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     In Myron Struck’s article “Bringing the Internet Home” [July], Steve Snow from the Association for Community Networking stated “the key ingredients [in closing the digital divide] are training and technical support, which, as far as I can tell, no one is addressing in any way, meaningful or unmeaningful.”
     Mr. Snow is mistaken.  Computers for Youth (www.cfy.org), a nonprofit with a proven model for home Internet access, is addressing these issues in very meaningful ways.  In fact, the key to our success is that we focus not only on the technology, but on providing children and their families with a network of support services, including training, technical support, tailored web content, and online mentoring.
     Over a six-month period beginning last October, we distributed computers with Internet access to all the children attending a middle school in the South Bronx (children from 205 families) and to all the teachers (23 total).  Ninety-five percent of the children were eligible for federally subsidized lunch.  Before taking their computers home, children and their parents had to attend half a day of training.  Before any computer wen out our door, we had set up a technical support system and created online learning and mentoring opportunities.  And the combination of computers, Internet access, and our network of support services is working.  Families are staying online and using their computers in meaningful ways. 
     Now that we have tested our comprehensive model, we plan to grow next year to serve more than 1,000 families.  To do so, we have signed up an impressive group of partners, including Microsoft, Lotus, AT&T, American Express, iVillage, Siemens, Home Box Office, the Open Society Institute, the New York City Board of Education, the U.S. Department of Education, and more.

 

Elisabeth Stock
Executive Director
Computers for Youth
New York, N.Y.

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