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I am writing from The Arc of Alachua County, in Gainesville, Florida, USA. We are applying for a grant from the U.S. Dept of Education to try to build a computer learning center for our clients. The Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) is entitled “Disability Rehabilitation Research Projects, Inclusive Cloud and Web Computing”. The purpose of the grant is “to develop methods, procedures, and rehabilitation technology that maximizes full inclusion and integration into society, employment, independent living, etc… and to especially include those with the most severe disabilities.”

My dream is to build a computer learning lab here at our facility and I see tremendous potential with Edubuntu. We have about 250 adult clients with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. They usually start coming to our facility after they complete high school at age 22. Some clients work here, but many others still need to learn more before they can work.

The Arc of Alachua County is a Not-for-Profit agency (www.arcalachua.org). We are affiliated with The Arc of Florida (www.arcflorida.org) and The Arc of the United States (www.thearc.org). If I could prove that the use of this free software was helping our clients to learn, then I would show that this could be made available to the other 700 Arc's in the United States.

The grant proposal I am writing is due July 5th, so I do not have a great deal of time unfortunately. With this grant, I intend to prove that computer learning centers are necessary for Arc's and for adults with I/DD.

I have some technical questions and I would also like to find out if anyone at Ubuntu would write us a letter supporting our effort to add edubuntu into our proposed computer learning center. So I am hoping I can speak live with someone if possible.

I can be reached at: [Personal information deleted as per policy]

Thank you!

user68186
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Judi Scarborough
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    You could contact Canonical and you could find out who is the lead developper of edubuntu. IRC is the way to go, you could also search on github or simply call Canonical. – don.joey Jun 13 '13 at 13:19
  • For a grant proposal you have to get high up in the ranks... Contact Shuttleworth (offer him some free, high quality publicity?). – don.joey Jun 13 '13 at 13:21
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    Also in your application you will have to justify why ubuntu is the way to go for a computer learning lab. There are quite a few alternatives with commercial support (the money for which you could ask for in the grant). (I personally am aware Ubuntu would be nice in such a context, but I am not the one to convince). – don.joey Jun 13 '13 at 13:25
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    Please repost this on the Edubuntu mailing list, I'm sure you'll find people who are familiar with this sort of proposal and would give you a hand, also feel free to contact me directly and I'll link you up to the right people (click on my name for my contact info). – Jorge Castro Jun 13 '13 at 13:31

2 Answers2

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Judi! Most on here would applaud your efforts to expand the knowledge of alternative operating systems.

Unfortunately, this is primarily a user-based 'support' forum, and it would probably be more fruitful for you to contact Canonical, the company behind designing Ubuntu, or, alternatively, the Edubuntu team (within Canonical) directly instead. It may be beneficial to work with both, to some degree.

Here is the respective organization's contact pages, which may be of more direct help getting straight to the vendor instead:

http://www.canonical.com/about-canonical/contact

gravity
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  • Thanks to all who have given me a direction in which to go. One more question today - is there anyone here who is near us in Gainesville, Florida that might want to consult/advise us on setting up a computer learning lab? – Judi Scarborough Jun 18 '13 at 12:57
  • If you contact Canonical, they can usually refer you to more localized support or contractors that they trust and/or work with directly (in some cases) that at least have more experience with system setup and installation of Edubuntu for your purposes. – gravity Jun 20 '13 at 14:39
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Please ask at Canonical
They give "professional" support.

Manuel
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