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Digital Divide Still Needs a BridgeA report issued in early July by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund and the Benton Foundation challenges recent Bush administration statements that the digital divide has been bridged. The report, Bringing a Nation Online: The Importance of Federal Leadership, concludes that “significant divides still exist between high- and low-income households, among different racial groups, between northern and southern states, and rural and urban households. For people in these communities, the enormous social, civic, educational, and economic opportunities offered by rapid advances in information technology remain out of reach.” Using state-by-state analyses to show how federal grants encourage cooperative state and local technological projects, the report profiles two important programs that enhance economic opportunity: The Technology Opportunities Program administered by the Department of Commerce; and the Community Technology Centers network, administered by the Department of Education. Both are scheduled for elimination in the Bush administration’s 2003 budget. The report also concludes that reliance on Internet access at public libraries is more common among those with lower incomes than those with higher incomes. It says that survey data “makes clear that schools and libraries are helping to equalize the disparities that would otherwise exist in computer and Internet use among various household income categories and racial groups,” and that the “increase in access at schools and libraries is largely attributable to federal programs like the e-rate, the Technology Innovation Challenge Fund, and state and local investments.” Posted July 15, 2002. |
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