MINNEAPOLIS, MN--(Marketwire - December 14, 2010) - DigitalTown, Inc. (
"Our membership, the school athletic directors, are continually exploring opportunities to support their programs financially while enhancing their ability to provide accurate statistical information," remarked Bruce Whitehead, Executive Director of the NIAAA. "Our board has considered a number of other similar programs and we feel that DigitalTown's vision is consistent with the mission and purpose of the NIAAA. We believe a partnership with DigitalTown will provide significant value to our members."
The scholastic portal under development by DigitalTown will include social media features for all extracurricular activities including sports, spirit, arts, cultural, academic and community. The portal will be integrated into DigitalTown's current roll out of more than 20,000 local online communities for high schools and feature deep integration with Facebook, Twitter and other, major social media platforms.
"Our roots are in the world of high schools with my father being a school administrator and several of our management and board members involved in this community," noted Richard Pomije, CEO of DigitalTown. "We see a crisis in public funding of activities and our goal over the next 5 years is to provide a suite of tools and services that will help bridge this funding gap. We feel this partnership will be a model for private/public partnerships."
The agreement calls for DigitalTown to work with the NIAAA and its membership, consisting of high school and middle school Athletic Directors, to leverage the latest in web technologies in support of interscholastic athletic programs and bring them on par with College and Pro sports reporting. Each school will have free access to their own spirit web site in the new system.
Walter Sargent, NIAAA Director of Marketing, noted that, "We are anxious to roll this program out as quickly and broadly as possible, providing enhanced capabilities for our members. At the same time, we recognize that this is a program that will develop over a period of years before delivering its full value."
Web-based fundraising tools will be provided for the individual schools as part of the system. Additionally, DigitalTown has agreed to donate to the NIAAA up to $3,000,000 per academic year during each of the next 5 years, up to $15,000,000, as part of a sponsorship revenue share program to support high school athletics.
About the NIAAA:
The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, the national voice for interscholastic athletic administrators founded in 1977, preserves, enhances and promotes the educational values of interscholastic athletics through the professional development of its members in the areas of education, leadership, and service. The NIAAA's commitment to leadership programs, resources and services support the athletic administrator's efforts in providing quality athletic participation opportunities for students. The NIAAA promotes a positive working relationship with state athletic administrator and State and national athletic/activity associations in addition to developing strategic alliances with other education based agencies. For more information, please visit www.NIAAA.org.
About DigitalTown:
DigitalTown, Inc. in Burnsville, MN is developing a nationwide network of more than 27,000 local online communities for high school students, alumni, boosters and local citizens. For more information, please visit www.digitaltowncorp.com.
Safe Harbor Language:
Any statements contained herein related to future events are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act 1995. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. DigitalTown, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update any such statements to reflect actual events. For more information, please visit www.digitaltown.com.
Contact Information:
Company Contact:
For DigitalTown
info@digitaltown.com
(952) 890-2362 (office)
For NIAAA
wsargent@niaaa.org
(317) 587-1450 (office)