Nonprofit Arm of TechNet Seeks to Better Utilize Technology to Solve America's Most Pressing Challenges
SAUSALITO, Calif., Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- ConvergeUS, the nonprofit arm of TechNet, whose mission is to better leverage the collective power of technology to solve the nation's most pressing challenges, kicked off its inaugural conference this week in Sausalito, California.
ConvergeUS' co-chairs - TechNet's President and CEO Rey Ramsey and Twitter and Obvious Co-Founder Biz Stone - launched the nonprofit earlier this year at an event in Washington, DC with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and other luminaries. Joining this week's conference are White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, Oregon U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and a host of others.
ConvergeUS functions as a facilitator and convener to mobilize corporations, academic institutions and other nonprofits to create positive change through technology and innovation for America's social challenges. Each year, ConvergeUS identifies three problem areas to focus its attention this year to create "Technology Innovation Blueprints" that focuses on purposeful applications of technology to address these issues. ConvergeUS has selected the following issue areas and partners for its inaugural year of collaboration: Early Childhood Reading (The Campaign for Grade Level Reading); STEM Education (Silicon Valley Education Foundation); and Health Literacy (CommonHealth ACTION, Farm Sanctuary and Reach Out and Read).
ConvergeUS also announced a new partnership this week with the National Military Family Association on a broad strategic initiative to tap the resources of the technology, social media and telecommunications sectors to benefit military families. The partnership brings together the interests of traditional military family advocates and leaders in the technology industry to find new approaches to supporting military families in each of three ConvergeUS focus areas. The team's first project will focus on family support after deployments and this effort builds on First Lady Michelle Obama's Joining Forces campaign.
"When the innovation sector works more closely together on America's most pressing challenges, there's nothing we can't accomplish," said Rey Ramsey, President and CEO of TechNet and Chairman of ConvergeUS. "ConvergeUS brings the transformative power of innovation and the technology sector together with key stakeholders engaged in the social sector. In doing so, we are producing real social dividends for our nation."
"The open exchange of information can have a positive global impact but we have only begun to scratch the surface in harnessing technology to address tough social challenges," said Biz Stone, ConvergeUS co-chair. "ConvergeUS helps bring a more coordinated approach to the way we in the technology industry work together in an effort to bring significant accomplishments on a truly amazing scale. That is what ConvergeUS helps us do."
The ConvergeUS gathering takes place at the Cavallo Point Resort in Sausalito, California on October 5-6, 2011. The ConvergeUS gathering brings together subject matter experts, business leaders, scientists, engineers, social media specialists, social innovators and technologists from ConvergeUS corporate partners including TechNet member companies. The participants will engage in intensive work during the gathering and develop a year-long work plan or Technology Innovation Blueprint for achieving game changing results in the three issue areas. ConvergeUS is proud to have the following corporate partners for its work and the gathering: Applied Materials; AT&T, Cisco; Comcast Corporation; eTrade; J. P. Morgan Chase Foundation; Microsoft; and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
As an organization that understands and has access to key leaders in the technology, nonprofit, government and academic sectors, ConvergeUS is uniquely positioned to serve as a driver of technology-based social innovation. ConvergeUS is partnering with nonprofit organizations that have a capacity and interest in a problem area that has the potential for enhanced outcomes through technology. ConvergeUS is also collaborating with Babson College, Tufts University and the University of Notre Dame and other universities to fulfill its mission.
"By converging our subject matter expertise with the resources of the technology sector, we hope to foster unparalleled innovation in the critical area of STEM Education," said Muhammed Chaudhry, President and CEO, Silicon Valley Education Foundation.
"The National Military Family Association appreciates ConvergeUS' commitment to providing a voice for military families at the ConvergeUS Gathering and in all the work that ConvergeUS does," said Joyce Raezer, Executive Director, the National Military Family Association.
The board of ConvergeUS includes Rey Ramsey; Biz Stone; Darell Hammond, CEO, KaBOOM!; Joe Waz, President, Altura West LLC and Senior Fellow, University of Colorado; Tae Yoo, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Cisco; technology entrepreneur Kim Polese, and Paul Silverglate, Deloitte Strategic Services Partner.
The ConvergeUS Gathering was facilitated by AmericaSpeaks, a national nonprofit organization that was founded in 1995 to respond to the increasing disconnect between the American people and their government. The organization's mission is to make sure citizens participate more directly, and with greater impact, in the policy-making that deeply affects their lives. In over 16 years, America Speaks has engaged more than 165,000 people in deliberative forums to impact policy making. We are a non-partisan convener, advocating for a core component of our democracy: citizen involvement in decision-making.
About ConvergeUS
ConvergeUS is a 501 (c) (3), non-profit arm of TechNet, the bipartisan network of CEOs that promotes the growth of the innovation economy. Its mission is to leverage the collective power of the technology sector to accelerate social innovation—new strategies, concepts, ideas and coalitions—in collaboration with nonprofit organizations, government entities, academic institutions and the private sector. ConvergeUS will function as a facilitator and convener to bring diverse stakeholders together to create a "Technology Innovation Blueprint" that focuses on purposeful applications of technology and social media. For ConvergeUS, the primary areas of interest are education including science, technology, engineering and math education (STEM), support for military families, healthcare, sustainability and emergency preparedness. For 2011, ConvergeUS selected issue areas for collaboration that focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math education) early childhood education, and heath literacy. To learn more, visit www.convergeus.org. More about TechNet at www.technet.org.
SOURCE ConvergeUS
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