HUD's DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY KICKS OFF NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORKS WEEK 2006
Events include a Cyber Explosion and NASA's Imagine Mars Webcast

WASHINGTON, DC - HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Programs, Charles H. Williams, kicks off Neighborhood Networks Week today as the keynote speaker at Interstate Realty Management's Eighth Annual Neighborhood Networks Cyber Explosion. This event, at Montgomery Townhouses Neighborhood Networks Center in Philadelphia, is the first of many scheduled for the week of July 31-August 5, 2006.

The Cyber Explosion will include a movie screening that showcases IRM's successful job training program, an award presentation to residents that have become Neighborhood Networks Employment Successes and Bookworm Competitions for both youth and senior residents.

Along with the Cyber Explosion, Neighborhood Networks Week 2006 officially begins with a live Webcast hosted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a Neighborhood Networks partner. The Imagine Mars Webcast will give participants an opportunity to learn about NASA's Imagine Mars Project, which encourages students to envision and create a futuristic community on Mars.

Neighborhood Networks Week will highlight local and national efforts to improve technology access and promote economic and educational opportunity for residents living in HUD insured and assisted housing. Many of HUD's 1,200 Neighborhood Networks centers are holding events throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Locally sponsored Neighborhood Networks center events may include community outreach days, open houses, career days, health fairs, carnivals and grand openings. Several centers are holding events in support of National Night Out, a unique crime/drug prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch.

Other highlights for the week include:

• On August 2nd, at 2 p.m. (EDT), i-SAFE America staff will conduct Internet safety training through their Virtual Online Training Academy. Neighborhood Networks consortium members have been invited to participate in i-SAFE's i-Learn training module that teaches techniques aimed at protecting youth from cyber predators. The interactive online training will also allow consortium participants to ask questions, hear others' questions, and receive real-time answers to these questions.

• On August 4th, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (EDT), the Glenarden Apartments H.O.P.E. and Resource Center in Glenarden, Maryland, will host a Celebrating Healthy Families Fair. Neighborhood Networks Director Delores Pruden will be joined by Michelle Porter, HUD Neighborhood Networks Coordinator in the Washington, D.C. Field Office and Center Director Essie Willis to recognize the center's summer program, youth leaders, and partnering organizations.

The Celebrating Healthy Families Fair will begin with an awards ceremony recognizing youth leaders. It will be followed by a community health fair and center partners, such as Heart to Hand, Inc. and the Prince George's County Public Schools Head Start Program, will host booths at the fair.

The Glenarden Apartments H.O.P.E. and Resource Center is currently featured on the Neighborhood Networks Web site due to the success of its comprehensive arts program, which recently contributed to an exhibit at the prestigious Capital Children's Museum in Washington, D.C.

A full schedule of the week's events is available online.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development, and enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet and espanol.hud.gov.

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