ocruz01's blog

Broadband and related computer technology can provide important benefits to the City of Los Angeles. A digitally connected city is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Please support key policy recommendations drafted by nonprofit and community-based organizations that seek to ensure that all Angelinos can participate in and take advantage of the economic, educational, health, and civic opportunities afforded by broadband and related information technology.

For more information about this initiative and to co-sign the recommendations online, please visit: http://digitalinclusionla.wordpress.com.

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) has released its first survey in a series on public opinion and information technology conducted with funding from the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) and ZeroDivide.

Survey Findings:

• Less than half of California Latinos (48%) have home computers compared to about eight in 10 or more for whites (86%), Asians (84%), and blacks (79%). Just four in 10 Latinos (40%) have Internet access and a third (34%) a broadband connection at home.
• Among households with incomes under $40,000, half have home computers, but only four in 10 (40%) have home Internet access and just a third (33%) have broadband.
• Twenty-nine percent of Californians have DSL, 19 percent have cable modems, 5 percent have wireless, and 2 percent have fiber optic or T-1 connections. Just 7 percent have dial-up connections.

To access the full report, please click HERE.

Providing research and case studies that show how digital tools and applications can improve children's education, health, employment, and civic opportunities, this Issue Brief urges groups working on children's issues to include technology planks in their platforms and policy agendas. In addition to working for equitable access to digital tools for underserved children, the report encourages leaders of children to lobby for changes in public programs serving children to make them more effective, efficient and accessible by incorporating information and communications technology.

The California Teleconnect Fund (CTF) is a program of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) created in 1997 to provide discounts on telecommunications services to schools, libraries, health care institutions, and certain community-based organizations (CBOs) in California. CBOs with programmatic activity in the areas of technology, health care, job training, job placement, and educational instruction qualify for the discounts and are required to submit an application for approval to the CPUC. These discounts create new opportunities for qualified CBOs to offer affordable access to technology, training, and other resources to individuals in low income and underserved communities.