CTCNet and the Civil Rights Forum have been designated Policy Support Organizations of the Kellogg Foundation's Managing Informaiton with Rural America (MIRA) Project, overseeing the distribution of $70,000 in grants over the remainder of 1999. These grants support programs involving rural communities in telecommunications policy projects.

The request for proposals (RFP) for the third round of grants will be released this summer with a fall deadline. Past winning proposals for these model communications policy projects and the previous round of grant guidelines are available at www.ctcnet.org/mira . Past winners of $4,000 awards include:

• In Covington, KY, the Media Working Group is designing a curriculum and training program for Adult Literacy students on how the state's communications policy process works, who the players are, and how to intervene and have a voice in the process.

• In Las Vegas, the Rural Telecommunications Task Force is publishing a report to catalyze its work and broaden citizen participation with the state legislature's implemention of its Universal Service Program.

• In Blacksburg, the Virginia Cooperative Extension and the state's 4-H clubs are collaborating in running a summer computer camp on the Internet as a Civic Forum.