Village Falls Professional Center will be the first location where Naples Free-Net installed a public WiFi Hotspot. Not only is the Village Falls Professional Center the home of Naples Free-Net since 2003, it also has a new neighbor, the English Pub, with its customers being able to use the public WiFi Hotspot for their mobile and laptop communication. Other businesses at the center are East Naples Fire Fighters, New England Stamp, Allstate Financial Group, Collier Financial Inc., and Caregiver Education.

With the new WiFi Hotspot, Naples Free-Net also makes the jump into Mobile First, the first access site you’ll reach before you log onto the WiFi, will be a mobile optimized site, which after accepting the Terms of Services, (short, don’t abuse), you are able to learn more about the Naples Free-Net, donate a few dollars to help offset equipment costs and also register for free computer classes and workshop. This newly-created news section will also be available in mobile optimized form.
https://twitter.com/#!/NaplesFreeNet/status/164314092251783168/photo/1

Coastal Breeze News featured an article on “Naples Free-Net Offers Low-Cost Connectivity”:

http://coastalbreezenews.com/2011/12/30/naples-free-net-offers-low-cost-internet-connectivity/

NFN will start Intern Program for iTech’s Multi-Media Students.

In mid-December, President Birgit Pauli-Haack and Immokalee Coordinator Shelley Lieb met with Dorin Oxeder and Jamie Hernandez at the Immokalee Technical Center, short and lovingly called iTech. Mr. Oxeder is the Principle of the Vocational Training Center and Jamie Hernandez, Golden Apple Teacher 2011, is the Program Manager of the Multimedia Design and Web Development course.

NFN4 Good is NFN’s technology support program for local nonprofits that provides its members with WordPress, world’s most used web content management system, and with training on how to use it. The interns will be trained by the Naples Free-Net volunteers on how to maintain and manage a WordPress site and also assist nonprofit members in building out their website. Pauli-Haack said it’s a great syngery between the future webdesigner and experts learning to solve real world problems and the non-profits getting start-up assistance to have a more future- oriented website and migrate their organization into the online world.

For more information please contact Birgit Pauli-Haack at birgit@naples.net or go to the website: www.nfn4good.org.

Update January 31, 2013. The installment of the program is now finished and after more nonprofits signed up for NFN4Good program, the Internship program started in Janaury 2013 with four interns. More will be published soon on http://www.nfn4good.org.

NFN4Good Member Naples Concert Band Among 2012 Stars in the Arts.

Congratulations to the Naples Concert Band for being among the 2012 Winners of Stars in the Arts, honored by the United Arts Council’s Art Group of the year award. NCB is one of six Winners of this year’s Stars in the Arts celebration, the other Stars are:
James Cochran, Founder & Director of the Philharmonic Center Chorale
Brian Holley, Executive Director of the Naples Botanical Garden
William Noll, Artistic Director for Classic Chamber Concerts and ArtsNaples World Festival
Peter Thomas, TV & Radio Broadcaster and the voice of several nonprofits, among them The Phil, United Arts Council, Holocaust Museum & Naples Historical Society
Richard Tooke, President of the Friends of the Naples Museum of Art.

Community Foundation News: Collier 211 Reaches Funding Goal!

The Community Foundation held a celebration on January 11, 2012 at the Naples Beach Hotel of having gathered operating funding for the Collier 211 system.

Collier 211 is an Information & Referral System for the County’s Social Services agencies and providers. Upon call, the resident of need will be able to be referred to those social services that are able to provide emergency support, self-help groups, and advocates to navigate needs assessment, bureaucratic hurdles or break through language barriers in order to get help to their own self-sufficiency. The database has been filling up with information; on the other end will be caseworkers and information specialists to help you find the right service for your particular need.

Learn more about it here: http://www.collier211.org/