Through its proposed associated non profit foundation, called "Foundation of A Better Community For All (FABC)," ABC4All, Inc. will create a Founding Launch Alliance Team, to include a variety of existing e-commerce entities wishing to support the misssion of ABC4All.
The most updated information on recent developments with ABC4All may be found on line at these locations: PreLaunch UnderConstruction Page Confidential Internal Document: DREAMS Proposed ABC4All Fitness FUN Guru ByourChoice! The Internet's Budget Downsizing Site!
C.O.R.E. Club: Benefits Galore!
CONFIDENTIAL
A Better Community For All (ABC4All), Inc. DREAMS... Children... Future... Imagine... If you could imagine the world as the best place that it could be - the place you would want to live in -- what would it be like? Would it be a world without hungry children or adults? Would it be a world with no homeless people? Would it be a world where there were no people who wore rags, but all of whom had good clothes? Would it be a world where people everywhere could take care of themselves and their families? Would it be a better community for all? HELP US HELP YOU CREATE SUCH A WORLD: Say Yes to A Better Community For All (ABC4All)!™ Who are we? A Better Community For All (ABC4All), Inc. is a for profit company whose mission is to educate people worldwide how, systematically, to harness the power of the internet to convert discounts and rebates achievable via online consumerism of all types into multiple simultaneous maximized contributions to a worthwhile chosen cause! MILLENNIUM CELEBRATIONS Would it be a world where we celebrate the human spirit, as we did for the New Millennium on 12/31/1999 and as we watched ourselves celebrate the diversity yet commonality of humanity? What if we could create a Cultural Music Bridge (http://unisong.com/mbridge/index.html) called, "Tomorrow's Child," and we could celebrate once more -- this time for the New Millennium Celebration just before the close of the year 2000? Theme for "Tomorrow' s Child" Concert: "Let Children Be Children." Imagine children and artists arriving at one location from 196 countries, coming together to sing new original songs during a charity concert sponsored by Say Yes to A Better Community For All!™ , "Tomorrow's Child," with theWorld Children's Choir (WCC) participating. Imagine including in that concert the World Children's Choir also singing their theme song: "Together We Can Change The World." What are we? A Better Community For All (ABC4All), Inc. offers a commercial paradigm shift, a new way of doing business in the world: As a for profit corporation, ABC4All brings together individuals, groups and companies who wish to further its mission and vision: ABC4All, Inc. (ABetterCommunityForAll.com), a virtual corporation, utilizes electronic commerce (E-commerce) based consumerism as a focus to raise virtually unlimited funds for individuals, families, businesses, charities, affinity groups, schools, disease-cure foundations, communities and governments, enhancing the worldwide activities of well known philanthropists. ABC4All's charge is to educate people on the systematic means to participate in online internet-based "TechnoGiving" as is presently illustrated by the internet company, iGive.com (http://iGive.com): Directed Consumerism With Automatic "TechnoGiving" (DCAT) Look for the ABC4All logo, DCAT's Doing Good Online!™ To be reassured that you are online via the ABC4All "GivingMall4All.com" with Maximized Charitable Activity Always At No Cost To The Donors! EDUCATION Would it be a world in which we educate children of all ages about this new way of doing business on the internet that can return millions and millions of dollars back into the community? The New Millennium Business Model provides a systematic method for giving back to our communities -- all over the world. Say Yes to A Better Community For All!™ How do we do it? ABC4All, Inc. works in tandem with an associated non profit organization, the Foundation Of A Better Community For All(FABC). As a major "give back" philanthropic group, ABC4All/FABC together will create a new business model, the "New Millennium Business Model," called: Say Yes to A Better Community 4All! ™ The group fosters both educational opportunities for children of all ages and profit making internet based income producing opportunities. The common goal is to return the majority of profits achieved from numerous on-line and off-line sales programs and referral strategic alliances back into community programs via the FABC. TOY MUSEUM Imagine a Toy Museum in your community. Children can create their own imagined toy and place it on the internet. Chidren from different countries can talk to one another about their imagined toys from all over the world without a language barrier. Each country will have such a virutal and physical Toy Museum of its own, a place where children of all ages can come and learn all about the New Millennium Business Model. They can view toys in history. They can play games which educate. They can take challenges via games which teach them ways to improve their lives and their community. They can learn, from the start, that we live in a world where people give back to the society. WHAT ARE THE WAYS WE CAN MAKE IT A BETTER WORLD? Children in Oakland, Califiornia have said it for all of us when they drew their "Hands On Oakland" mural which hangs in the City Hall. Take away "Oakland" and replace it with any community in the world. Replace it with YOUR community. Say Yes to A Better Community For All!™ begins with a focus on Oakland, California, but the concepts will apply anywhere, including right where you are now. HANDS ON OAKLAND MURAL The “Hands On Oakland” mural was created on January 4, 1999, in conjunction with Mayor Jerry Brown’s inauguration. Samples portrayed on the tapestry that still hangs in the corridor of the Mayor’s ground floor building and include the following words that are written over the many traced hands of the children/adults of the Oakland schools: People, time patience commit Go Jerry bring on the jobs… Freedom, Justice and Equality… Culture Arts Business Fun People, Prosperity Peace Early Childhood Education Leadership programs for Youth… Jobs and Education For Oakland… E A S E Ecology, Arts, Spirit of Wonder, Economics Sk 57 Bring Life To Downtown… Oakland Rocks Serve the Children… Free Coffee On BART… A New Vision From an old standpoint for Oakland For All Love Less Crime, It’s Oakland Time A New Day, Victory… Let’s Make a Difference… Fun Love Compassion Friends Keep Oakland Clean… Bring Downtown Oakland Alive…it’s closer than S.F. Protect Our Schools with mentoring & Love & Connection to U.C. May God Bless Oakland Always… Here’s to Greening Of Oakland! For a Green Healthy Relaxed City For All, Here’s to Great New Beginnings: Prosperity Hope Revival, Good luck I hope Oakland is the first city in the USA in the Future… Bring Oak to 1999 No Drugs… Better… Streets…Parks, Schools… Drug Free Jobs… Shelters for Homeless… Viva Oakland! Justice Ecology prosperity Creativity Legacy… I want Oakland to be the best…Clean, Fun Good Happy Peaceful… Oakland is a lovely place. Clean it up. Good Luck Jerry Brown… Better Communications With all the People… Of Oakland. GoInto the Community Ask the People Questions. Reparations for Africans Now… Create Jobs and Drive Out Crime… Neighbors and Neighborhoods, trees creeks, peace respect all people and crime… Take Personal Responsibility Go Oakland… Hills, flatlands, downtown… good luck to Mayor Jerry Brown For renewed strong vibrant public schools Celebrate Oakland landmarks Unity in community harmony love A Chicano Latino cultural center Let’s make Oakland a better place to live and play Anne’s Café I love Oakland Jerry we love your way Housing is a must Keep Oakland strong Remember the children 1999 Art Education More Gardens Community building I want Oakland to be nice and big Urban pride E-commerce - keep $$ in our community, in our homes That we all work together for the children New beginning for Oakland Stop the killing of our youth please Successful world class students ready for 2000 Eracism Give these Oaklanders what they deserve, the best All one people Greatest city in the world, past, present and future Oaklanders assistance center - 444-CITY Swans Market co-housing Don’t forget the disadvantaged citizens of Oakland Try not to screw things up with your ego Costa Rica peace Celebrate diversity FOUNDATION OF A BETTER COMMUNITY FOR ALL ABC4All, Inc. has also created its associated Foundation of A Better Community For All (FABC4All) as an additional non profit vehicle involved with a major fundraising effort via the Toy Museum Project (TMP), called the Millennium Endowment Fund (MEF). Corporations can contribute to this fund as we expand the TMP into multiple countries beyond the first Toy Museum to be located at the new World Trade Center in Oakland, California. FUNdraising™ Finally, ABC4All, Inc. creates an "Ultimate Matching FUNdraising™ Program (UMFP)" wherein every internet-based charitable contribution generated is matched, or doubled. FOUNDING LAUNCH NONPROFIT ALLIANCES A Better Community For All (ABC4All), Inc. will launch activities with a focus on the world's children: JustSayYes Educational Technology Foundation (JSYF) (http://www.justsayyes.org), a non profit Foundation, works with youth, ages 12-36, helping them become successful entrepreneurs on the InterNet. JustSayYes also supports a cause helping children of the "untouchables" in India and another cause bringing music to children around the globe. The World Children's Choir (WCC) (http://www.worldchildrenschoir.org), a non profit group, is considering a "Founding Children's Choir Launch Alliance" with ABC4All. They also support the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other children's causes. Theme Song: "Together We Can Change The World." Music Bridges Around the World (MBATW) (http://www.unisong.com/mbridge/index.html) a non profit group, via founder/songwriter Alan Roy Scott, in a "Founding World Music Alliance" with ABC4All, Inc. offers a series pending projects with ABC4All, Inc., as the invited sponsor. Included is "Tomorrow's Child" involving a child/artist from 196 countries. Theme: "Let Children Be Children." JSY/ABC4All, together with WCC and MBATW alliances, will launch activities with a focus on special causes, such as: Foundation for Donor & Family Assistance(http://www.donorfoundation.org/index.html), a non profit organization whose mission is to help as many families of living donors of all types as we possibly can. We will work to continuously make the Foundation grow larger and stronger so that eventually, when one human being wants to give the gift of life to another, there will be NO financial burden to bear. Our efforts will be global in their scope, as we believe that all men and women are created equal, regardless of their race, religion, nationality or birthplace. Kids4Tomorrow (K4T) (http://www.kids4tomorrow.org), a non profit organization of professional retired athletes...seizing an opportunity to interrupt the downward spiral of negative behavior in children by becoming mentors and role models on school campuses. Children's Immune Deficiency Foundation (http://www.healingkids.org), a non-profit organization devoted to the many thousands of kids who must deal each day with the trials and complications of Children's Immune Deficiencies. Healingkids.org is a membership-based international outreach community dedicated to providing enrichment to the lives of children with immune deficiencies, and to offering family members a safe place to learn and interact. HomeTown Heroes International (http://www.hometownheroes.org) Partnering area business and/or civic organizations with celebrities from their hometown or home state to create awareness and provide financial assistance to a specific community need to be determined by the celebrity, business and/or civic organization, or Hometown Heroes International. The vision is to ignite a spirit of hope and encouragement across America and throughout all nations, beginning within our own hometowns. It is when we exchange these fences for bridges that the miracle of change can begin to occur. What do we do? Through the efforts of the associated for profit and non profit groups, ABC4All and FABC, FUNdraising™ is carried out on the internet via all e-commerce transactions which are launched via the ABC4All, Inc. internet global portal, found at http://ABC4All.net. Having entered that site, consumers are assured they will be creating maximized contributions together with knowing they have the ability to have each contribution created matched, or doubled, by ABC4All, Inc. From the ABC4All Portal, consumers will surf, depending upon their particular consumer interest, to other internet sites - e.g., GivingMall4All.com, for general shopping. Sites to which consumers are referred via the ABC4AllMall will include those where alliances have been created with companies offering such products/services as health/life/auto/home insurance sales, automobile sales, real estate sales, investment brokerage services, mortgage financing, utilities, telecommunications, wireless products/services, etc. In short, all types of consumerism will be represented. TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTIONS Every e-commerce transaction will include a discount and/or a rebate provided by the vendor for the customer. The consumer then decides what portion -- or even all -- of the rebate is to be allocated to a charitable cause of their choosing. By using "Directed Consumerism with Automatic 'TechnoGiving, (DCAT)'" our customers accumulate a yearly tax-deductible contribution for the cause of their choice. We are also using our Toy Museum Project (TMP) with its associated Millennium Endowment Fund (MEF), to create opportunities for corporations in any country to contribute towards the creation and maintenance of a Technology Learning Center (TLC) (otherwise known as a Toy Museum) established in communities as a FUN place to learn - both virtually and physically. The MEF will be targeted to carry on its philanthropic charge into perpetuity as the Toy Museums expand first into 36, then into a total of 200 countries worldwide. Inherent within the Toy Museum concept will not only be opportunities for FUN learning, but also direct links to ABC4All's "TechnoGivingMall4All." How do we do it? We create, on the internet, the ABC4All "GivingMall4All.com" incorporated into, and in conjunction with, the International Magic Factory's (http://magicfactory.net) Theme Park web site. This three-dimensional web site will offer an appealing opportunity for children of all ages to have FUN while automatically FUNdraising™ on the internet. There will be numerous opportunities for educational experiences which will teach methods for becoming free of long term debt and to achieve financial stability. Games for children of all ages on the site will all have an educational orientation, in contrast to other games involving violence or other unappealing themes. What does what we do accomplish? We bring about a means for redistributing the world's wealth back to society, where it always belonged. Because of the nature of the internet, it is possible to take each and every consumer purchase made on the internet via the projected trillion dollar e-commerce economy, and to include a discount and/or rebate which can be allocated as a charitable contribution. The dynamics of what can be accomplished are illustrated below: · 2000 people support a cause, each making purchases amounting to $50 a week for 50 weeks in the year on the internet with 10% allocated as a rebate back to the consumer, or $5 x 50, which is then designated as the year-end tax-deductible charitable contribution of $250.00. · At the end of one year, with such systematic participation, the group of 2000 supporting their chosen cause has raised $500,000. · ABC4All, Inc. steps in with its Ultimate Matching FUNdraising™ Program (UMFP), doubling that amount to $1,000,000. This example demonstrates the vast potential the internet holds for any individual, group, non profit, school district and community as we gear up to more and more shifting of business activity online. This e-commerce phenomenon has already taken hold before the passage into the New Millennium. The potential for the New Millennium Business Model's "Ultimate FUNdraising™4All" will only increase with the passage of years further and further into the New Millennium as we approach the expected online trillion dollar economy. How is what we do different from what others do? ABC4All, Inc.'s Ultimate Matching FUNdraising™ Program (UFMP) for charitable contributions generated on the Internet is a unique offering. Further, ABC4All, Inc. offers Value Added Benefits via the GivingMall4All.com site in the form of: · LongDistance4All.com: FREE web-based long distance to businesses and residences. · ISPDialUp4All.com: FREE dial up internet service provider (ISP) access. · FreeShipping4All.com: FREE shipping on the internet. These and other "Best Value Choices (BVC)" found at http://ByourChoice.com offer consumers a means to begin to achieve financial relief by: · Achieving better values while spending less. · Eventually consumers are able to reduce, if not eliminate, their long term indebtedness by implementing ABC4All Programs. · By greatly reducing their financial burden over time, consumers then are able to offer charitable contributions as an easily managed and encouraged habit. What are the features and benefits we offer? TECHNOLEARNING AND TECHNOGIVING We have a number of educational and technological innovations that make us very unique on the Internet. Our site, ABC4All.net and the associated GivingMall4All.com, offer a built-in educational focus. The site will be designed by a team of former Disney Engineers from the Magic Factory: http://www.magicfactory.net/Team.htm Our theme park web design is unique on the Internet and offers a web based experience with three-dimensional graphics and icons (no flat banners) which intrigue the visitor and cause them to want to explore more deeply into the site. As they begin to move more deeply into our website, consumers come across across information which potentially can help themselves, their family, their community. This process is produced as part of an educational opportunity that demonstrates at once the methods to reduce debt and to make charitable contributions, all done at the same time. TOY MUSEUM TECHNOLEARNING CENTERS The concept of the Toy Museum is another name for an advanced technology learning center -- "TechnoLearning Center." The theme begins with toys and all the ramifications of toys, toys of the world, childhood toys and imagineering toys. Where there are no real toys in existence, children can invent toys that are in their minds and can write and speak about them with the help of others at or in the toy museum closest to them or virtually on the internet. Children can communicate with others worldwide with no language barriers with our software capabiltiies. The psychological approach of our Learning Centers is to involve children of all ages and of all concerns and to transfer their energy away from them and teaching them how problem solve. Through our learning Centers, they will learn how to give back to others something that is a part of them and that this idea can be developed with little time, if needed, or with a whole lot of time, if available, that becomes a future legacy for other children to visit and see on a web site that they conceived and built with a little technical help. The Toy Museum project is both virtual and real and can be later replicated for the benefit of helping charities learn and follow in the creative ways to FUNdraise™ for local and regional causes. JOINT PROJECT Could we consider a joint project to instate the concepts for Say Yes To A Better Community For All!™ on a global scale via the internet? HARNESS THE POWER OF THE INTERNET Can we, through ABC4All, harness the power of the internet to bring the combined concepts of e-commerce and ABC4All to a worldwide focus? SELF-IMPROVEMENT Can we create a focus which can include allowing communities everywhere to define their own methods of self-improvement while individual participants and groups within those communities develop solutions via contributions for local worthwhile causes of their choosing with their directed consumerism via the internet? Can we, in so doing, create "WorldSolutions™?" SOHO/CORPORATIONS If you are in business as a Small Office Home Office or as a corporation, can your company's resources help us create a collaborative base for implementing the ABC4All concepts? Can together we create a Millennium Endowment Fund (MEF) that will, in perpetuity, work with groups everywhere to become self-funded? ONE PERSON AT A TIME If you are an individual, can you and others with whom you are associated join forces with ABC4All to create such a better world? DOUBLING EVERY CONTRIBUTION ON THE INTERNET What if ABC4All matched, or doubled, every contribution already being generated on the internet? MatchingFunds4All.com REBATES UP TO 40% OF THE PURCHASE PRICE Imagine if up to 40% of the purchase price of everything you buy could come back to you as a rebate. Would that rebate help you defray all the expenses associated with your computer, your car, your home? FREEDOM FROM LONG TERM DEBT Would you like to get out from under long term debt and monthly payments and live, free and clear, with the pride of debt-free ownership of your car and home given back to you? ALLOCATING REBATES Once free of debt, would you consider offering part, or maybe sometimes even all, of that rebate you receive from your internet shopping as a tax-deductible contribution to a charity of your choice? FREE LONG DISTANCE What if you were offered free long distance worldwide - for your business AND your home - helping you further downsize your budget so you could use the funds usually allocated for your long distance calls for other items? Would you be willing to donate $10 out of every $100 saved to a cause of your choosing? LongDistance4All4.com FREE SHIPPING: What if all shipping costs on items you purchased on the internet were defrayed and you never had to pay for the cost of shipping items to your home? What would you do with those funds you would save on shipping costs? FreeShipping4All.com FREE INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER ACCESS What if you were offered free ISP dialup and you never had to pay $9.95, $16.95, $21.95 or even $24.95 a month for life for access to the internet, but instead were provided free access? How would you use those saved monies? ULTIMATE GIVING If up to a 40% rebate is achieved and matched by ABC4All, then up to 80% of the purchase price can be allocated by the consumer as a charitable contribution. THAT IS 80 PERCENT OF THE PURCHASE PRICE OF EVERYTHING YOU BUY ON THE INTERNET GOING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY! THE OPPORTUNITY BEFORE US Current trends in information technology and the developing e-commerce economy offer us a unique opportunity to assist in the unification of the world through the newly developing global economy and the power it offers us to create a new world order: Say Yes to A Better Community For All!™ Creating an Internet Social Revolution -- Directed Consumerism With Automatic "TechnoGiving" (DCAT) CONCLUSION: WHAT CAN HAPPEN NOW ALL of the savings listed above and many more BestValueChoices found at http://ByourChoice.com, with many more to come, are now possible, for both businesses and individuals all over the globe. Rebates as high as 40% can be returned to consumers. Donations based on those rebates can be as high as 80% of the purchase price which, with ABC4All's Ultimate FUNdraising™ Matching Program (UFMP) can be returned back to charitable organizations. Are you ready to help us help you achieve that world of your dreams? CELEBRATION If you will consider ABC4All, we may, together, be able to earn the trust of diverse peoples everywhere. It will be the equivalent of an extension of the spirit and community celebration that was so profound as people all over the world, together, watched themselves celebrate the New Millennium. ELIMINATION OF POVERTY AND INEQUALITY E-commerce based fundraising has the potential to bring civilization to new heights with the remarkable ability to achieve common goals and interests for diverse peoples. ABC4All addresses, through the new e-commerce based economy, the plight of those who are not yet fortunate in life to reap the benefits of self-sufficiency and financial independence. WHAT YOU CAN DO Please consider joining ABC4All in the group effort necessary to bring about the realization of ABC4All's mission. JOIN OUR DISCUSSION LIST Join the CommunityPartnerships Discussion List: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/communityprtnerships JOIN IGIVE.COM: http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=10192&mid=8040 Enroll in the proposed ABC4All sponsored site, iGive.com or other similar internet sites, where a portion of every purchase you make online will go back to you as a rebate and where you can create a contribution based on part or all of that rebate to the favorite charity of your choice. You can support the cause of your choosing. EDUCATION Help us help you to educate yourself and others to take advantage of what the internet now allows us to accomplish, making it a better world. When you go to this web site to join iGive you will automatically contribute $10.00 to the cause you support, just by joining and shopping once within 45 days from the date you join: http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=10192&mid=8040 Remember, you can, from then on, support the nonprofit cause of your choosing. IMAGINE MAKING IT A BETTER COMMUNITY FOR ALL! If you can imagine such a better world, one where it now can become a reality just by joining with us in our educational efforts, please help us help you create a better community for all. We will develop programs for "TechnoMentoring." We will develop programs for "TechnoGiving." We will develop "TechnoLearningCenters" (Toy Museums). We will develop various tools for you to use such as a Say Yes To ABC4All CD-Rom. Ultimate FUNdraiser4All (UFA) Welcome to the PreLaunch of the co-branded New Millennium Business Model: Say Yes To A Better Community for All!™ (Song by WCC) "Together We Can Change The World." COLLABORATIVE REBIRTH OF INNER CITY COMMUNITIES THE TOY MUSEUM PROJECT (TMP) - MILLENNIUM ENDOWMENT FUND (MEF) Pilot Inner City Project: City of Oakland, California ABC4All invites Kids4Tomorrow and HealingKids, together with the World Children's Choir and Music Bridges Around The World, all non profit organizations, to join in with ABC4All, Inc./FABC in a series of Launch Charity Concert EXPO2000 - HANOVER, GERMANY - OCTOBER 2000 TOMORROW'S CHILD - DECEMBER 2000 At these events, the Toy Museum Project (TMP) will become a focus for the creation of The Millennium Endowment Fund (MEF). Together TMP and MEF will serve as a vehicle for ABC4All to work in perpetuity with these, other charitable groups and inner cities worldwide to become self-funded. Who is our target market? ABC4All is all about people helping other people in accomplishing their mission(s) in life. However worthy, their ideas can be enhanced by the opportunities found on our web site and at the Toy Museum. We deal with all peoples, all countries, all ethnicities, all religions, in short anyone who wants to help ABC4All fulfill its mission. What brochures, material do we provide them? What do we want them to do with this material? ABC4All will generate a series of web site-related brochures which will invite people to the internet and to learn about dedicated charitable consumerism through that medium. The challenge will be to educate individuals, groups, non profits, even communities on the various means available to achieve self-funding by learning how to shop on the Internet and achieve dramatic savings. They can then choose to donate their savings using our internet "donate" button to raise funds for their local school or favorite charity and FUNdraise while they shop and save. Our materials will be available for distribution, for example, within a school district, when such a setting becomes the focus for assistance. What options, if any will be built into the proposed project and what flexibilities can be considered? The development of a universal ABC4All web site and its combined resources will include hot links off other sites, such as a School District Website and other non-profit organizations, to encourage and educate members and supporters to learn how to shop on-line, click on our internet "donate" button and in the process FUNdraise. We will incorporate all languages on this truly international site. We will enable e-commerce transactions in 200 countries. We will offer an internet "donate" button next to streaming videos of charity concerts ABC4All will sponsor. Donations will be captured via the proposed “TechnoGiving” programs soon to be in place along with other strategies explored with the Toy Museum Project. FROM HANDS ON OAKLAND TO A BETTER COMMUNITY FOR ALL Our initial pilot program will be in the Community of Oakland, California. Preliminary exploration has uncovered multiple groups and programs which can benefit from ABC4All/FABC activities. We will focus the initial efforts of ABC4All, Inc. in that community, and once we have established credibility and a positive impact, we will expand our activities into other communities, states, countries as time allows and as we can expand our efforts. The TMP is envisioned to be started initially in 36 countries, with later extension to 200 in total. Below is a description of a recent tour of the Community of Oakland, California with a suggested early focus for ABC4All in its home base: FROM HANDS ON OAKLAND TO YES TO ABC4ALL! by Burton Danet, Founder and Bob Chew, V.P. Business Development A Better Community For All, Inc. INTRODUCTION During the latter part of April and early May 2000, a visit was made to Oakland, California, International HeadQuarters of A Better Community For All (ABC4All), Inc., courtesy our associated Just Say Yes Educational Technology Foundation. Jim (CEO/Founder) and Svetlana Knight, as hosts, who offered a home base while Bob Chew (Co-Founder) arranged for a marathon tour of the Oakland area. The tour offered an opportunity to develop an overview of the community and to look at ways ABC4All might anticipate introductory pilot programs in Oakland. The following are highlights with opportunities to follow up as ABC4All programs are implemented within Oakland. REFLECTIONS BY BOB CHEW, LONG TIME EAST BAY RESIDENT When the founder of ABC4All, Mr. Burton Danet, visited Oakland, California during the Spring of 1999, he was surprised to find that a description of the mission of his new organization was already spelled out in the "Hands On Oakland” mural that was created over a year ago as a way to congratulate Jerry Brown on his Mayoral inauguration in January 1999. It would be difficult to summarize the thoughts of hundreds of youth and adults who contributed to that mural, yet we have captured some of those precious thoughts above. Having been taken aback by the depth of thoughts expressed on the mural, Burt commented over and over again to friends here in Oakland and Los Angeles that the “Hands On Oakland” mural had already very well defined the mission for “A Better Community For All.” He explained that “They had already articulated so well the feelings of a community that is already undergoing change.” The Oakland community was already well on its way to outlining the goals and visions of a such better community for all. This author, who has lived over 46 years of his 49 year life in the East Bay, was also captivated by the words of the youth, who are among several thousands who enter almost daily all the expanded offices of the downtown City Hall. Those who have not visited the “mural” can still visit it just outside the offices of the “public assistance office” of Oakland situated on the south entrance or 14th Street entrance to City Hall. All along, we shared the vision of how individually and now collectively we have a golden opportunity to bring people together in other cities and other countries as well. “But we are starting right here in Oakland, California, the home of our new corporate offices,” explains Burt, a retired psychologist, now residing in Los Angeles in the neighborhood that intersects Beverly Hills, Los Angeles and Century City. No one could truly do justice to a summary of the entire mural as the city officials also acknowledge the art work of the youth of Oakland. The person reading some of the words above will garner a feeling of universal peace and safety that has already been echoed by hundreds of community leaders in planning session after planning session that pre-dates the early 1990’s and the movement spurred on by Oakland Sharing the Vision, to name only one such campaign. Today is a new day in Oakland, as we look about the “revitalized downtown area.” City Councilman John Russo will be assuming the newly elected role of City Attorney for which he most recently won over a mayoral appointed position of years past. John had been totally committed to the betterment of a city and is also most pleased by the progress he has seen directly in the two terms that he has experienced as a District city councilman for downtown Oakland. There are thousands of federal, state and county officials who look to Oakland as a potential renaissance or rebirth of a city. These government officials and thousands of citizens of Oakland are anxious also to see what happens next as the skirmishes between School Board and Mayoral efforts are stacked up to win over a population that is receptive to change and yet some elements are fighting to keep the status quo and control away from a strong mayoral campaign. However the saga of better schools is flushed out, a future mural from the schools of Oakland may just reflect something like the following: “Come to Oakland, a City that has overcome prejudice, the digital divide and over development and yet has been able to retain many of its low income housing and neighborhoods, exemplifying the diversity of the city that has evolved over the past 35 years.” Perhaps such words might be echoed by a junior high school almunus who has sought the same qualities and goals as expressed by the newly launched mission of A Better Community For All (ABC4All), Inc. circa June 23, 2000. The official announcement by ABC4 All, Inc. regarding its intent to become a change agent in the New Millennium will be released to coincide with the opening of the Alameda County Fair’s festivities June 2000 in Pleasanton, California. By Robert Chew, Vice President of Business Development for ABC4All, Inc. The following are highlights from the Oakland Tour: VISIT TO CARL GUSTAFSON At a social gathering by Carl, there was occasion to share the concepts of YES to ABC4All with several guests, including two couples and a businessman. All seemed interested in learning more. HANDS ON OAKLAND In Oakland City Hall, there are several huge murals on which tracings of children's hands contain ideas on how to create a better community in Oakland. We can explore the history of this project and consider placing the children's dreams for Oakland on ABC4All WebSite. E-COMMERCE RESOURCE CENTER JustSayYes/ABC4All have international headquarters at the ECRC. Tim Pavek, Building Manager, has provided a tour of proposed office space. He indicated availability of outside top floor building signage to replace "Nextell" and we suggested we might consider placing "YES to ABC4All" as the replacement. Competition with Xerox may be in the wings, so we are advised to move rapidly. JOB SEARCH We visited a nonprofit group, Eastbay Works (“Connecting People with Opportunities with Employment”), in San Pablo and also in downtown Oakland at the PIC Offices (Private Industry Council) offering multiple services around job training. 90% of jobs listed require computer literacy. About 30-40% of the general population currently have a computer in the home. YOUTH F.U.E.L. Mike Walton, Concurrent Technology Corporation, shared information about the Global Education Partnership presenting Youth F.U.E.L. (Fostering Urban Entrepreneurial Learning), May 12-13, 2000. CTC manager Mike Walton is totally supportive of the International and local progress exhibited by these non-profit organizations and the efforts demonstrated by future incubator programs affiliated with Just Say YES over the past two years. CONCURRENT TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION FOUNDATION Mike Walton shared that the Washington D.C. based Foundation has expressed interest in learning more about YES to ABC4All and may consider mutual cooperation as we tackle mutual rehab buildings together to maximize learning experiences for the East Bay and Oakland youth. URBANSPACE DEVELOPMENT Stephen Lowe, Project Manager, UrbanSpace Development, discussed ways to create a focus around the rehabilitation of the Fox Theatre in downtown Oakland, with an associated cultural complex. SMARTFORCE West Oakland Commerce Association Journal (March 2000) revealed that SmartForce, Gregory Priest, CEO, a Redwood City-based company is offering computer training to 10,000 people in Oakland to help them get jobs. ACORN COMPUTER LEARNING CENTER Acorn Center offers computer instruction to children living in a project with a computer in every home installed by the builder. Co-visionary, Bill Warren of the IBM Educational Division of IBM has been entertaining the request to develop seven more local projects and one in Los Angeles in the Area of Watts. PORT OF OAKLAND Employees of the Port of Oakland have generated over $160,000 in contributions in the last two years to combined charities in the Bay Area. The same building houses the Greater Oakland International Trade offices and they have just secured the marketing rights to the first Oakland based World Trade Center… a potential home for the world class proposed Toy Museum by proponents Bob Chew and Foundation for ABC4All. ROBERT PILC- architect and former Project Manager of a series of skyscrapers in North Carolina, Korea, and in San Francisco (Ginsler Architects (world wide). This architect and Bob Chew have worked together on the proposed Montgomery Ward Rehabilitation Projects. A single building that sports over 995,000 of potential leasible square footage-now undergoing some potential redevelopment with the Oakland Unified School District with limited use for generating a tax base for Oakland’s much sought after school and technology based learning. FRANK ESCALANTE Frank works with Hayward Philippino Church and formerly a pastor at Shiloh Ministry & Bible College. He is also involved with international trade and has offered to assist ABC4All with internet based shipping requirements, including with his country of origin, the Philippines and several continents of freight forwarding expertise. ALAMEDA COUNTY FAIR Judy Habel-Carrico, Fair Operations Manager revealed that Seniors have asked how adopting the new technologies can save them money. YES to ABC4All can participate in planning for the 20001 Fair beginning in August 2000. The Fair offers an opportunity to render its pictorial representation on a web site a la Magic Factory. PENTECOSTAL PRIVATE SCHOOL This school, run entirely by volunteers, offers an alternative to public and homebound education. They are in need of a new building, with therapeutic heated pools, and a new digital graphics computer Lab that will be offered tuition free to all 90 students from ages 5 through 22. Rounding out their current vocational curriculum are both basic and advanced classes in design of ethnic clothes and mass production of winning designs. HEATH ANGELO - A long time realtor in the central district of Broadway, and a past president of the Merchant Association of Oakland, Heath had expressed his interest and overall enthusiam over our proposed Toy Museum for the East Bay and our first ever world headquarters. Heath is working on a series of potential satellite buildings that would be suitable for a number of local sites in Oakland. TIM PAVEK-One of Oakland’s greater known property managers in the immediate vicinity of Downtown City Hall, Tim has pledged an incredible amount of support and enthusiam for the evolution of a rebirth of a city. He has seen the transition of from pre-1995 to the present with a much sought after demand for Class A office space for top start up companies. He has referred a number of future clients and prospective incubator tenants to a network of friendly brokers-one of whom is actively describing that a market demand of 500,000 sq. feet is listing locally in Oakland and there is an apparent shortage with only about 50,000 square feet today of Class A space. |