Some of the students, staff and professionals attending the 2010 Black Family Technology Week luncheon held at Northeast High School.

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More than 200 students, staff, technology professionals and partners listened to the musical stylings of a high school choir last week. But everyone was there to promote technology literacy.

Held at Northeast High School, the sixth-annual luncheon was again the signature event of the city’s 11th-annual Black Family Technology Awareness Week, which aims to promote digital literacy in nonwhite households to combat the digital divide.

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The streets and parks of the NEast use to be cluttered with happy children playing games and socializing.  No matter the climate they would endure the elements of Mother Nature and beg to spend a little more time enjoying life as a kid.  Adults could be seen flooding the streets for shopping, small errands and to socialize with their neighbors.

The time I speak of is not 50 years ago but a mere 10 years ago — before cell phones, iPods, BlackBerries and computers consumed our lives.  However antiquated the concept may sound, the simple fact of a society becoming overly reliant on technology cannot be denied.  continue reading »

Paul Deery, a spokesman for Urban Eco Electric at left, and three Frankford residents listen to state Rep. Tony Payton's Chief of Staff Jorge Santana introduce their discussion on solar energy opportunities, held Nov. 19, 2009 at the Sankofa School on Paul St. in Frankford.

Five years from now, the most meaningful state and federal solar energy incentive programs may likely be gone, a spokesman from a solar panel leasing company said at a community meeting in Frankford Thursday night.

“For the next three to five years, it makes sense to get out and talk to homeowners,” said Paul Deery from Urban Eco Electric, a solar panel leasing agent based in West Conshohocken, at an event hosted by state Rep. Tony Payton’s office. Deery was one-fifth of those present at the sparsely attended affair held in the meeting room of the Sankofa Freedom Academy at 4256 Paul St. in Frankford.

The attendance last night — four people at peak — was “unfortunately” a common representation of other similar solar meetings Payton’s office has hosted recently, said the representative’s chief of staff Jorge Santana.

Below, get the scoop on these programs and video of Deery pitching his organization.

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