The Wellington City Council (WCC) has changed its strategy regarding a free website hosting service for Wellington, and has decided not to fund a continuation of the Wellington Community Net service from 30 June this year.

Without funding from the council, Wellington ICT is sad to announce that we are unable to continue operating WCN from 30 June 2010.

For current WCN members, this means finding a new provider to host their websites by 30 June. Also, at this point WCN is no longer accepting new members.

The transition process is being driven by the Council. To assist community groups with the transition they will provide an online module that will help you identify your web presence needs and guide you through your options. This will be available in March.

The Council has also earmarked $50,000 a year from its grants pool to ensure community groups continue to have a web presence. Priority activities from this fund include training for groups to meet their web needs.

Wellington ICT is committed to its community ICT work and will continue with the e-rider service, the “engage your community” conferences and to provide advice and training on ICT. Further, the Trust will continue its relationship with the Council through capacity building activities for Council City Housing tenants.