Boston is setting a precedent in its approach to municipal wireless Internet by partnering with an independent non-profit organization, openairboston.net, that will be a wholesale provider to the entire city.  This unique relationship will allow all Boston businesses, residents, and tourists, to access affordable and reliable service.  The relationship will allow Boston to meet three essential goals: 1) ameliorate the Digital Divide 2) stimulate economic development and 3) improve the quality of City services.  Unlike other cities aiming to establish municipal wireless through close affiliation with a handful of technology corporations, such as San Fransisco's partnership with Google, Boston will manage this as a public process with full transparency and accountability.  Its technology partner, openairboston.net (OAB) is a private, non-profit corporation created specifically to develop, implement and operate affordable wireless Internet access throughout the City of Boston.  

• A pilot project
• in 2007 is expected to reach approximately 20,000 people in Boston's Grove Hall neighborhood  
• Expected costs are $9.95 to $15.00 for high-speed service

Somerville, Massachusetts, is the  the first New England city with a municipal call center and help desk that allows residents, city employees, and City Aldermen to report non-emergency situations to local government, and efficiently track City Hall's response.  The innovative system--which can be accessed by dialing 311 from any Somerville phone--provides residents with one central mechanism to make service requests and obtain valuable information about city and neighborhood services and activities.   Residents can submit work requests via the web, and easily monitor their completion through the help desk tracking system.  The tracking system allows the city to identify trends in service requests, assess how quickly they are being addressed, and decide how to best allocate resources within departments and across city government, improving efficiency and increasing transparency. 

• Shortly after its implementation, the call center was averaging 700 calls per week
• The system cost $50,000 to implement

Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women
The Charles F. Hurley Building
19 Staniford St., 6th Fl.
Boston, MA 02114-2502
Phone: 617-626-6520
http://www.massgap.org/guidelines.htm

Founded in 2002, the Massachusetts Government Appointments Project (MassGap) works to increase the number of women appointed to high-level state government positions in Massachusetts.  The initiative engages actively with gubernatorial candidates only before and after elections to ensure that women are appointed to high posts, helping to close the traditional gender gap in state government.  Working in cooperation with the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, MassGap is an integral part of Massachusett's drive to promote full equality for women in all areas of life.  Since its founding, the initiative has enjoyed considerable success 

• Before MassGap was founded in 2002, only 30% of the top high-level appointed positions in MA were occupied by women
• After MassGap's initial success, the State University of New York (SUNY) ranked Massachusetts first in the nation in female appointments

Developed by Third Sector New England, the NonProfit Center provides eight floors of comfortable, highly functional office and meeting space for large and small progressive nonprofit organizations. The building also features community meeting space and a healthy environment of sustainable "green design" with energy-efficient systems and natural, recyclable products. Most importantly, the NonProfit Center of Boston providing to the nonprofit organizations located there:

• Secure, affordable rents that are stable and predictable An environment that fosters collaboration and creates synergy with like-minded groups
• Greater visibility for social change work

A new arm of the world's leading search engine, Google.org, is leading the push for corporate action on the world's most intractable problems based on "doing well by doing good."  Google.org is a for-profit "socially conscious venture" that is working to solve the world's biggest problems through an innovative mix of entrepreneurship, investment in new ideas, and a commitment to spend Google's profits responsibly.  Google.org partners with venture capitalists to launch innovative ideas to address social and environmental concerns.  By refusing non-profit status and partnering with venture capitalists to invest in promising approaches, and helping to take them to scale, its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin say that they hope to solve the world's problems by garnering significant financial resources, and hope that Google.org will "someday eclipse Google itself in overall world impact." 

Ashoka invests in people.  It searches the world for leading social entrepreneurs and provides them—Ashoka Fellows—with the financial resources they require to focus full time on spreading innovative ideas and building world- changing institutions.  Rather than investing in projects or programs, Ashoka's investment allows the fellows to become changemakers--individuals with the drive, compassion, and ingenuity to help tackle the world's most pressing challenges.  Founded on the premise that the most effective way to promote positive social change is to invest in social entrepreneurs with sustainable, replicable solutions, Askoka's work is putting humans and human capital at the center of development and social change.

Ashoka is currently a $30-million-dollar organization supporting the work of 1800 fellows worldwide in more than 60 countries around the world

TakingITGlobal.org brings social networking to the world of positive youth activism and is "the world's most popular online community for young people interested in making a difference." Through partnerships with global organizations, including the UN and major multinational corporations, TakingITGlobal.org connects youth from around the world, facilitating, inspiring, and supporting action in a variety of areas.  The highly interactive website takes advantage of the newest trends in online communication and IT technology--blogs, chats, streaming videos, and  interactive tools--to provide a platform for the expression of and connection to opportunities for the world's greatest resource: youth.  As globalization erases the geographic boundaries separating the world's citizens, TakingITGlobal gives young citizens at the local level access to global colleagues.  A sample project includes Youth Island, a collaboration with UNESCO, that focuses on youth in small island nations such as Samoa and Jamaica. TakingITGlobal has:

* More than 130,000 members in 200 countries and territories
* More than 1,500 self-generated projects
* Key partners, including UNESCO, UNICEF, and the Global Youth Action Network

Global Nomads Group (GNG) was founded in 1998 to foster dialogue and understanding among the world's youth. Using interactive technology like videoconferencing, it brings youth from around the world face-to-face to bridge the boundaries of cultural misconception and discuss issues. Students improve their communication, geographical and critical thinking skills as well as their understanding of different cultures. GNG pairs schools and supplies them with videoconferencing or webcasting technology, and supplementary reading materials. Its programs put youth in charge of their own education by using student moderators to lead discussions without the mediation of teachers or other adults.  It has already: 

• Connected American students with youth from Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Iraq and Honduras
• Fostered discussions on issues such as the Tsunami, the Iraq War, the Sudan crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Created virtual journeys to the ancient city of Petra, Mayan ruins in Honduras and a Sudanese refugee camp

BuildingBlocks International's (BBI) mission is to create a generation of socially responsible business leaders by making community service a pillar of corporate leadership development.  To accomplish this, it created the Corporate Service Corps (CSC), a groundbreaking program that connects corporate managers with community-based organizations in the developing world.  BBI places participants in community-service "externships" where they provide management and technical assistance to organizations to build capacity and improve efficiency. In return, the CSC teaches future business leaders to be socially responsible and strengthens their managerial and leadership skills. It:

    *  Partners with community-based organizations in 48 nations
    *  Piloted the CSC program in Santiago, Chile 
    *  Launched the 1000 Challenge to increase international corporate community service