Community Connections and VBI Overview October 12, 2015

What We Will Talk About What the Community Connections and Virtual Business Incubator Programs are The registration process for the programs What the TLT needs to do before the programs are launched

Community Connections What is the Community Connections program?  Provides professional web hosting service to non-profit and community organizations for a small fee ($20 per year)  Gives organizations a web presence  Gives organizations an opportunity to increase communication and interaction with members of the community

Community Connections What services are provided with a Community Connections account?  Web hosting for a web site (up to 20 megabytes of text and graphics)  Two permanent addresses  An online mailing list (listserv) that allows up to 100 subscribers

Virtual Business Incubator What is the Virtual Business Incubator (VBI) program?  Provides home and micro businesses (5 or fewer employees) with professional web hosting service  Provides marketing and business management assistance to help understand how to integrate the Internet into their business through Community Readiness Workshops

Virtual Business Incubator What services are provided with a Virtual Business Incubator account?  Web hosting for a web site (up to 20 megabytes of text and graphics).  No charge for a VBI account until June 30th, BEV will no longer host the account after June 30th,  One permanent address  An online mailing list that allows up to 100 subscribers

Community Connections and VBI Registration Process The customer signs up for the program online  An with the registration details is sent to the registrar  BEV will set up a webmail account for the registar to use. Webmail makes sharing an address easier because an client (like Outlook) is not required to check for .

Community Connections and VBI Registration Process Customer goes to the registrar  Registrar verifies identity of the customer  Registrar prints out 3 copies of the registration  Customer and registrar sign all 3 copies of the registration

Community Connections and VBI Registration Process The registration is forwarded by the registrar to the BEV  Printed copies of the registration are distributed:  1 copy to the customer  1 copy to the registrar  1 copy is mailed to the BEV.

Community Connections and VBI Registration Process After receiving the printed copy of the registration BEV will:  Set up the account  Send the customer instructions for using the account either by or postal mail  Notify the registrar by that the account is set up  Send the customer a bill. Registrar is NOT involved in the billing process. The registration process is complete!

What the TLT needs to do before launch Designate an individual (or individuals) to be the registrar for the county Choose a place and time that customers can go to complete the sign-up Gather local web design resources Send any additional policies and procedures to Jaime at

Questions about Community Connections or VBI?