On Wednesday, September 14, Realneo/Realinks along with the COO of East Cleveland Alfered Miller, went to CWRU to help present President Hundert a certificate of appreciation for their leadership in the East Cleveland 2010 initiative and for donating more than 20 monitors. CWRU was having its third annual Case for Community Day where the president told all of the volunteers that "you are turning the Universities vision into action." CWRU's continued collaboration with the city of East Cleveland is helping it to move forward in such a dynamic world of information technology. The monitors were given for an event that happened at a press conference on Saturday, September 10, at the city of East Cleveland’s Town Hall Meeting. Mayor Goggins announced the beginning of a free distribution of previously used corporate laptop and desktop computers to East Cleveland residents needing assistance. Approximately 50 computers were distributed to Shaw High School seniors and senior citizens identified by the Helen S. Brown Senior Center. Over 100 additional PCs are being prepared for later distribution, and additional donations are encouraged.
The computer equipment includes Dell Pentium II and III desktop computers, various makes and sizes of monitors, and some Toshiba laptops with Pentium II processors, donated by Progressive Insurance, Benesch Friedlander Coplan and Aronoff law firm, and Case University’s Sociology Department. REALinks staff loaded the computers with free open source software, including the Linux operating system, OpenOffice and Firefox.
This program is an outcome of the East Cleveland 2010 collaboration of academic, government, corporate, and non-profit supporters of the city’s pursuit of new economy opportunity for residents, business and government. CWRU was one of a handful of organizations that contributed to this effort.
In addition to the ECHO computer distributions, this collaboration has led to the city partnering with the Cleveland Institute of Art and REALinks on a world class virtual community portal, and OneCleveland bringing their ultra broadband capabilities, consulting and relationships into the collaboration to make East Cleveland a demonstration community in the world renowned Digital Cities initiative.