White House Message in Digital Divide

[Josephine Dervan <rderva@injersey.infi.net>]

Sorry for the cross posting but I felt that this is important for us to
see since ALA is a sponsor.

April 4, 2000

THE CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION: A NATIONAL CALL TO ACTION TO
CLOSE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

                    THE WHITE HOUSE

               Office of the Press Secretary

___________________________________________________________________________
______
For Immediate Release                                       April 4,
2000

                     THE CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION:
           A NATIONAL CALL TO ACTION TO CLOSE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
                               April 4, 2000

President Clinton Will Announce Today That Over 400 Companies And
Non-Profit Organizations Have Signed A "National Call To Action" To
Bring
Digital Opportunity To Youth, Families And Communities.  The President
will
be joined by the Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, Senator Barbara
Mikulski
and Julian Lacey, a longtime volunteer at Plugged In, a Community
Technology Center in East Palo Alto, California. He will announce his
"National Call to Action" to help bring digital opportunity to youth,
families and communities around the country. Over 400 companies and
non-profit organizations have agreed to sign this Call to Action.

President Clinton's "National Call To Action." President Clinton has
issued
a "National Call to Action" to challenge corporations and non-profit
organizations to take concrete steps to meet two critical goals:


- Provide 21st Century Learning Tools For Every Child In Every School.
For
children to succeed, they need to master basic skills at an early age.
The
ability to use technology to learn and succeed in the workplace of the
21st
century has become a "new basic" -- creating a national imperative to
ensure that every child is technologically literate.  To reach this
goal,
America needs a comprehensive approach to connect every classroom,
provide
all students with access to multimedia computers, train teachers to use
and
integrate technology into the curriculum, and to provide high quality
online content and educational software.

- Create Digital Opportunity For Every American Family And Community.
For
all families and communities to benefit from the New Economy, we must
ensure that all Americans have access to technology and the skills
needed
to use it.  We must work to meet the long-term goal of making home
access
to the Internet universal, bring technology to every neighborhood
through
community technology centers, empower all citizens with IT skills,  and
motivate more people to appreciate the value of "getting connected."

The President Will Announce Several Initiatives To Help Bring Digital
Opportunity To All Americans.  The President will announce the following
initiatives that demonstrate a real commitment by the public and private
sectors to work together to bridge the digital divide:


- $12.5 Million For An "E-Corps."  The Corporation for National Service
will commit $10 million to recruit 750 qualified AmeriCorps members for
projects aimed at bringing digital opportunity to youth, families and
communities.  These volunteers will provide technical support to school
computer systems, tutor at Community Technology Centers, and offer IT
training for high-tech careers.  The Corporation for National Service
will
also commit $2.5 million for digital divide projects under the Learn and
Serve program, which allows young people to make a difference in their
communities while going to school.

- Yahoo! Will Invest $1 Million in Digital Opportunity.  Yahoo! will
provide an Internet advertising campaign worth $1 million to enlist
volunteers with high-tech skills for AmeriCorps' digital divide
initiative.
The Yahoo! banner ads will help AmeriCorps meet the challenge of
recruiting
volunteers with high-tech skills to work on technology-related projects.

- 3Com Launches NetPrep GYRLS.  In partnership with the YWCA's TechGYRLS
program, 3Com will announce NetPrep GYRLS, a $330,000 program that will
offer girls aged 14-16 training in computer networking.  Currently,
women
represent less than 30 percent of U.S. computer scientists and computer
programmers.  The 3Com NetPrep curriculum will allow high school girls
to
focus their technical education on computer networking, leading to an
industry-standard certification. 3Com expects to reach 600 girls in 30
NetPrep GYRLS locations across the country.

- American Library Association.  The American Library Association will
pledge to help bridge the digital divide by working with its members to
create or expand "information literacy" programs in at least 250
communities around the country.  People with information literacy skills
are able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to
locate, evaluate, and use it effectively.


President Clinton Will Also Announce His Third New Markets Tour - From
Digital Divide to Digital Opportunity.  On April 17-18, President
Clinton,
accompanied by CEOs, Members of Congress, Cabinet Secretaries and
community
leaders will focus national attention on initiatives aimed at overcoming
the digital divide and creating opportunities for youth, families and
communities.  The President will travel to East Palo Alto, California;
the
Navajo Nation in Shiprock, New Mexico; and Chicago, Illinois to
highlight
private and public-sector initiatives to help bring digital opportunity
to
all Americans.  Later this month, the President will travel to rural
North
Carolina to stress the importance of expanding rural access to the
emerging
broadband Internet.




               THE IMPORTANCE OF BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
            AND CREATING DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL AMERICANS

Access to computers and the Internet and the ability to effectively use
this technology are becoming increasingly important for full
participation
in America's economic, political and social life.  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.

Technology, used creatively, can also make a big difference in the way
teachers teach and students learn.  In some classrooms, teachers are
using
the Internet to keep up with the latest developments in their field,
exchange lesson plans with their colleagues, and communicate more
frequently with parents.  Students are able to log on to the Library of
Congress to download primary documents for a history paper, explore the
universe with an Internet-connected telescope used by professional
astronomers, and engage in more active "learning by doing."  Students
are
also creating powerful Internet-based learning resources that can be
used
by other students -- such as award-winning Web sites on endangered
species,
the biology of sleep, human perception of sound, and an exploration of
the
American judicial system.

Access to computers and the Internet has exploded during the
Clinton-Gore
Administration.  Unfortunately, there is strong evidence of a "digital
divide" -- a gap between those individuals and communities that have
access
to these Information Age tools and those who don't.  A July 1999 report
from the Department of Commerce, based on December 1998 Census
Department
data, revealed that:

- Better educated Americans more likely to be connected. Between 1997
and
1998, the technology divide between those at the highest and lowest
education levels increased 25%.  In 1998, those with a college degree
are
more than eight times likely to have a computer at home and nearly
sixteen
times as likely to have home Internet access as those with an elementary
school education.

- The gap between high- and low-income Americans is increasing. In the
last
year, the divide between those at the highest and lowest income levels
grew
29%.  Urban households with incomes of  $75,000 or higher are more than
twenty times more likely to have access to the Internet than rural
households at the lowest income levels, and more than nine times as
likely
to have a computer at home.

- Whites more likely to be connected than African-Americans or
Hispanics.
The digital divide also persists along racial and ethnic lines.  Whites
are
more likely to have access to the Internet from home than
African-Americans
or Hispanics have from any location.  African-American and Hispanic
households are roughly two-fifths as likely to have home Internet access
as
white households.  However, for incomes of $75,000 and higher, the
divide
between whites and African-Americans has narrowed considerably in the
last
year.

- Rural areas less likely to be connected than urban users. Regardless
of
income level, those living in rural areas are lagging behind in computer
ownership and Internet access.  At some income levels, those in urban
areas
are 50% more likely to have Internet access than those earning the same
income in rural areas.  Low income households in rural areas are the
least
connected, with connectivity rates in the singles digits for both
computers
and Internet access.

In addition, data from the National Center for Education Statistics
reveals
a 'digital divide' in our nation's schools.  As of the fall of 1998, 39
percent of classrooms of poor schools were connected to the Internet, as
compared to 74 percent in  wealthier schools.

********************************************************************
Josephine G. Dervan, Library Media Specialist
Strathmore Elementary School
Aberdeen, NJ 07747

Home- rderva@injersey.infi.net
School- jdervan@marsd.k12.nj.us
He who has a garden and a library, wants for nothing- Cicero

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