas of economic opportunity, governance, health and education. (The "Directory of Public Access Networks" on the Institute's site is extensive but is no longer being hosted by them. The up-to-date directory is now being maintained by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) listed above or at http://www.clir.org/.)

The objective of this site is to help non-profit organizations with understanding of modern information technologies

Neighborhood Networks is a community-based initiative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that encourages the developmentof resource and computer learning centers in privatelyowned HUD-insured and -assisted housing. These centers work to build self-reliant neighborhoods that meet the needs of low-income families and seniorswhere they live.

Neighborhoods Online was created in 1995 by the Institute for the Study of Civic Values and Philadelphia's LibertyNet as an online resource center for people working to build strong communities throughout the United States. This organization's aim is to provide fast access to information and ideas covering all aspects of neighborhood revitalization, as well as to create a national network of activists working on problems that affect us where we live.

The non-profit Ohio corporation, Organization For Community Networks, has been established to be a central collection site for all types of information dealing with Free-Nets/Community Networks. This collection of documents which have been supplied by networks in order to contribute information with new and existing systems. OFCN provides many of the services that the now bankrupt National Public Telecomputing Network previously did but is not affiliated with NPTN. non-profit corporation

This British organization's purpose is to use the Internet to build networks and benefit communities - particularly neighbourhoods and villages. Their web-site contains a lot of interestign information about Community networking movement in Great Britain and the Neighbourhoods Online game that is designed help people explore ways in which they can use the Internet to benefit their local community - whether in town or country.

This collaborative effort was established by David Silver in January 1997 at the University of Maryland. RCCS is a non-profit organization devoted to providing resources and materials to students, teachers, community networkers, writers, artists, activists, and creators of cybercultureas a collaborative effort.

The Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP) is a highly-competitive, merit-based grant program that brings the benefits of an advanced national information infrastructure to communities throughout the United States. TIIAP grants play an important role in realizing the vision of an information society by demonstrating practical applications of new telecommunications and informationtechnologies to serve the public interest.