While this site has been developed to support a political debate about how society is to transition into the Informaiton Age, it is targeted at community leaders who understand that in order to have strong regional economies we must have viable communities and competitive employers; we need to have strong families if we are to have healthy neighborhoods. With today's technology as many as 50% of jobs could potentially be performed from the home. Eliminating the trip eliminates stress on the family, congestion, emissions and accidents on the highways and, if done strategically, reduces the employer's overhead. Rather than spending huge sums of reinforcing the idea that you must go to work, we need to invest in how best to do work. If you break the connection between where you live and where you work, the opportunity for Community Development evolves to a whole new level. One of TCR's fundemental thesis is based upon the Community Typology which asserts that there are but six types of places in which to live. Further, it asserts that public policy should focus on how to ensure that each of the six types are viable (see COMMUNITY ). There are issues to be sure: employers must understand how to operate with a virtual work force and to reshape their "Corporate Culture", communities must identify that unique quality that gives their community a high quality of life; service providers must understand how to create a parity of access between that which is delivered in person and that which is delivered electronically, and there are more. There are indications that some of this has already begun so we must think of the transition not as one of choice but one that is inevitable and positive. Those that learn how to do it well quickly, will become the leaders in the Information Age. There are specific tools built in this site that support your involvement: The Information Exchange- collects anecdotal informaiton but it is none the less critical. Using a consistent format data is collected and eventually trends will emerge that should be of real interest to policy makers, specifically in the INFO EXCHANGE / Community and INFO EXCHANGE / Personall registries The e-Consensus Forum®- Awaiting funding, the e-Consensus Forum® is designed to solicit, and community input on relevant topics the output will reflect a consensus about that which needs to be done. It will be made available to policy makers The "Coach"- provides information about telework and how to leverage its benefits for a variety of perspectives The "Mindset"- If others choose to join the effort the THE "MINDSET" will provide a single source of information about how to speed the Information Age transition Metro TDM Info- after a quick survey of your commute preferences. this tool displays your region's performance in travel demand. If you have a high (and even if you don't) telework potential, the economics and survey results may motivate you to speak to your regional transit leaders about telework. INTERACTIVE TOOLS / Metro TDM Info The COMMUNITY / Distributed City Model defines a vision for what can be done; but it is only the beginning of the dialogue. The WHITE PAPERS / Community articles, (Sixteen Challenges and Eighteen Challenges) define the problem. Bringing technology to our communities is much more that just connecting our institutions- it is about creating an atmosphere in which the community is fully integrated into the global economy and the Information Age. We urge you to encourage your community to become a PARTNERSHIPS /"Critical Mass" / Community Alliance Member and or join the effort personally PARTNERSHIPS / TCR Membership! Thanks for visiting, we welcome your feedback!

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