Prairienet Community Network / A Community Service of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at UIUC
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Community Newsgroups (cmi.*)
UIUC USENET services is being discontinued this fall. Users in the uiuc.edu domain may access local community newsgroups (cmi.*) via Prairienet's news server. For full details, please see: Prairienet Newsgroup Access Options

At the Ten-Year Mark: Our Community on the Web
Since our beginnings as a Free-Net back in 1993, the Prairienet Community Network has hosted over 1000 local, regional, and state-wide non-profits as well as local businesses. Among our old-timers are the Urbana Free Library, the Second Wind Running Club, AMBUCS, the Self-Help Center, Champaign PTA, Habitat for Humanity, and Grand Prairie Friends. Others, like Busey Bank, the News Gazette, the cities of Champaign and Urbana, Lincoln Trail Libraries System, Hobbico, and Champaign Public Library got their feet wet on the 'Net with us and then graduated to their own Web sites.

Hundreds of non-profits call Prairienet home. Most recently, we've been joined by Habitat for Humanity of Illinois, Centennial High School Band Boosters, Community Shares of Illinois, La Comunidad Unida, Prairielands Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Robeson Elementary School, Paseo Boricua Community Library, South Side School, and the Arthur Mennonite Relief Sale.

Our $35/year Limited Web Hosting account is very popular option with clubs and other organizations whose needs are modest. The $120/year Standard Web Hosting account offers more space as well as 10 hours/week dialup Internet access. The $180/year Advanced Web Hosting account offers virtual domain name hosting as well as more advanced options for development of database-driven Web sites with PHP/mySQL.

Fee waivers for qualifying organizations are supported by fees and donations, so organizations know their dollars are staying in the community, helping to provide free Web hosting and dialup Internet access to community service organizations which would otherwise be unable to afford it. [Learn more about Prairienet's Web hosting services]

Building A Rich Repository of Community Information
Looking for a volunteer opportunity mentoring kids? Want to find a pottery club to join? Looking for information on local museums? Want to see what other neighborhood associations are doing online? Looking for a support group? Want to find services for a child with special needs? Or just want to check out your favorite local band or the latest movie reviews? Chances are, you can find it online via Prairienet's PrairieLinks or one of the other online community resources that we host and helped build. Learn more!

Prairienet Webmail
Prairienet members, you can conveniently check your e-mail from any Web browser! Just log in with your regular username and password. Since all your mail stays on Prairienet, you will still be able use PINE or your regular mail program. Try out Webmail.

WANTED: donated computers
Is your business or organization upgrading its computer equipment? Why not donate the old computers to Prairienet? During the last four years, Prairienet has recycled over 1,000 computers. Many have been distributed to low-income individuals and families as part of our community computer training program. Others have been used to establish public access labs and community technology centers in local churches and housing authority complexes in Champaign, Urbana, and Rantoul.

Previous donors include the Carle Foundation, Corsolutions, Cities of Champaign and Urbana, Lincoln Trail Libraries System, Parkland College, State Farm, Allstate, SuperValu, Tabin Technologies, and Human Kinetics. Prairienet is a non-profit organization, so there may be tax benefits associated with a donation. For more information, please call 333-5218 or e-mail Paul Adams at padams@prairienet.org