On Ramps to the Information Highway in Wards 6, 7 & 8

Prepared for: Kimsey Foundation UI No. 07125-000-00.

The nonpartisan Urban institute published studies, reports, and books on times topic worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary

Section 1
Introduction

Section 2
Computer Access Through Local Agencies

Section 3
Computer Access Across Human Services

Section 4
Public Access and the Community

Section 5
What Providers Say

Section 6
Recommendations

Maps

Appendix A

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Few technologies have spread as quickly, or become so widely used, as computers and the Internet. Over the last decade these technologies have become a common fixture in many American homes and the American workplace. However, the spread of personal computers is by no means uniform. There are significant disparities in ownership and use by age, race and economic status. To address these disparities, a wide variety of local agencies have risen to the challenge of providing residents with access to information technology. In communities across the country, schools, libraries, churches and human service agencies work to bridge the digital divide by providing hardware, computer training and often, free access to the Internet. Unfortunately there is little known about the spread of these varied sites or their success at bridging the divide. To gain a clearer understanding of the availability and use of information technology in local communities, the Urban Institute conducted a study of public computer access in three areas of the District of Columbia. Below are six key findings from this effort.

• Over half of the 328 agencies in the sample (53 percent) provide some form of public access computing. Many of these services were limited, however, with modest resources.
• Experience with the provision of community computing services is quite limited. Over half of these agencies (61 percent) reported having less than three years of experience providing computer access, and 60 percent of the agencies had fewer than 10 computers available for public use.
• Schools and non-profit, human service agencies account for 79 percent of the public access computing sites in the three areas. About 45 percent of all human service agencies surveyed said that they provided some access to computing resources.
• Schools, by far, have received the greatest technology investment for the communities in the survey area. There were more than 3,000 student use computers in the 58 schools compared with approximately 620 public access computers in 79 human service agencies and 290 public access computers in 29 local churches.
• Comparisons across the various community programs reveal significant technology investment gaps for certain populations. Elderly services and job training programs have very limited computer service capacity.

The wide variety of agencies providing computer access to people in Wards 6, 7 and 8 are a foundation on which to build a strategic community technology intervention. These agencies provide entry points for District residents to build job skills, search for valuable information resources on-line, and improve their standing in the labor market. While many of these agencies have the equipment necessary to mount basic computer training, a great deal of planning and coordination is necessary to assure that these local investments yield significant returns for community residents. The study highlights the need for targeted program investment, coordinated training and services, and alternative staffing strategies for technology support. A set of recommendations are listed for service providers, government, and philanthropy, for improving public access computing in the District of Columbia.

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