Contact North is a provincially funded distance education network designed to increase access to educational opportunities for residents of northern Ontario, Canada. Educational needs of this region include basic education and skills, management education for Native communities assuming self-government, and skills and access to communication and information tools that promote community empowerment and self-development. At one level, Contact North operates as an electronically based delivery system for credit and noncredit programming from northern universities, colleges, and secondary schools. Each of 34 community access sites is equipped for teleconferencing and various other modes of delivery. Contact North stimulates and assists educational institutions to add distance education to their traditional delivery models through initiatives such as a fund that supports program development and collaborative projects; professional distance education consultants who act as liaisons with secondary schools, postsecondary institutions, and French and Native communities; development of feedback loops between institutional providers and communities; and support for research and information dissemination. At the community level, Contact North acts as a change agent to facilitate course delivery and nurture a learning culture by establishing community facilities to serve as access sites and learning centers, by training local site coordinators, by providing information and library services to students, by supporting development of interactive technologies, and by promoting distance programming. Appendix lists 12 research studies and conferences supported by Contact North. (SV)