Communications-Related Headlines for February 8, 2000

Headlines Extra:
Digital Divide

In the wake of the State of the Union Address, a number of new initiatives to address the technology gap have recently been announced.

In a release from the White House, the Administration recognized that people are using the Internet to find lower prices for goods and services, work from home or start their own business, acquire new skills using distance learning, and make better informed decisions about their healthcare needs. The ability to use technology is becoming increasingly important in the workplace, and jobs in the rapidly growing information technology sector pay almost 80 percent more than the average private sector wage.

THE 2001 BUDGET

The Administration pledged $2 billion towards bridging the digital divide. At Ballou High School in the southeastern district of Washington, DC, President Clinton outlined seven initiatives contained in the proposed FY2001 budget:

President Clinton's budget includes $2 billion in tax incentives to encourage companies to donate computers to schools, libraries and community technology centers, to sponsor schools, libraries, and community technology centers in designated Empowerment Zones, and to provide basic computer training, workplace literacy, or other basic education for their employees.

The President proposed to extend and expand an enhanced tax deduction to provide companies with an incentive to donate computers to schools, libraries and computer technology centers. Under current law, this enhanced deduction applies to donations of computers to schools only and expires after the year 2000. The President's proposal would extend this provision through June 30, 2004 and would expand it to donations to public libraries or community technology centers in Empowerment Zones, Enterprise Communities, and high-poverty areas.

The President proposed tax relief to encourage companies to sponsor schools and community technology centers in Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities. The President's proposal would allocate credits for $16 million in corporate sponsorship to each of the 31 existing Empowerment Zones and 10 proposed new Empowerment Zones and $4 million in corporate sponsorship for each of the more than 80 Enterprise Communities.

In total, the President's proposal would help support up to nearly $1 billion in annual sponsorships to help improve schools and community technology centers.

The President's proposal would provide targeted tax relief to encourage companies to provide basic computer training, workplace literacy, or other basic education for employees that lack the basic skills to succeed in the modern workplace. Companies would be allowed to take a 20 percent tax credit for up to $5,250 in annual expenses per employee. Eligible employees generally would not have received a high school degree or its equivalent.

The budget proposal calls for calls for $150 million in Department of Education grants to ensure that all new teachers entering the workforce are technologically literate and can integrate technology into the curriculum. This point would effectively double the amount of funding in this area from last year.

The President's budget more than triples the Department of Education's support for Community Technology Centers - from $32.5 million in FY2000 to $100 million in FY2001. This initiative, championed by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) was initially funded at $10 million in fiscal year 1999. The goal of the initiative is to help close the digital divide by providing computers and Information Age tools to children and adults that are not able to afford them at home. These community technology centers will help empower hundreds of thousands of low-income children and adults in a variety of ways.

A study sponsored by the National Science Foundation confirms that Community Technology Centers are helping to bridge the digital divide. Of the users surveyed: 62 percent had incomes of less than $15,000; 65 percent took computer classes to improve their job skills; and 41 percent got homework help or tutoring at the center.

The President's budget includes a new $50 million Department of Commerce pilot program to expand access to computers and the Internet for low-income families, and to give these families the skills they need to use these new Information Age tools effectively. This new program will provide competitive grants to public-private partnerships at the local level. Potential partners might include: local school districts seeking to expand parental involvement in education; high-tech companies willing to provide discounts on computers and access; libraries offering training on "information literacy"; employers seeking to upgrade the skills of their workforce using distance learning, and government agencies at all levels seeking to save taxpayer dollars through the electronic delivery of government services.

As initially reported in the San Francisco Examiner, the Commerce program - "ClickStart" - would issue $15 monthly vouchers to households meeting the requirements for receiving food stamps. By contributing just $5/month, the household would then receive a $10 voucher toward a low-cost, stripped down computer and basic Internet.(Generally, these are households with public school-age children in which the annual income level falls below 130% of the poverty level.) The Administration stated it will continue to work with the private sector and non-profit organizations on the most effective way to design this program.

Initially, ClickStart is aimed at reaching 300,000 unwired, low-income households. The goal is to eventually reach 9 million such families.

President Clinton's budget will increase the investment in the Department of Commerce's highly-successful Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) to $45 million -- triple the current level of $15 million. This program encourages innovative applications of information technology that help empower low-income communities -- public health information systems that raise childhood immunization rates in inner-cities, tele-mentoring for at-risk youth, and electronic networks that strengthen local communities by fostering communication and collaboration.

As long-time Benton readers know, this program, formerly known as TIIAP, has faced annual Congressional budget pressures.

High-speed Internet access is becoming as important to the economic vitality of a community as roads and bridges are today. The President will propose a new $25 million program at the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture to accelerate private sector deployment of broadband networks in under-served urban and rural communities -- using grants and loan guarantees.

The National Science Foundation will support efforts by tribal colleges to increase the number of Native Americans who are prepared to pursue careers in information technology and other technical fields. The ability to use technology is becoming increasingly important in the workplace, and jobs in the rapidly growing information technology sector pay almost 80 percent more than the average private sector wage.

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE ROAD SHOWS

As announced in December, both President Clinton and Commerce Secretary William M. Daley have confirmed their intentions to tour economically depressed areas in two separate digital divide tours this spring. A February 2 White House press release announced President Clinton's New Markets Trip would take place during the week of April 9th. The tour is designed to "mobilize a significant private and public effort to close the digital divide." The trip will include high-tech CEO's and will highlight those communities already using information technology to enhance community services and economic stability.

Commerce Secretary William Daley kicked off his "Closing the Digital Divide" tour with a visit to the Ralph Bunche School in Harlem, one of the least-connected school districts in the New York area. "This is just the start of a serious, nationwide dialogue on bringing more technology to under-served communities," Secretary Daley said. "We must close the digital divide and bring along all who have not shared in the boom of the late 1990s. We must also make sure that America has the skilled workers, the competitive businesses, the digital cities, and the wealth it needs to continue as a world leader."

LINGERING QUESTIONS

Will the lives of the nation's poor be improved by having a computer? Is a family without the Internet "fundamentally disabled?" Adam D. Thierer of the Heritage Foundation suggests that we're "making a mountain out of the molehill of access." As was the case with almost all previous technological innovations, the pace and pattern of the dispersion of technological advances to Main Street and Home Town America has never been perfectly uniform.

Are digital divide initiatives just a form of Silicon Valley subsidy, then? Novell CEO and ClickStart organizer Eric Schmidt says, "This is all clearly self-serving at some level because all of us in the industry benefit by having more customers. All technology literacy programs have a self-serving component to them, and if I state that up front it takes that off the table. I happen to believe it's good for society, and for our industry."

And, certainly, its not just President Clinton and Silicon Valley that are suggesting the need to address the digital divide. Last week, the Ford Motor Company and Delta Airlines said that they would provide computers and internet access to their employees. Both companies entered into separate contract negotiations with the San Francisco-based startup PeoplePC to develop their programs.

Ford's program would affect 350,000 employees worldwide. The package includes a high-speed desktop computer, a color printer and unlimited Internet access for just $5/month (possibly lower for workers in lower-wage countries), in a program that had its genesis during Ford's negotiations in the fall with the United Automobile Workers union. The offer extends to employees' families, who will be encouraged to use the equipment, made by Hewlett-Packard, and given e-mail accounts. All will be eligible, even if they already own a computer. Delivery will start in the United States in April, and Ford is committed to the program for at least three years, after which it will review it.

Atlanta-based Delta Airline's program affects 72,000 employees. For up to $12 per month, Delta staff will receive a 500-megahertz Intel chip, 64 megabytes of RAM, a 15-inch monitor, keyboard, mouse, a suite of Microsoft software and free Web access through AT&T. The market value of the computers is estimated at $1,600. The Delta Airlines plan will also provide home access to the Delta employee intranet. Employees with computers can opt for subsidized Internet access only.