Topics included finding venture capital, using the web for network building and creating environments that support entrepreneurs. She also consulted with the Nordic council on establishing a mentoring program for women entrepreneurs, planned for the spring. Distance learning, CD-ROMs and other uses of technology in language teaching would help to address a chronic shortage of qualified teachers in Russian areas. GTC has been asked to recruit a private sector partner in the creation of technology based teaching materials. The aim was to share best practices on consequence management and to look for ways in which technology can help in planning, communicating and deploying in crisis situations.
Flooding is a common threat in both North Carolina and Southern Poland.
For this project, GTC formed a partnership agreement with the husband and wife team of John and Rene Hoffman in which they donated their time and services to run workshops and seminars in Poland. John Hoffman, is a reserve colonel in the U.S. National Guard, CEO of a top-rated Internet satellite imagery company and an expert in disaster relief and consequence management. Renee Hoffman, is Director of Public Affairs of the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety and runs public information campaigns in emergency situations. This project is a follow-up to an earlier GTC project which created an Internet Center for Kosovar refugees displaced to Southern Poland during the NATO campaign in Yugoslavia. As part of this project the computer equipment used for the refugee internet center will be donated to Krakow's Regional Crisis Management Center for use in future emergency situations.