Computers In Our Future: What Works in Closing the Technology Gap?

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

OVERVIEW

A four-year $7.5 million demonstration is closing the technology gap in 11 low-income California communities and providing a solid, extensive experience base from which community leaders, funders, elected officials, and corporate leaders can draw as they take steps to ensure that all Americans reap the opportunities offered by the digital age.

The demonstration, called Computers In Our Future (CIOF), was conceived by The California Wellness Foundation at a time when computers were changing the world, but their benefits were not yet reaching low-income communities. Little was known about how to effectively provide meaningful technology access in underserved communities, or how to tie it into community and economic development activities in the neighborhood. Computers In Our Future was a unique approach in trying to answer these questions and demonstrate how increased access to technology, training, and jobs could improve education and employment opportunities for young people. Through CIOF's experience, a great deal has been learned, and a model has been built that works in diverse communities and can be taken to scale.

Since early 1998 when the 11 centers opened their doors, more than 22,500 low-income Californians, over half of them under 24 years old, have benefited from the initiative. In addition to the individuals served, two features make CIOF more comprehensive and experimental than many other community technology efforts: first, the expectation that CIOF centers should serve as a technology resource in the community, helping businesses, community organizations, and local institutions use technology to strengthen their endeavors and the community as a whole; and second, the expectation that CIOF centers would help develop leaders from the community to speak out in local and state policy debates. These two features represent two of the most unusual and valuable aspects of the effort.

The communities served by CIOF are geographically, culturally, and ethnically diverse. The centers are located in inner-city Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland; less densely populated urban areas such as Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Barbara; agricultural regions like Fresno and Imperial County; and rural parts of California like Plumas and Siskiyou Counties. The types of organizations and partnerships that operate the centers are as diverse as their geography. They include youth centers, a community economic development organization, a county health department, a housing agency, and several educational institutions, all using technology not as their end game, but as a means to achieving their mission and serving their communities.

RESULTS

While CIOF is still relatively young and the formal evaluation is still in progress, early information indicates clearly that the CIOF centers are succeeding extremely well in their goal of providing meaningful technology access to underserved communities. Further, a great deal of anecdotal evidence shows that low income residents who have participated in CIOF are translating their newfound technology skills into better performance at school, stronger preparation for employment, and greater access to information that enables them to lead self-sufficient and productive lives.

The CIOF centers also play an integral role in strengthing their communities. Some of the most powerful reverberations from this initiative have been felt in the policy process and in the overall economic development and strengthened technology capability of the CIOF communities.

HIGHLIGHTS:

CIOF Is Reaching Those Who Were Previously Unreached

• Roughly 60% of the centers' adult users have a high school education or less.
  
  
• Roughly 80% are people of color.
  
  
• Roughly 60% had not used a computer before or considered themselves beginners.

CIOF Is Enhancing Knowledge and Opportunities

• Over 1/3 of CIOF participants are involved in formal classes.
  
  
• 80% said they could perform computer tasks without help by the end of their course.
  
  
• 13% seek employment assistance or employment-specific training.
  
  
• Over 2000 youth and adults have gained employment related experience.

CIOF Is Providing a Needed Asset

• Participants visit the centers an average of 11 times and stay nearly 2 hours per visit.
  
  
• Many use the center for homework, to look for a job, or to obtain information important to their lives-much like other Californians who have access to technology.

CIOF Is Strengthening Communities

• Dozens of local businesses, churches, and nonprofit organizations have developed their technological capacity as a result of help from CIOF centers.
  
  
• Center directors and staff are respected voices at the technology policy-making tables in their communities, and they are representing their communities' needs effectively in California's state capitol, Sacramento.

WHAT WORKS

This report analyzes the key components of the CIOF model. While it was important to require core program elements at every site, it was equally important for centers to tailor their activities and "look and feel" to the unique cultural and economic needs of each community. It was also crucial to their success that centers be deeply involved in their local communities, able to refer families to other organizations for real world needs, to offer joint programs or services with other nonprofits, and to build bridges to employment agencies and employers. Private sector partnerships with technology companies also helped leverage resources in valuable ways.

Perhaps the core lesson from CIOF is that there is no cookie cutter or franchise formula. It was essential that each center articulate what it wanted to accomplish in its community and then harness the technology to achieve that mission. Developing curriculum that supported measurable objectives, figuring out the best way to link participants to jobs, and finding and retaining the right staff provided significant challenges but were areas where meaningful strides were made.

CIOF also demonstrated that with adequate resources and technical assistance, centers could accomplish more than provide valuable direct services to participants. They could serve as a technology resource to public and private entities in the community, meeting a pressing need that otherwise would not have been met. Whether helping other organizations wire their community rooms, opening a satellite center in a high-need neighborhood, or hosting business web sites maintained by center trainees, CIOF proved it was possible to spread benefits beyond the individual center to the community. It also demonstrated that with proper coaching and support, centers and their staff could become highly valued new voices in the technology policy decision making process.

IMPLICATIONS FOR ACTION

Over the next decade the roadmap will be charted for who receive technology access and how they use it-both in California and nationally. The CIOF experience suggests that effective community technology programs can indeed be replicated and even taken to scale, so long as their features are locally driven. The costs are modest-just a few hundred dollars for each participant served. To put this figure in some context, the U.S. spends roughly $4,360 annually to provide health care to an adult and $8,180 annually to educate a child.

CIOF's wealth of first hand experience suggests how to extend the benefits that 22,500 California residents and 11 low-income communities have received to many more communities that, today, are disadvantaged by the technology gap. Community leaders, philanthropists, the corporate sector, and public policy makers all have vital roles to play. More detailed implications for each of these sectors are laid out in the report.

Download the entire CIOF Report here.