A virtual organization formed to provide African American Internet entrepreneurs and educators a place to network has become the driving force behind a movement to connect African-Americans who have technical skills with their local schools and churches, Wired magazine reports.

Anita Brown, cofounder and head of Black Geeks Online, is called the "best-known black woman on the Web" in a recent Wired profile

She helped start the organization in 1996 after a group of friends were invited to a meeting at her home. Since then, the organization has become an online community where "Net entrepreneurs, tech professionals and educators of color," can share information, resources and advice, the magazine reports.

But the Black Geeks Online mission also aims to teach "middle-class and affluent black folks of their responsibility to communities they no longer call home." The 58-year-old Brown has been recognized many times for her projects to improve computer skills of inner-city youth.

She has also helped Black Geeks launch an off-line program called "Taking IT to the Streets," which sets up computer labs in inner-city neighborhoods to encourage minorities to pursue careers in information technology, Wired reports.

Although Brown doesn't want those minorities to be left behind in what is commonly known as the "digital divide," she is hesitant to embrace public and private programs that are set forth to bridge that gap.

Programs that only connect children to online communities leave out their parents, who often are unemployed, downsized or underemployed, she told Wired.

Brown, who called herself an "evangelist," not a "business strategist," says she'll step back from Black Geeks Online to allow younger colleagues take the organization forward.

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