Federal Programs Critical to Bridging Digital Divide, Report Says

A new report released by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund and the Benton Foundation concludes that continued federal leadership is essential to increasing technology access, given the significant gaps that remain along economic, racial and geographic lines.

Bringing a Nation Online: The Importance of Federal Leadership examines data released earlier this year by the Department of Commerce in A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet, which showed substantial gains in access to computers and the Internet for all Americans. Despite these gains, the new report observes, a significant divide remains based on income, race and ethnicity, geography and disability. Internet use among Whites and Asian American/Pacific Islanders is around 68 percent, but use rates for African-Americans at 30 percent and Hispanics at 32 percent trail far behind, according to the report.

Two programs – the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) and the Community Technology Centers (CTC) program – are working to narrow technology access gaps. Bringing a Nation Online profiles 44 TOP and CTC projects in 25 states that demonstrate the federal government’s success in assisting Americans gain access to technology, enhance economic opportunity, and build community services.

To date, TOP has awarded 530 grants, in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, totaling $192.5 million and leveraging $268 million in local matching funds. The CTC program has awarded 227 grants based on a $107.5 million allocation from Congress that has leveraged $92.5 million in non-federal matching funds.

Bringing a Nation Online suggests now is not the time to scale back federal investment and that the federal government "take steps to create policies and programs that provide people in underserved communities with the opportunity to gain access to technology." The Government should not retreat from investment in the TOP and CTC program, the report contends, but should preserve and improve other federal programs that aim to increase Internet and telecommunications services, such as E-Rate and the Technology Innovation Challenge Fund. In addition, federal leadership should support programs that strive to do the following:

• Bring technology literacy to low-wage and unemployed workers;
• Provide venture capital for demonstration programs, new applications and innovative public-private partnerships; and
• Monitor the adoption of information and communication tools across all income and education levels, minority and age groups, and rural and urban areas.

Support for Bringing a Nation Online came from the Digital Media Forum, a project of the Ford Foundation. The report was written by Leslie Harris & Associates under the direction of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund and the Benton Foundation. Bringing a Nation Online is available at: http://www.civilrights.org/publications/bringinganationonline

TOP and CTC Funding Update

The July 17 edition of National Journal's online TechDaily reports the Senate Justice, State and the Judiciary Appropriations Subcommittee approved $15.5 million for TOP this week, while the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved $32.5 million for the CTC program. Both had been slated for elimination in the Administration's budget request.