CLOSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

PARTICIPANTS' COMMENTS

National Recycling Coalition

The National Recycling Coalition (NRC), with funding from EPA and the U.S. Postal Service, has begun an electronics recycling project which will examine different ways in which computers and information technology may be reused and recycled.

NRC has an advisory council that has representatives from original equipment manufacturers, recyclers, reuse organizations, nonprofits, and government agencies, which are working to find environmentally and economically sound ways to manage this equipment.

One of the ways in which NRC would like to develop our program is to promote a reuse network where NRC coordinates matching donor of computer equipment with recipient.

George Washington University

The Democracy Online Project is a two year education and advocacy initiative funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. One of the issues we are addressing is the Digital Divide.

City of Bellingham

Wireless telecommunications backbones for citizens in areas not serviced by telecom/cable providers.

Neighborhood Reinvestment

As a print and online writer in Neighborhood Reinvestment's publishing group, I am promoting the use of technology within a network of 200 organizations working in more than 1,000 underserved communities. In the NeighborWorks network, the approaches to bridging the digital divide are locally initiated and often involve Internet access and computer training.

I have several ideas for bridging the digital divide, including effective volunteer involvement from high-tech companies and the use of technology in the promotion of affordable housing, financial education, and small business development.

Ms. Beverly Bachemin

U. S. Department of Labor

I work in the U. S. Department of Labor in the Office of Policy and Research.

Some of my pilots and demonstration projects are located in (1) Villages in Alaska working with Native Alaskans, Delta of Mississippi, Indian Reservation, rural islands of Hawaii and of course, High poverty communities in urban areas. I find the people who live in the Villages in Alaska are most in need of the services being provided by this initiative, though most project with which I work, the population could benefit for this initiative. I would like to work with you to link what we do with the resources, talent and equipment that you will provide. The marriage would be beneficial to all the people, but particularly the youth. Also, I recommend some focus be given to our youth who are in our juvenile corrections institutions. They need to have comprehensive, high quality training in this area to be prepared for work, and just to be knowledgeable about this subject.

Northeastern University

I am organizing the National Center for Technology and Community Developments.

Its uniqueness is that it is a community-based initiative which will seek to mobilize the under-utilized capacity in the Black community--churches, colleges, Black Studies programs, civic organizations, parents, etc.--to address what I call issues of "Digital Divide, Digital Opportunities." Based at a historically-Black college, it will develop a national center and regional/local affiliates to focus on five activities: expanding access; education, training, and employment; innovative content; business development; and research and evaluation.

We are now looking for collaborators and supporters so please be in touch.

US Govt. Printing Office

The Nation's 1,350 Federal Depository Libraries, located in nearly every Congressional, offer no-fee public access to U.S. Government information in all mediums. In addition to professional staff who can assist the public in locating the Government information they want or need, each library offers public access to computer work stations for the use of Government Web sites and selected CD-ROMs. The depository library system is a widely-distributed safety net for members of the public who lack access to digital Government content.

Case Western Reserve University

My dissertation topic will be the role of public libraries and community centers in addressing the digital divide. Specifically, how technical writing of resource materials can advance or hinder the process of gaining technical literacy. Technical literacy is defined as both computer and Internet technologies.

I have begun interviewing administrative personnel in the Cleveland Public Library system to ascertain their approach to advancing technology literacy with the patrons they currently serve.

I am working on establishing a nonprofit organization to provide computers and technology to the under served communities. I would like to enlist the help of other nonprofit organization. such as Churches to develop community access and training centers as part of this effort.

I would be looking for funding through private, government. and corporate sources. I work in the computer industry and understand the problems that corporate America has with assets disposal (computers etc.) in order to get them off there books, with the frequent changes in technology

companies are consistently chasing the leading edge equipment, however the systems that are not acceptable to a company are more then acceptable for home access. My organization would concentrate with getting computers in the hands of under privileged children, and single parent

households. I would like to start in the Atlanta GA area (currently my home) with plans to extend to Washington DC and New York as the second phase for a nation wide offering. I would be looking to enlist the services of the many computer science students from the many colleges and universities in the Atlanta area to volunteer to provide training through community access centers. What I need to understand is what are the plans that are currently under way by this administration and what programs will be available to private sector nonprofit organizations.

Battelle/GLITeC manages the NASA Glenn Garrett Morgan Commercialization Initiative (GMCI), a program developed to provide small, and small disadvantaged businesses with greater access to NASA technology. This program addresses the overall "technology divide" including educating organizations, companies and individuals on the need to be computer literate and Internet-linked. GMCI also looks for ways to partner with organizations to support computer-based education and training. Also note, the Project Cleveland 2000 program is offering free Internet access, E-mail and web site development to small businesses in Greater Cleveland, Ohio.

TVBO, Inc.

I am the co-author of the African American Resource Guide to the Internet and Online Services (McGraw-Hill, 1997). Currently, I am promoting AA activities on the Web.

National Academy Foundation

The National Academy Foundation (NAF), one of the nations' foremost school-to-career programs, in conjunction with the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD), a national school reform leader, is developing a new Academy of Information Technology (AOIT) as a systemic response to address the digital divide and the growing demand for core IT workers across the nation. Both NAF and CORD are not-for-profit organizations declared 501 (c) 3 status by the Internal Revenue Service.

The IT Academy represents an industry-supported, long-range and systemic solution to the digital work force challenge that was summarized and declared in a report issued by the Department of Commerce on June 30.

The IT Academy will consist of a 9th through 12th grade curriculum with opportunities to partner with community colleges and universities. The program will be tightly aligned with relevant academic, employment and workplace standards. Curriculum materials will be delivered via CD-ROM and teachers will receive the needed professional development. An aggressive recruitment effort will be launched to build a network of high schools that incorporate IT academies into their programs.

The Academy of Information Technology will expand on the overwhelming success of NAF's existing career Academy models in finance and travel & tourism, launched in 1982 to prepare a diverse pool of young people in secondary public schools around the nation for their careers and further education. The Academy model was developed and privately supported under the leadership of Sanford I. Weill, now Chairman and Co-CEO of Citigroup, in conjunction with the American Express Company. Other industry leaders include the McGraw-Hill Companies, Merrill Lynch, Sallie Mae, Fannie Mae, Global Vacation Group, Marriott International, Bloomberg Financial Markets, Prudential Securities, Bankers Trust, and the American Federation of Teachers.

The Lucent Technologies Foundation and Citigroup Foundation are leading the development of the AOIT, which will cost approximately $8 million to develop. These companies are challenging a broad range of IT industry members to support the effort.

The Academy of Information Technology would create an employee pipeline by educating young people about career possibilities and helping them to build skills at the age when young people are just beginning to think about their futures. Because NAF Academies are implemented in public secondary schools in mainly urban centers around the country, 65% of NAF Academy students have been identified as "at risk," and 75% of NAF students are of minority backgrounds: 37% Black; 23% Hispanic; 13% Asian/Pacific Island; 25% Caucasian; and 2% other populations. NAF Academy graduates go on to two- and four-year colleges at a rate of 90% each year.

Ten pilot sites will be chosen for implementation of the Academy of Information Technology in September 2000, reaching a total of 350 to 400 students. One year later, 40 new schools will be added to the number of Academies will then increase at a rate of 40 to 50 per year thereafter, depending on full industry support. This expanding network of rigorous academies will prepare our information technology workforce for the next century.

Kennedy School of Government

I am a graduate student at the Kennedy School of Government focusing on the intersection of technology and social policy. My thesis partner and I are currently conducting research into how workforce development practices can be IT-enabled and enhanced.

I am also conducting original research into the role of women in the new media industry with a focus on New York City -- and giving attention to the specific issues facing them, including access to capital and financing, management challenges, and entrepreneurship.

Computer Sci & Telecom Bd

CSTB produced a research agenda in late 1998 called _Fostering Research on the Economic and

Social Impacts of Information Technology_; its 1997 report, _More Than Screen Deep_, addressed how to make the information infrastructure more easily used by more people.

At present, CSTB is examining issues relating to workforce needs in information technology, and it is launching a new study on broadband local-access issues.

Finally, in spring 1999 CSTB produced a guide for educators interested in helping all kinds of college students, not just those seeking information technology careers. It is called _Being Fluent with Information Technology_. All CSTB reports and information about projects are available via the Web at www.cstb.org.

I have created a parenting tool and website that will enable parents to better understand and monitor their children's media usage. The tv diet will help parents "balance" their children's tv viewing and link media exposure to the development of numerous attitudes and behaviors. This free service could be a part of after-school initiatives which encourage computer-literacy for parents and kids and offer new and innovative parenting skills, techniques and tools.

Dept. of Visual & Performing Arts

For the past 18 months, I have been leading an effort to form a consortium of non-profit educational and cultural institutions in Newark, New Jersey, including New Jersey Network (NJN), the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), and Rutgers University-Newark (R-N), to generate public interest telecommunications for the Newark metropolitan area.

A pilot project addressing serious public health issues affecting young people, particularly the high incidence of HIV among minority teenagers, is in development. This project will draw upon university-based research efforts to address these and related public health issues to produce inter-related broadcast, cablecast, and webcast information for local distribution generated by a coordinated team of public television producers, university faculty and students, and students attending local secondary schools.

The primary goal of this effort is to make innovative use of digital technology to bring public interest content to all members of the community, particularly those with few skills or resources for gaining access to content of this type. A secondary goal is to increase public awareness and involvement in local matters of interest and concern to the community.

NAA Registry

I will present an overview of the Registry, and a status report.

Cyberian

I am starting a business which will introduce the internet to communities, serving the low income areas of New York for a small fee. If I get the grants I need I would like to offer the service for free.

I will go into these communities to introduce the net with a team of people and set up a station at a local supermarket, church or other meeting area to sign people up for home visits by my team.

I will need capital to recruit these people so far I have three people willing to back me up on a pilot program. Upon meeting with potential sponsors I will go into greater detail with this idea which I consider innovative and with great potential to exceed expectations. It is a winning idea which will benefit our communities and the sponsors.

Nortel Networks

Our corporation is beginning to use the "Digital Divide" as a theme in our education and volunteerism emphasis. We hope to use the theme to bring more focus to our corporate presence in our communities.

HarlemLive

HarlemLive, is an Internet Publication Written, Created, Presented, Represented ... by teens in Harlem and throughout New York City.

Our mission is to To empower youth of color to be productive, creative and thoughtful leaders who will be responsible caretakers of our future.

Our vehicle to achieve this mission is this publication, where we cover events, people, issues, and happenings, throughout Harlem while learning as young men and women the processes of reporting,

writing, editing, creating digital art, taking photographs and publishing.

We are a growing pool of youth with good character who have technical and communication skills and a multitude of options.

Here, we showcase our talent while learning about emerging technologies. We learn and network with others in our community which helps contribute to its strength.

MRC & Associates

Enhancing present preventive medicine program by means of video-conferencing through an encrypted VPN & website for rural communities in Puerto Rico. This model could be applied throughout the Hispanic communities.

Digital Freedom Institute

The Digital Freedom Institute (DFI) is a 501c3, tax exempt organization that provides broadband access, equipment and training to community based organizations. We have training centers in Chicago, IL and Washington, DC. We also provide training at national conferences of major African American organizations.

What structural efforts is the governement undertaking to make sure that urban communites get access to broadband technology that is readily available to suburban communities?

Thank You!

Maurice Carney

Noodles Internet, Inc

We are building an Internet for children and establishing partnerships to ensure that we are making this free service available to children in all families, cultures and economics. This is a high priority and welcome this conference.

Foundations, Inc.

Technical Assistance for after-school programs, K-12; and for 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

Developing integrated-technology curriculum for middle and high school students with emphasis on business and entrepreneurship (as well as health/safety and career education/college prep);parallel strands for family and community education programs, especially through 21st Century CLCs.

Tachyon, Inc.

Tachyon, Inc. is a new company that will be providing high speed Internet services via Ku-band satellite. By optimizing the network protocols, we make it possible for those not served by a good (or any) Internet connection to have access at a reasonable price. While this will be of obvious interest to institutions and businesses in rural areas, many others in urban are not within the reach of ADSL or cable modem services at this time.

Tachyon is also maintaining an annotated database of public projects including K12, community networks, libraries, telemedicine, and regional infrastructure projects, articles, and resources around the world.

http://www.tachyon.net/cnet/intro.html

Center for Civic Networking

I will moderate a session on rural electronic commerce on Dec. 13 at the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund conference in Austin, TX. This 10 year, one billion dollar program will go far to bridge the digital divide across a number of small Texas communities. I have a background as a principal investigator of several USDA grants addressing e-commerce product development targeting low-income rural businesses. I live and work in a rural community. I hope to share lessons learned and learn lessons from others I can carry to the conference session in Texas several days after the DOC meeting.

National Center for Supercomputing Applications

I'm concerned that not enough Minority Serving Institutions realize the importance of tecnology and access for their institutions and students.

IBM Corporation

IBM Corporation is engaged in a wide range of commercial and charitable activities that are designed to widen access to the benefits of electronic commerce.

Cornell Univesity

To what extent is any one working on the problem of training: (a) training "access points" to manage and shape information for target populations; and (b) training target populations in the value of information and the use of access points?

Baltimore County Public Library

Libraries provide access to the Internet and lower the bar for those that do not have the economic ability to have their own computer. Yet libraries are crunched with the necessity of buying books, electronic resources, computers, etc, etc. Our role as information navigators is being blurred - except for those who come into our libraries to use the resources. The big question - how do libraries remain indispensable in this age of ready access to information via the Web?

Value America

I am interested in how my company, an internet retailer, can participate in eliminating the digital divide.

Organizers' Collaborative

How can representatives of "underserved" populations become more involved in developing the content that will be seen by other members of those populations?

Urban League of Onondaga County, Inc.

The Urban League of Onondaga County, Inc. is honored to have recognized John DOVE the inventor of the CD-ROM by naming our communitymini-computert centers DOVE CENTERS. Mr. Dove is an African-American engineer who retired from federal service but operates DOVE Electronics in Rome, N.Y. His pioneering work on the CD-ROM was done over 25 years ago when he was employed at the Griffis Air Force Base.

Mr. Dove is still creating new products in the field of fiber optics. He is an ememplary example of individual achievement for all youth but particularly to African-American youth who are so negatively effected by the digital divide. The CD-ROM has changed the way the computer world operates. It would be appropriate for this conference to recognize Mr. Dove for his contribution to the world of computer technology.

University of Denver

Together with Dennis Gallagher (Councilman, Distict 1, City and County of Denver) I am trying to leverage the closing of the digital divide in the City and County of Denver, CO. I am also researching the presence of oral residue in digitality and thus in the digital divide.

Collier & Associates

Dr. Collier and I have a lifetime of experience in working toward solutions to the many "divides" between the "haves" and "have nots" in various fields to include access to health care information and treatment, law enforcement/corrections issues, housing, and employment disparities. We feel the Digital Divide is simply and the latest example of the fallout, if you will, of continued impact of racism in this country.

EDUCAUSE

EDUCAUSE recently received a four year, $6 million award from the National Science Foundation, "NSF Advanced Networking Project With Minority-Serving Institutions." The project addresses issues regarding Internet connectivity, campus network architecture and technical support facing tribal colleges, Historically Black and Predominantly Black Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic-serving institutions. Some of the proposed solutions we plan to explore may be valuable to majority schools as well.

Mr. Jamie Wimberly

CECA

George Mason University

I am working on a project to use service learning in higher education as a strategy for technology transfer in underserved communities.

Solar Media

Technology, videos, websites, and CD's, offer the possibility of creating educational materials that will more accurately reflect the cultural diversity that has made this nation great. Unfortunately, economic support for new technologies is not yet in place so that the intiating of new materials remains economically impossible. What changes do we need to insure that new players can get into the content market?

Jeannie Dewey

Holyoke Neighborhood Networks Center

Director of a non-profit public technology center that serves over 600 participants a month in a severely economically distressed city of 40,000. We have a 20 workstation networked lab with a full range of office and educational software, ongoing classes, and one-on-one volunteer based training. We also run a complete computer hardware repair and recycling workshop where we accept donated computers to rebuild and distribute to the local human service agencies, community leaders, and the general public. While we have recieved both Benton's Best Practices and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's Best Practices Awards since we opened eleven months ago, and while we have no end to participants and need for our services, we are finding it difficult to receive funding for what we are already doing very well. Funding seems to be aimed at developing new programming and forsaking existing, already proven and effective efforts. Up to this point we have received over 80% of our operating costs in in-kind donations and through the sale of our recycled computers. Obviously, we have also proven community support for our efforts. The question I would ask participants attending this conference is: How can public access technology centers present themselves in the open market, and to funders, in such a way that the message that this work, in and of itself, is extremely valuable and effective, and deserving of financial support in the interest of the economic development of the entire community it serves?

Future Today

The Digital Divide is about more than just socio-economic barriers to participating in the new economy. We must consider and address other "gaps" such as gender, geographic, and generational in fully understanding this important issue.

The Millennium Project, Inc.

The Millennium Project has articulated the following near-term and concrete goals to be substantially accomplished by the end of the year 2000:

• •Connect 10,000 low-income residents to the information superhighway via the Internet; providing in-home access to government, telemedical information, and the Internet.
• •Install 100 public access kiosks in high-density traffic locations providing public access to government and to telemedical information.
• •Set up local training centers in low-income communities areas, as a partnership of government, the non-profit and private sectors, producing a computer-literate, more employable workforce to meet the needs of Newark's technologically driven employers.
• •Connect Community-based organizations to the Internet.

• •Provide easier, friendlier and universal access to government services and permits and quality medical care information over the Internet and through kiosks.
• •Provide Newark's community based organization with technology to improve access to information to such things as government resources, employment information, and quality medical care that reduce costs of medical care through earlier identification and treatment.

4. Tactical Goals

In order to achieve its strategic goals, The Millennium Project has adopted the following tactical goals to be achieved by the year 2000:

• •Raise $500,000 to fund small professional staff to execute the Project's tactical goals, to fund professional grant-writers, and to develop specific projects that can be funded by corporations, foundations and government grants.
• •Conduct detailed comprehensive needs analysis that takes into account the needs of the business community, residents and other stakeholders that will be affected by the Millennium Project.
• •Develop a plan and solicit proposals for a demonstration project linking 10,000 low-income households to the Internet. The plan shall include: (a) One or more technologies (i.e., WebTV and personal computers).

Penn State University

My interest is in multipurpose community telecenter development as an alternative to individual home access, which is economically prohibitive to many.

Maui Community College

I am the statewide director of the Hawaii Rural Development Project. This project is funded by the U.S. Dept of Labor.

One of our components is the "HuiNet". This is a network of about 40 health and public services agencies serving residents of Maui County via an Intranet/Internet. Through the use of a "Common Intake Form" the agencies hope to raise the level of service provided and to prevent people from falling through the cracks.

The system allows agencies to share information, advise clients about services available from other agencies, track clients, measure outcomes, follow up, refer clients to other agencies including Workforce Development and the University of Hawaii System.

It is currently under development and expected to go online in the first quarter of 2000.

Thanks,

John Dunnicliffe

Progressive Technology Project

The Progressive Technology Projects seeks to raise the scope and scale of information technoly used by community-based grassroots organizing groups working for progressive social change.

Woodrow Wilson Rehab. Center

My particular area of interest is in providing technology opportunities for persons with disabilities.

Colorado Region Nine Economic Development

We have been working on developing a telecommunications fiber optic backbone through the Four Corners region to provide capacity and redundancy for rural and Native American citizens. We are now working on the "last mile" infrastructure to complete the network.

Itinéraires

The idea is to developp a kind of extra-net for local developpment, using knowledge management

to develop synergie between local actors for education, training and activities creation.

We using a very special soft who makes cartographie of ressources for the actors and skills for the people. We are in Paris France working in an european project...

Esther Magazine

I publish Esther Magazine.com for urban teenage girl who are connected with a faith base organization.

The readers are also urban girls with above average scores academics, behavior and attendance.

In order for urban girls to show interest in the net I most reach the other influencers and they are the

"church teenagers.

National Rural Development Partnership

I am the strategy manager of the National Rural Development Partnership's Rural Telecommunications Policy Task Force. This group provides a forum for telecommunications experts and rural advocates to come together to discuss the barriers to access faced by rural communities. We look to resolve national policy telecommunications impediments and urge the creation of innovative programs to attract social and economic development for rural communities through the deployment of advanced telecommunications infrastructure.

University of Virginia

Involved in research related to using information technology to improve health and access to health for underserved, impoverished rural and vulnerable populations.

Nat. Assoc. of Black Telecommunications Prof.

Local Chapters of the National Association of Black Telecommunications Professionals, Inc. have partnered with local public libraries to help children and adults learn to use Microsoft software products and to navigate the Internet. The project called Helping Hands recruits volunteers among NABTP members, who work for telecommunications companies. the volunteers work in the library computer learning centers in the evenings and on weekends. Some volunteers teach classes on the introduction to the computer, software applications and navigating the Internet.

Ms. Gail E. Wright

I am setting up a non-profit organization designed to 1) helping to jumpstart the internet careers of young adults in the inner city by training them in internet development and giving them real world development experience; 2) getting involved in local schools to help them leverage the internet; and 3) building an internet resource center for the local community.

Colorado Rural Development Council

I serve as chair for the RuralTeleCon '00 conference and am involved with the start-up of the Rural Telecommunications Congress. I have been working with the challenges of rural access to telecommunications advanced services and technology for the past 6 years and have come to conclude that rural communities lack a basic understanding of the economic significance that access to broadband and advanced services present. I also believe that incentives are the only rational and practical method left for ensuring that rural communities get timely service from the private sector. The regulatory methods have failed to protect rural communities' interests and show no signs of changing. For all this talk about competition and the marketplace, rural Colorado sure hasn't seen any benefits, only the taillights on the Information Superhighway getting dimmer and dimmer as the rest of the urbanized West pulls far out ahead!

EPB/Kaufman PR

I work with Pathnet Telecommunications, based in Washington, DC. Pathnet is a carrier's carrier that is focusing primarily on the "Digital Divide" -- providing service to underserved second- and third-tier markets. Pathnet is currently building a nationwide digital network that services places like Grand Junction, CO; Albequerque, NW; Souix City, IA; Billings, MT; and Lake Charles, Louisianna.

Dick Jalkut, president of Pathnet would be happy to brief Secretary Daley on the success that Pathnet is

having in reaching these markets and bringing advanced services to these areas which desperately need attention. Please feel free to contact me at 301-263-2310, or Mr. Jalkut at 202-625-7284 to arrange a meeting. Please feel free to visit our website at www.Pathnet.net.

Chicago Public Schools

Concerns: Extending the e-rate process.

WeGo.com

My company (www.wego.com) helps non-profits and other organizations of any size or type to create their own interactive web sites for free. Our service helps users bridge the digital divide by making interactive web site creation easy (it's template based and HTML is optional), fast (it takes less than five minutes to create a site) and free (our service is supported by ecommerce). The sites are fully customizable and feature web page creation, listserves, chat, discussions, calendars, online publications, membership databases, job banks, classifieds, shared files, search and much more.

The mission of OpNet is to bridge the digital divide by:

1. Creating economic development opportunities for low-income young adults;

2. Increasing the employment of women and people of color in the digital economy; and

3. Helping to meet the growing demand for skilled new media workers.

OpNet was founded in 1997 by Dan Geiger, a highly experienced business and non-profit executive who holds an MBA from the Haas Business School, and E. David Ellington, Founder and CEO of NetNoir, Inc. OpNet is a compelling national model that forges a strong business-community partnership to benefit both the new media industry and low-income youth. OpNet was founded and is fiscally sponsored by Local Economic Assistance Program, Inc. (LEAP), the non-profit affiliate of Community Bank of the Bay.

OpNet provides youth with a bridge to new media opportunities through the following programs:

· EntryNet delivers five weeks of new media software training, job readiness preparation, and an orientation to the new media industry;

· InternNet gives young people critical, on-the-job experience with paid internships in new media companies; and

· SupportNet promotes intern success and long-term career development with job placement assistance, life support subsidies, continuous training, mentorships, counseling, and peer group support.

OpNet serves the needs of new media employers by providing:

· Trained, creative, and motivated entry-level employees;

· A link to San Francisco's vibrant, diverse communities.

This precedent setting program targets 18-25 year-olds from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in the San Francisco bay area, and works closely with the region's burgeoning new media businesses.

I am currently researching the uses of the Internet as a tool with which advocacy groups, active in the area of health policy, can renew themselves. I am looking at how the Internet effects the ability of such citizen advocacy groups to promote moblization, organiation and communication in order to achieve their internal community-building, and external public policy-oriented, activities.

Ben E. Mays N.E.R.C., Inc.

Working with the Dogon Village, the Ben E. Mays Center cultivates member relationships and an online

presence for community based organizations at no charge. The Center has also launched its first

Community Access Center and provides Internet Training for Title I Schools. Additional information can be found at www.dogonvillage.com.

Department of Education

Our program seeks to ensure that future teachers are well prepared to utlize new technologies to help all students achieve to high standards.

CA-FAM III, Inc.

September 1999 was a significant month for us. Under the technical direction of Eric Williams, Infomation Brokers, Inc., we launched the 1999 edition of the Black Family Reunion with much success enabling us to bring forth some significant products:

Black Family Net Guide - designed by Washington DC based Yvette Benjamin a quarterly newspaper containing articles and resources available for the family on the Internet. Future issues will become suppliments to local newspapers throughout the country.

Volunteer with BFNet - coordinated byBFNet's Gail Foy, Sixty-five people showed up -virtually and in person- and helped us in significant ways: online research, configuring thirty computers for our network, setting up, maintaining and breaking down the network, providing tutorials for visitors, creating a digital scrapbook of project participants, and distributing 10,000 Black Family Net Guides to Reunion visitors. Volunteers came from Canada, the eastern states of the US and the Metropolitan Richmond -Washington DC - Baltimore area. We are currently working on continueing this valuable process in a virtual fashion.

BFNet99 Webcast - produced by Roosevelt Gist, GEI Internet Productions and hosted by William and Rodney Jordan of Melanet.com. Broadcast "live" over net, the webcast featured activities and interviews from both the 1998 and 1999 Black Family Reunion Celebrations at the National Monument Grounds in Washington DC. You can view archived video on the site.

InterChange Resources - a "new interactive" resource on the Internet that enables you to search for resources and contribute them, as well. It's an excellent opportunity for you to share your business, project or someone else's with the rest of us. The use of InterChange Resources is "free".

Family History Research - links for your family history efforts......AfriGeneas! whose goal is to encourage and support all African ancestored individuals and families to begin and continue researching their roots until all possible resources are exhausted and the results are published. + African American Lifelines + African-American Genealogy Ring + African American Genealogy Resources + Search for Ancestors + Genealogy Online + Search Vital Records.

WorkForce 2000 Learning Lab - under development by two Washington, DC based technology firms - ABJ Consulting and The Black Greyhound Design Group, the Learning Lab will allow visitors to travel down successful career paths in Information Technology. Specifically, the Lab addresses the career infomational needs of the student, self-employed, in-transition worker and professional IT worker populations. We are receiving significant support from the Morino Institute towards the completion of this important project. Completion of the project is targeted for first quarter of the year 2000.

The Black Family Net Project was supported by:

21st Century Expo Group

Basic Technologies International

Bell Atlantic

Digital Freedom Institute

Community Business Partnership Project of the Greater Washington Board of Trade

Infomation Brokers, Inc.

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments

Morino Institute

National Council of Negro Women

NETcom Solutions International

NIS Communications & Computers

Omniverse Digital Solutions

Potomac Electric Power Company

UNITEES

Van Ness Station Restaurant

Washington Business Journal

The Washington Informer Newspaper

Dr. Leila Gonzalez-Sullivan

Trinity College

I am the vice president and president elect for the National Community College Hispanic Council, an affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges. The NCCHC has been working on access issues for Latino/a students and community colleges generally for two years.

I am also serving as a planning specialist for Trinity College, a private four-year college in Washington, DC, and Berkshire Community College in Massachussetts. Each of these is developing an academic technology plan with my assistance.

I Love Our Youth, Inc.

I work with an organization based in Hollis, Queens, New York and we are trying to offer computer access to children of the community. We are also in the process of creating a paid program for adults.

Marketing strategies and content information would be a great help to me. Also, information on obtaining qualified or at least enthusiastic volunteers for the organization would be helpful.

Seton Hall University

Seton Hall University has initiated an innovative technology-driven demonstration project with national implications to develop a comprehensive program to encourage underrepresented groups, such as women and minorities, to enter careers in technology and business. The project capitalizes on the University's extensive network of partnerships with urban school districts already developed through its federally-funded Upward Bound Program for disadvantaged school-aged youth and the University's Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), a state and University funded project providing academic tutorials and personal counseling to inner city disadvantaged college students. The project fosters mentor relationships between the Upward Bound high school students and the University's EOP students. Both programs have a high percentage of female minorities as participants (Upward Bound approximately 75%; EOP approximately 65%) and in both instances a majority of the students come from families where a mother, grandmother or aunt is the head of the household. PROJECT SHUTTLE (The Seton Hall University Technology Training for Lifelong Education) targets these student and adult populations. It engages, encourages and equips these underrepresented groups to enter careers in business and technology through an intensive summer and academic year computer training program which will result in marketable skills as a minimum outcome and a certificate and/or degree in a business or technology field as the ultimate outcome.The project is funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) in the U.S. Department of Education.

American Institute for Learning

We have built a coalition in Austin to teach tecnology to out of school and inschool youths. We are just now funded from the Workforce Board with new WIA funds to to underwrite this historic alliance. We propose to work with hundreds then empowering the youngpeople themselves to work with thousands. We have a history of tecnology work including producing our own cdroms and winning best of show at COMDEX. We have been National study partners with IBM and Apple. We have just won the Points of Light Presidental Award, and smilar awards from The Corporation and Americas Promise. We have this year been funded by US Dept. of Commerce ( EDA) to build a voc. Training center housing tedcnology for all. How can we help you?

NECA

I am particularly interested in how rural areas will obtain the funding necessary to build an advanced infrastructure, and whether universal service funding might be available to them.

Prosperity Media Enterprises

In Washington, DC Develop telecommunity centers in the 8 wards that offer a location for residents young and old to have access to the internet as well as a facility in which to hold community meetings and city-wide town hall meetings and training.

Can you address the issue of access to capital for minority internet entrepreneurs and the idea of public private partnerships to fill in gaps left by equity markets?

Cable in the Classroom

Cable in the Classroom is a non-profit, public service initiative funded by the cable television industry. Currently over 80,000 schools receive a free cable connection and access to commercial-free educational programming. The organization now offers free workshops designed to help parents and teachers locate educational resources for the classroom. (Three traveling labs roam the country).

Computer Technology Committee

Recognizing that:

(1) 80% of employment opportunities in the next millenium will require computer skills (at various levels of competency), and

(2) minority communities are lagging far behind in possession of such skills, it is my hope (and that of many individuals with whom I work) that the necessary resources, immediately, be made available, to close this gap.

A comprehensive program to address this issue, and reverse its negative impact on minority adults and youth, would include (but not be limited to) resources making possible:

(1) provision of laptop computers to all elementary and secondary students in the public school system,

(2) establishment of a requirement that all Teachers College curricula include computer literacy,

(3) establishment of a requirement that all elementary and secondary school courses be taught, utilizing computer technology, and

(4) increased accessibility of computer hardware and software to adults, through fully-equipped Computer Technology Centers, located throughout the targetted communities.

Tim Reid Foundation

I am currently engaged in an organized developing a workforce initiative in urban communities throughout Virginia. This session will provide valuable information to help in my effort.

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan currently has three programs in The School of Information which have as their purpose narrowing the "Divide". The programs functions are to teach youth about technology and how it can be utilized in their communities, and to provide for them a stepping stone to future interest in technology. While these programs are a grass root effort, the potential that they have is a 'field of dreams'. As a coaches to this programs, my fellow students and I are providing the tools that make dreams reality.

The New CAYA

61% of our programs are delivered at local schools (both during and after-school). Programs include; Educational support, Cultural Arts, Athletics, Computer Training, and LifeSkill seminars. Our Computer program "The Digital Millenimum Project" is currently creating alliances with public and private schools, the city and universities to develop a network of computer trainers to be delopyed across the city to train 2nd thru 12th students basic computer skills.

Centralian Consulting

Minority Internet entrepreneurs & their efforts in closing the digital divide (BlackGeeksOnline, MelaNet, InformationBrokers, Centralian,...)

NetDay

NextDay is NetDay's comprehensive, multi-year, multi-layered Empowerment Zone initiative that is working with communities and partners to develop "High-Tech" K-12 schools in the Round One EZs. NextDay serves as a catalyst to bring not only the hardware and the software, but also the peopleware that is required to help students and teachers use digital resources to improve learning, teaching and educational outcomes. NextDay is currently active in 37 schools in 7 Empowerment Zones, including Detroit, Los Angeles, Mississippi Delta, New York City, Oakland, Rio Grande Valley and Washington, DC.

NYS Office of Children and Family Service

As an African-American and as an internet research analyst, I feel strongly that one of the ways of bridging the digital divide lies in sharing my expertise on a volunteer basis, with the local school system.

As I am not sure I will be able to attend given my health, please do not list me in the program. However, if there is a contact list for future development please feel free to contact me.

City of Seattle

The City of Seattle has made a committment to citizens technology literacy and access in the past few years and has taken these steps which may be of interest to others:

1)Established a Citizens Literacy and Access Fund from cable franchise revenues;

2)Established a position of Community Technology Planner;

3) Developed a Technology Matching Fund to seed citizen driven projects and leverage community assets;

4) Developed a Community Technology Access Center map and database, updatable online;

5) Negotiated with AT&T/TCI for 500 cable modem drops for public access;

6) Has distributed free public access terminals in city facilities including police stations and neighborhood service centers;

7) Worked with community groups to hold neighborhood technology summits;

8) Is currently working on a set of community technology impact indicators.

Issues and Ideas:

1) The role that can be played by local governments

2) How do we improve funding and long-term partnerships that will support the staffing, technical support and operations needs of centers, rather than just capital costs?

3) Can we develop a national Adopt-a-CTC program?

4) How should we measure our country's level of access to technology and technology literacy? We could use a definition and goal of technology literacy for every resident.

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)

LAAP (Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships) grant competition was authorized by the 1998 Amendments to the Higher Education Act. Ten million dollars in grants were awarded in FY 1999 to support partnerships among colleges and universities, employers, techology companies, and other relevant organizations to create postsecondary programs that deliver distance education "anytime and anywhere." These programs are innovative within the context of national trends in distance education and will be implemented on a national or regional scale. LAAP wishes to create new postsecondary education opportunities and job readiness for student populations who have been underserved by conventional education or other forms of distance education, such as individuals transitioning from welfare to the workforce, students seeking basic skills, individuals with disabilities, and dislocated workers.

Geekcorps

With a dedicated cadre of technical and business experts from the Internet industry, Geekcorps works to provide universal access to the world economy by providing technical and financial assistance to local businesses that address the needs of underserved communities in the United States and abroad.

George Washington University

The focus of the breakout sessions appears to be underserved population. None specifically address the issue of gender and the increasingly widening gap that exists between males & females. How is this issue being addressed at this summit?

The Insight Research Corporation

I am undertaking a study of the U.S. ethnic consumer Internet marketplace to better understand the needs of these mostly underserved markets. Insight Research Corporation conducts industry studies for major corporations in the communications arena.

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

I am interested in looking at the effects of providing access to health information via the web to bluecollar workers in an occupational setting. Developing a dissertation topic for PhD in public health. Anyone working in this area already? Let's talk!

American Institutes for Research

What role does K-12 education have in preventing "digital stratification"? What can be done, and what is already being done to address it?

Young Black Minds Inc.

Giving Access to computers is not enough, what happens after hours when that center is closed. Providing Training is not enough, most training classes do not provide the first-time user with enough firepower to overcome that first wave of frustration experienced with computers. Just handing over computers to people without them earning them, is not acceptable. There are no handouts in life. Giving someone the latest technology is good, but what about the oldest computer what happens to it? It is not biodegradable? So what is the solution?

Access @ home, @church, @school

Training for your mental state of mind not just point on that icon and click.

Passing on the Responsibility yeah now you have this knowledge and a computer, YOU HAVE TO TRAIN SOMEONE ELSE-reach back. -- Now you have earned that computer not just got it handed to you. RECYCLE!

Benton Foundation

The Benton Foundation, in partnership with the AOL Foundation, has developed the Digital Divide Clearinghouse of Helping.org as a resource for information and news; thought-provoking studies and reports; struggles & successes of existing efforts; and practical toolkits and roadmaps on the Digital Divide. These two foundations share a commitment to seeing online technologies used for the public interest and seek to educate and inspire policy specialists and academics along with library professionals, teachers, community organizers and ordinary citizens concerned about the digital divide.

As a complement to Benton's existing work, the Clearinghouse strives to reflect the many facets of the digital divide, including points of view from rural America, minority research institutes, and the disabilities community. The Clearinghouse consists of:

• •pertinent and timely news summaries of digital divide headlines, as well as in-depth original reporting on breaking issues related to the digital divide.
• •intriguing and up-to-date studies and reports from academics, policy think tanks and leading thinkers.
• •opportunities for fund raisers seeking financial support, expertise or equipment donations for digital divide-related programs.
• •rotating vignettes of innovative and exciting digital divide projects in the field.

• •a directory of local centers and resources that can help address the digital divide in communities

.

The Web sites and resources catalogued in the Clearinghouse are the result of research by the Benton Foundation, submissions by organizations actively involved in bridging the digital divide and the recommendations of our advisory panel. The Clearinghouse's content is dynamic. Efforts are made to develop the content. We include links to organizations and works that accomplish one or more of the following goals: 1) contribute to our understanding of the digital divide and/or ways to close the gap in access to and use of information and communications technology or 2) represent a diversity of perspectives from under-served communities.

New York University

The discussion of the digital divide focuses on increasing the adoption by low income, minority, and rural communities of (particularly Internet-based) emerging information technologies--emphasizing a need to ease barriers to Internet usage, especially: access to PC's and access to broadband services. While today these barriers are significant, advances in technology and competition in the computer and telecommunication industries seem poised to diminish their importance. Thus, it may be true as some researchers suggest that the digital "divide," as commonly conceived, is more a short-term "lag" that the market--not government--is best positioned to fix.

An aspect of the digital divide not as thoroughly explored, however, is the potential socioeconomic difference in how different groups view and value information technology. At least one study indicates that households with Internet access are very likely headed by adults who first gained exposure to information technology at the office. While these first generation home users may tend to view the Internet primarily as a tool, future non-office-based (and typically lower socioeconomic status) workers may receive their introduction to emerging information technologies through campaigns marketing the Internet principally as a means with which to buy goods and services. This group may come to view access to Internet-based technologies as little more than access to a vast mortar-less mall through an interactive TV.

Personal choice may emerge as a seemingly sufficient explanation for these potential disparities in technology use. Categorized as such, future policy interventions addressing differences in information technology usage will seem as inappropriate as would today a discussion of the role of public policy in addressing socioeconomic variations in television viewing patterns. The possible effects of differences in initial exposure to Internet-based technology on subsequent usage may prove, however, to be the overlooked fault which develops into a 21st century digital divide--one characterized by an economic and class-based cognitive gap rather than by tangible barriers to access.

Columbia University

My plan is to involve churches in the black community.

Tachyon, Inc.

Tachyon, Inc. is a new company that will be providing high speed Internet services via Ku-band satellite. By optimizing the network protocols, we make it possible for those not served by a good (or any) Internet connection to have access at a reasonable price. While this will be of obvious interest to institutions and businesses in rural areas, many others in urban are not within the reach of ADSL or cable modem services at this time.

Tachyon is also maintaining an annotated database of public projects including K12, community networks, libraries, telemedicine, and regional infrastructure projects, articles, and resources around the world. http://www.tachyon.net/cnet/intro.html

To Bridge the Digital Divide

By LINCT Coalition

www.linct.org

Contact: P.K. Komoski at kkomoski @ epie.org

November 1998

Executive Summary

In Falling Through the Net (July'99) the U.S. Department of Commerce states "…we must ensure that all Americans have the information tools and skills that are critical to their participation"[in the digital economy]. For the last five years, LINCT Coalition has been mentoring grassroots programs in low-income rural and urban communities; ensuring that people in these communities have the opportunity to learn and earn home computers and become skilled users of the Internet. Their Internet use fosters local community networking to increase learning, earning and community service opportunities.

The Coalition has developed a nationwide network of businesses and government agencies to provide discarded computers that are being refurbished and learned and earned by poverty and working-poor families in communities from Eastern Long Island to Harlem to Watts. These families are to be mentored in order to help children meet new challenging learning standards and parents to continue their learning of skills that increase their knowledge and earning potential.

LINCT Coalition has recently been invited to partner with the federally funded Next Day Project. Next Day's goal is to demonstrate the educational benefits of high technology for students in 90 schools in 16 Empowerment Zone communities over the next three years. As a partner, the Coalition's role is to extend computer access beyond the school day into the 40,000 to 50,000 homes of these students. LINCT does this via mentoring community-wide learning and earning collaboratives. Each community collaborative is mentored to manage the programs through which families of students in Next Day schools will learn and earn home computers and be mentored to empower themselves via on-line learning and information resources. Evaluation of the LINCT-Next Day partnership's impact on teaching and learning in schools and on at-home computer use by both children and parents will be done by Stanford Research Institute (SRI).

Funding required to enable 1000 families to learn and earn computers and be mentored in effective at-home computer use is $125,000. As funding is acquired in increments of $125,000, LINCT Coalition will commit to work in as many Empowerment Zones as funding allows during the next three years. LINCT Coalition's goal is to enable all of the estimated 40,000-50,000 families with children in Next Day Project schools to become empowered by the LINCT community mentoring process. For this reason LINCT Coalition is seeking financial support in increments of $125,000 from foundations, corporations, unions and government agencies.

103-3 west Montauk Highway

Hampton Bays, N.Y. 11946

516-728-9228

Empowering Learning-and-Earning Families

To Bridge the Digital Divide

LINCT Coalition

Pre-proposal - November 1999

The Digital Divide: A Learning and Earning Solution

During the most prosperous time in our nation's history millions of poverty level and working-poor families are living on the far side of a so called 'digital divide' that is preventing their participation in what the U.S. Department of Commerce calls "the emerging digital economy." Recognizing this, the Commerce Department's report, Falling Through the Net (July 1999), states "…we must ensure that all Americans have the information tools and skills that are critical to their participation."

But how, in fact, can we "ensure" that those who need them actually "have" the tools and skills needed for participation in the digital economy? One way to ensure participation for those who can't afford to acquire these tools and skills is to enable them to "learn and earn" them -- adding to their knowledge base and earning potential.

A Community-based Learn and Earn Strategy

The LINCT Coalition⁽¹⁾ maintains that to have the tools and skills critical for participation in the digital economy means to own and to be able use those tools. LINCT also maintains that wide scale ownership is feasible for all computer have-nots willing to learn and earn a computer.

Since its formation in 1994, by concerned nonprofit organizations, businesses and community advocates, the LINCT Coalition has been demonstrating that its community-based computer learning and earning strategy builds sustainable bridges across the digital divide for poor families.

Learning and earning starts in cooperative computer refurbishing and computer skills programs. For these, and other types of cooperative work, adults and students earn "Time Dollars." With Time Dollars, they purchase a computer. And by doing additional, cooperative neighbor-to-neighbor work they also earn Time Dollars, usable for services they may need from others.

The Coalition's experience in both rural and urban communities has shaped a community-based strategy that is not only enabling families to learn and earn home computers, but much more. For adults, the 'more' means learning to qualify for a computer-using job. For children, it means learning to use a home computer to improve school performance via web-based at-home learning. For families it means new learning, information and earning power. For communities, the 'more' means rewarding neighbor-to-neighbor work and caring with Time Dollars.

The Coalition's four key community mentoring processes help a community to:

1. Acquire discarded computer equipment from businesses and government agencies;

2. Refurbish and support usable equipment and responsibly recycle the unusable;

3. Establish learn and earn programs, beginning with the learning and earning of computers and leading into non-computer related learning and earning activities;

4. Establish web-based community-managed learning and information networking that empowers families and strengthens community.

These four processes are enabling communities to empower low-income families with learned and earned home computers and new computer-based learning, earning and Internet skills. Having demonstrated the validity of this LINCT mentoring strategy in communities from rural Long Island to upstate New York and from Harlem to Watts, the LINCT Coalition is prepared to demonstrate that its mentoring strategy is scaleable nationally.

The timing and conditions to demonstrate scalability and sustainability of the LINCT Strategy are right. According to the recently published National Safety Council EPR2 Report, U.S. businesses and homes are discarding some twenty million computers a year - causing a growing toxic impact on local landfills. This available supply of digital-economy tools clearly opens the way to enabling those who can't afford a computer to learn and earn a computer and Internet skills.

How the LINCT Coalition Strategy Works

When the LINCT Coalition is invited into a community (invitations most often come via the LINCT web site: www.linct.org) LINCT Coalition mentors initiate parallel sets of mentoring activities with both adults and school-age children. This initial mentoring is designed to develop collaborative "learn-and-earn" computer refurbishing and recycling programs that produce a needed flow of computers to be learned and earned by adults and children throughout the community. LINCT also helps in acquiring the necessary flow of computer donations for each community from its nationwide network of cooperating businesses and government agencies.

LINCT then mentors computer literate community members in developing community-managed "learn-and-earn" computer job-skills training programs for adults and high school students. This is done using an adult collaborative learning curriculum covering word processing, spreadsheets, data inputting and management, plus use of e-mail and the web to access learning and information resources. Local trainers are able to adapt training to trainees needs and goals.

Younger students and parents also engage in LINCT-mentored collaborative learn and earn computer programs. These cooperatively produced out-of-school programs increase student learning time and improve both school and home learning. One such parent-student program combines basic literacy with computer competency for non-English-speaking families.

Once home computers have been earned, at-home computer learning time may be rewarded via earn-able equipment/software upgrades, as well as other tangible incentives. The strategy is to build and to reinforce the connection between learning and earning, while also providing learning opportunities that are intrinsically rewarding.

These school-home related components of the strategy are becoming important components of evolving community learning and earning collaboratives. Currently collaboratives are being mentored by LINCT in Harlem, Watts, southwest Phoenix and northwest Denver. During the next two years collaboratives will be mentored in as many communities as resources permit.

Each community collaborative develops with a unique mix of local schools, technology centers, community colleges, libraries, community organizations, businesses, micro-enterprise centers, faith communities, public and private community housing and family service agencies. To foster communication and collaboration in each community, LINCT is mentoring the development of Web-facilitated community networking. This community networking will provide in-home access to a wide range of local, national and global learning and information resources. To ensure effective use of these resources, the LINCT mentoring strategy also includes face-to-face and on-line mentoring of families to ensure effective use of the at-home learning and information potential of all earned home computers. A major goal is to reinforce the experiences of learning, earning and effectively using a home computer as a primer for effectively learning and earning a living in the digital economy.

Networking and Rewarding Cooperative Production (co-production) via Time Dollars

An important part of the LINCT Coalition strategy is to model the mentoring process for potential community-based mentors. By mentoring adults and students as co-producers of computer refurbishing and recycling, computer training, after-school peer tutoring and family mentoring, the core activities of the LINCT strategy become locally sustainable. To help with this local sustainability, all who participate in this cooperative, co-production process are rewarded for their time and caring with Time Dollars (one "Dollar" for every hour worked).

Time Dollars function as a tax-exempt currency, recognized as such by the IRS, (developed by Time Dollar Institute, a LINCT Coalition founding organization). In LINCT-mentored communities the use of Time Dollars initially relates to the learning and earning of computers. From that initial use, their use evolves into a community-wide means of rewarding those who spend time helping others, creating co-produced social capital and a more caring community.

Given the fact that in low-income communities there is seldom enough "real money" to employ all those who want to work, Time Dollars may be used to complement or stretch the effect of whatever money there is to provide needed community services. During the last year, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, LINCT has developed an on-line Time Dollar "community services exchange system" component for use by community learning and earning collaboratives. Development of this Web-facilitated component has been by another LINCT Coalition founding organization, the Center for Information, Technology and Society.

Web-Facilitated Family Learning via eLearningspace

Another important Web-facilitated and learning facilitating tool that is being introduced into community learning and earning collaboratives is being developed by the Coalition's third founding member and managing partner, Educational Products Information Exchange (EPIE) Institute. This Web-based tool is called eLearningspace. Its development is being funded, in part, by the Fund for the Improvement of Education, U.S. Department of Education. With eLearningspace, LINCT is providing a place on the Web where learners, parents and teachers are able to identify, select, use, evaluate and share information about all types of learning resources.

The learning resources found at eLearningspace include web sites, educational software and TV programs, virtual field trips, books, student-developed eLearningspace resources and e-mentors - all related to challenging learning standards. A major function of eLearningspace is to increase the effectiveness of learning during children's after-school and at-home time (replacing mindless TV watching with purposeful, rewarding learning). Resources related to K-12 schooling may be selected and used in conjunction with others to address particular local, state or national learning standards. Resources related to adult learning are being aligned with employment skills developed by the National Skills Standards Board.

When working within eLearningspace at home a student may earn a Learning Credit (like a Time Dollar) for each hour eLearningspace records in a student's Personal eLearning Journal. Students may also use eLearning Credits to acquire computer equipment upgrades, college tutition credits and, in time, a variety of products from local and e-commerce merchants.

Scaling-up to Empower 40,000 -50,000 Families via Community Learning Collaboratives

Recently the LINCT Coalition was invited to partner with the federally-funded Next Day Project The goal of this LINCT Coalition-Next Day partnership is to empower 40,000-50,000 families in 16 Empowerment Zone Communities learning and earning collaboratives by the end of 2002. The Next Day Project will be focusing on demonstrating the effectiveness of technology on teacher and student performance in 90 schools within 16 Empowerment Zone Communities.

LINCT's community-based role is to extend the Next Day Project into the communities and students' homes of the 90 Next Day Empowerment Zone schools. LINCT's goal is to demonstrate the effect of at-home computer access to on-line learning and information resources on student learning, on parent learning and on family earning. A related goal is to demonstrate scalability of the LINCT's community-mentoring strategy into 16 Empowerment Zones.

In recent months, the White House has been encouraging federal agencies to donate their discarded computers to assist LINCT's partnership with the Next Day Project. As discarded federal equipment is added to computer donations from LINCT's nationwide network of businesses, law firms and other organizations from the March of Dimes to the United Nations, there will be ample computers to meet the needs of the estimated 40,000 to 50,000 targeted learning and earning families. As families earn these computers they will be learning to use a complete suite of software applications, with e-mail and Web browser. The software, New Deal Suite, functions well on every level of computer being donated to the LINCT Coalition.

The cost of implementing the LINCT strategy for 40,000-50,000 families is approximately $125,000 per 1000 families. While our goal is to partner with the Next Day Project in all 16 Empowerment Zones to empower as many as 50,000 families, we are prepared to scale our work to the resources available from potential funding sources. Current priorities are the eight Empowerment Zone communities with which LINCT has relationships. These are in Harlem, Watts, Oakland, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, DC, Detroit, and Appalachia.

In mentoring each Community's Learning and Earning Collaborative LINCT Coalition mentors development of a common vision for the collaborative's learning and earning efforts. The first such collaborative taking shape in Harlem comprises three Next Day Project schools as well as public and community-housing agencies, faith communities, libraries, an environmental group, two community development organizations and local businesses.

In the 40,000 to 50,000 households targeted in the Empowerment Zones, opportunities to improve student's performance on challenging standards will be increased by activities that:

· Reward the learning of computer with earning a home computer for a child's family;

· Familiarize parents and children with challenging learning standards and provide on-line access to standards-appropriate learning resources, and guidance in their appropriate use toward achieving challenging learning outcomes;

· Improve learning and earning opportunities for parents, as role models;

· Enable children and parents to have a common learning experience: computer learning and information via a web-based networking of that connects homes and schools and provides the family with expanded learning and earning opportunities;

· Motivate at-home computer learning by providing continuing opportunities to earn computer related and non-computer related products as rewards for learning.

Evaluation

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the impact of these community learning collaboratives on parent learning and earning and on student learning as measured against local, state and national learning standards will be carried out by Stanford Research Institute (SRI), as part of the overall evaluation of the Next Day-LINCT Project. All students and parents will come from the 40,000-50,000 Empowerment Zone families that will learn and earn home computers and Internet access via the project. Parents' learning, plus their self-confidence as learners and participants in their children's learning will be assessed. The project's scalability will be continuously monitored, so that scalability application of the LINCT community-mentoring strategy to other interested communities throughout the country may also be evaluated.

¹ The LINCT Coalition (Learning and Information Networking for Community via Technology) comprises national and community-based nonprofit organizations, schools, libraries and businesses and technology reuse and recycling organizations working together to enable communities to bridge the digital divide through a learn and earn strategy for those who cannot afford a home computer and Internet access.