For over twenty years, the Fund for the City of New York has been developing uses of emerging technology for public-minded missions. In the 1970’s, the Fund began working with mainframe computers to develop Sanitation Scorecard for New York City. In the late 1980’s, the Fund shifted to pioneering applications for personal computers to help government agencies streamline operations, expand services and improve performance. With the emergence of the Internet in the 1990’s, the Fund shifted its primary technology focus to the development of Web-based applications to solve problems and increase access to services for individuals and organizations.

In the last few years, the Fund has brought this experience and knowledge together to strengthen actual communities by building online communities. These E-Communities are designed to improve the lives of residents by helping them to create and access economic opportunities, improve community health, save time, get better services, transcend geographical limitations, streamline interactions with government, increase political involvement, simplify access to education and more. The first initiative in this area, E-Community Connect™, is designed for young families and is based in Washington Heights in Northern Manhattan. What is being developed there is showing the potential to provide substantial benefits throughout the wired world.