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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
Last Thanksgiving weekend, when we gathered at my parents
= home, I watched as my nephew worked on a term paper for one of his 10th grade classes.For what seemed like hours, Anthony searched for quotations in an aging encyclopedia, copying them by hand into a notebook. I admired his diligence, but it struck me that I could have done the same research on my computer in about ten minutes.
When I asked him why he didn
=t use a computer for his home work, Anthony replied, AI=ve never touched a computer, Uncle Elijah. No one ever taught me how to use one. . . .@My nephew was trapped on the wrong side of the
Adigital divide.@In testimony before a House of Representatives subcommittee last summer, Assistant U.S. Commerce Secretary Larry Irving summarized the federal government
=s findings about unequal access to the benefits of our new information technology.Discussing an official report aptly entitled
AFalling through the Net,@ he declared that Athe digital divide . . . between the information >haves= and >have-nots= has become one of the critical economic and civil rights issues of this decade.@My nephew now has his own computer, and his abilities may soon surpass my own. For far too many other Americans, however, the facts support Mr. Irving=s observations. Less-affluent, less-educated Americans are falling farther and farther behind in our national march into the information age.
This harsh reality is especially true for people of color living in our central cities and rural areas. Until every household can afford access to information resources, we must expand the computer training and Internet access available to the public in our schools, libraries and community centers.
Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski and I are convinced that we can successfully bring all Americans across the digital divide if we invest in their abilities.
Later this year, we will introduce legislation in the Senate and the House to increase federal Ae-rate@ funding for public computer access and training in the schools and libraries that serve urban and rural Americans - and to extend this national commitment into our community centers and Head Start programs.
We also must expand computer training for our teachers, complete the Internet wiring of our schools, and assure that blind Americans can drive on the information superhighway.
Stephanie Allen, Mary Sanders and Stephen Thompson from my Baltimore neighborhood would agree. Four years ago, there were few ways for residents of McCulloh Homes and Orchard Mews to succeed. Today, they manage and staff ACommunities on Line,@ a neighborhood technology center.
With the help of the Baltimore Urban League, HUD and my office - and building on financial support from Bell Atlantic, the Knott Foundation and matching federal funds from the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program - McCulloh Homes and Orchard Mews residents used computer technology and training to make themselves more employable and economically self-reliant.
Ms. Allen, Ms. Sanders and Mr. Thompson
were key leaders in our partnership to create the computer center - managed by their neighborhood steering committee and staffed primarily by volunteers - that now teaches computer and business skills to adults and children alike. Now, they are using the skills and training they have acquired as they help to establish another Urban League-sponsored training center in the Pimlico section of our city.The
Adigital divide@ is a critical economic and civil rights challenge, but, properly addressed, our new technology also offers the country enormous opportunities. AFalling Through the Net@ confirmed that Americans lacking computers at home or work will extensively utilize the Internet and other computer tools in schools, libraries and community centers to take courses and find jobs.A
Technology, is not our enemy,@ Senator Mikulski is fond of saying. ATechnology is our tool, and empowerment is the outcome we are determined to achieve.@As the residents of Baltimore=s McCulloh Homes and Orchard Mews have shown us, expanding public access to information and technology is good economics, as well as good ethics.
-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.
