Community Voice Mail Receives $250,000 Grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

SEATTLE -- On the eve of their national conference, the Community Technology Institute announced today a $250,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support its Community Voice Mail (CVM) project. The CVM project will provide free voicemail for homeless and low-income people in Seattle, Spokane, Tri-Cities, Everett, and Chehalis, Wash. In Oregon, Portland and Salem will benefit from the project.

Leaders from 33 CVM offices from across the country are convening this weekend for a three-day conference in Seattle, the program's founding city. Washington State Senator Lisa Brown (D-Spokane), chairwoman of the Senate Energy, Technology and Telecommunications Committee, is the keynote speaker.

Community Voice Mail was founded in 1991, in response to a basic but critical need: a direct, personal communication network for homeless job seekers. State Senator Brown has championed Community Voice Mail throughout the legislative process in Olympia, citing increased state access to CVM as one of her priorities.

"Access to a telephone is critical to close the separation between the haves and have-nots in our country," said Senator Brown. "CVM promotes self-determination, dignity and service efficiency. It is also another example of how Washington state's innovations are setting standards for the rest of the country."

High tech entrepreneur Robert L. Richmond, who also will address the group, is board chairman of Active Voice Corporation, a Seattle-based voice messaging company, and has been instrumental to CVM's growth across the country.

"It's an amazing leverage of technology and builds on the success of our company. We are proud that we not only have guided the development of great communication software for business, but that we've built great software for people who don't have access to basic communication links," said Richmond, who received the Presidential Service Award in October 1999 for his efforts.

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The three-day conference, featuring presentations on expansion strategy and technical training, kicks off Friday, May 5 at the Seattle Labor Temple. For more information, please contact Jennifer Brandon at the National Community Voice Mail headquarters, Community Technology Institute, 206-441-7872, Ext. 175.

About Community Technology Institute and Community Voice Mail

Established in Seattle in 1991, Community Voice Mail was the first community-based program to use telecommunications technology to solve human problems and boost social services delivery in the nation. CVM was a recipient of the Ford Foundation – Harvard Kennedy School of Government Innovations Award in 1993. In October 1999, its Board Chairman, Robert Richmond, received the Presidential Service Award from President Clinton for his dedication to bettering the lives of homeless people through the donation of voicemail software and leadership. Richmond is the Chairman of Active Voice Corporation, a Seattle-based voice mail software company that contributes its product and expertise to Community Voice Mail.

For more information about the Community Voice Mail project, please contact Jennifer Brandon, executive director of Community Technology Institute, at (206) 441-7872 (ext. 175) or visit www.cvm.org.