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Today's students represent two key ingredients for tomorrow's companies: a
future employee base and a future consumer base. DigAfrica reports on how
businesses and philanthropists are working to provide technology for
students that need it most.

Divided We Fall

Companies are doing their part to get technology into the hands of young
people. And for good reason: The IT workforce of tomorrow depends on it.

By Diane Rezendes Khirallah ([email protected])

nformation technology director Sue Becker wants more. She wants a bigger
budget to bring her IT infrastructure up to capacity. She wants more
bandwidth for her network. And she could use a couple of additional support
staffers so her team can be more responsive to the 120-plus people who rely
on her for their technology needs.

Becker isn't an IT manager in a multinational company; her employer is Link
Community School in Newark, N.J. And when it comes to IT, she is IT: CIO,
manager, tech support, help desk, and teacher to the faculty, staff, and 120
sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students at the nondenominational middle
school that sits in what was once one of the most devastated areas of
Newark--a city that has long struggled with poverty and its share of
violence.

When Becker says she has an IT challenge, she's not overstating her case.
Aside from six Apple iMacs that came from a grant, Becker characterizes the
school's vintage Macs and PCs--most in various states of disrepair--as "a
veritable museum." The machines are a hodgepodge of hardware from local
businesses and well-intentioned individuals.

And the Internet? "I'm not sure we could even load a browser on these
machines," Becker says. The school's one 56-Kbps dial-up connection is so
unreliable that E-mail can take as long as a week--when it goes through at
all.

Like many other schools across the country, Link is firmly ensconced on the
far side of the digital divide, the gap between technology "haves" and "have
nots," generally measured by access to the Internet. A study released last
month by the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds 45% of American
children have access to the Internet. Of these 30 million, the study doesn't
distinguish between those who wait in line to log on at the library from
those in homes with high-speed access. Nearly three-quarters of youngsters
between ages 12 and 17 go online; under age 12, that figure drops to 29%.

It's a divide most clearly delineated by three factors: race, geography, and
economic status. On the surface, children at inner-city Link meet all the
descriptors that mark the divide: 99% of the students are African-American;
1% are Hispanic. Nearly 40% come from families whose gross annual income is
less than $14,000, well below the current U.S. poverty level of $17,650 for
a family of four. But don't feel sorry for Link. The private school where
everyone is on financial assistance is proud to count doctors, attorneys,
and Ph.D.s among its 1,500 alumni. Ninety-five percent of its graduates will
complete high school, compared with the city norm of 50% and the statewide
average of 79.3%. So far, this success hasn't been because of technology;
it's been in spite of it.

Corporate IT, safely perched on the tech-rich side of the divide, sees the
need to help schools such as Link. A just-released InformationWeek Research
survey of 500 business and IT professionals finds 77% concerned about the
divide. A full 63% of respondents say private business should take on a
significant role in bridging the technology gap, yet only a third of the
respondents' companies have policies or programs to bring computers into the
community.

Not surprisingly, survey respondents say the chief concern of business is
the continued shortage of IT workers and how it will affect the U.S.
economy. Nearly 70% of survey respondents say their companies are concerned
about the digital divide because they, and the U.S. economy in general, need
more IT talent. Business still has a great need for tech workers, despite a
growing talent pool created by recent layoffs. Short-term solutions such as
increasing the number of H-1B visas have had little more than a palliative
effect. To address the issue requires long-term strategy.

But the average CIO doesn't necessarily have time in a 50-or 60-hour
workweek to think about long-term education strategy, says Brown
University's Chris Amirault, director of the Institute for Elementary and
Secondary Education. Still, to remain competitive in the global economy, he
says, "the reality is that [IT executives] must think about how to create a
worker class five, 10, 15 years down the road."

Many technology vendors have involved themselves in digital-divide
initiatives for some time. But something's changed: Their philanthropic
efforts historically have been fueled by a desire to do good in the
community and to reap the benefits of tax write-offs; today, they're also
fueled by economic necessity, namely educating the future IT workforce. In
all, 61% of survey respondents say more computers in the classroom will help
bridge the digital divide, the top initiative cited. Computers in community
centers (59%) and mandatory computer competency in public schools (55%)
follow closely behind.

Hewlett-Packard, for its part, wants to attract children to science and
engineering and into solid technology careers, and has the digital-divide
initiatives to prove it (see story, "HP Plugs In To Community"). But it's
tough, says HP's Cathy Lipe, manager of pre-university education programs.
"The numbers [of kids pursuing engineering] aren't growing, even though the
demand is growing," Lipe says. "It's a recruiting issue that's not
immediately felt, because we're losing good talent when kids in grades K to
12 aren't getting into the technology pipeline."

The issue is even broader for Cisco Systems, which also has digital-divide
initiatives in place. It's not just the IT workforce, says Christine
Hemrick, the networking vendor's VP for strategic policy. "As companies
reinvent business processes around technology, virtually every job will
require a basic understanding of how IT works," she says. At Cisco, where
company benefits information is distributed online, even manufacturing
workers must know how to use a browser at a kiosk.

After hearing Cisco CEO John Chambers speak, Jack Cassidy, CEO of
telecommunications and wireless services provider Cincinnati Bell, says he
found himself thinking about computers in education. "Education represents
two things that are lifeblood" for Cincinnati Bell and other companies, he
says. They are future employees and future consumers. That's why Cincinnati
Bell is creating a telecom curriculum for Taft High School, so that it can
open an IT academy slated to open in September. The academy was born out of
a collaboration between the Cincinnati school district and the Greater
Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.

Around the time that Cincinnati public school administrators realized they
had to do something drastic to address a 40% to 75% high school dropout
rate, the chamber of commerce began a program to transform the area into a
high-tech region. So the two groups teamed up to create the IT academy that
will offer students an opportunity to acquire skills and certification in
IT, telecom, and electronic media. Despite its technology slant, the program
isn't vocational; students will attend traditional high school classes, too.

As for the students who will attend Taft's IT academy (many of whom live in
nearby projects in the poorest areas of the city), Cincinnati Bell is
considering wiring their homes with free digital subscriber lines so they
can have Internet access, Cassidy says. Also on the idea board: on-site
telecom classes for Taft students at Cincinnati Bell's state-of-the-art data
center, company employees as teachers, and internships for the academy's
best and brightest.

Though most companies involved in digital-divide initiatives are technology
vendors, some nontech companies are providing funds and volunteers. Richard
Shellito, VP of systems at State Farm Insurance Co. in Bloomington, Ill.,
says the digital divide goes beyond just the lack of computers or Internet
access. "Students must also have the analytical and math skills to
understand technology," he says.

In addition to participating in a computer-donation program with its
communities, the insurance company has established policies to promote
technology know-how in disadvantaged areas. Mark Harms, a recruiting and
hiring analyst, runs an eight-week summer program designed to integrate
technology into schools and to meet state education objectives. Two teachers
and 13 students meet at company headquarters each year. Last year's effort
resulted in TeacherOutreach.org, an online resource for teachers about using
software and the Internet. Created by a handful of people, it's now used by
1,100 Illinois teachers.

There's another divide that's harder to measure than socioeconomic status,
geography, and race: the cultural chasm between business and education.
Without bridging that cultural gap, good intentions, and even tightly
focused, well-funded programs, may miss the mark. CIOs have long known that
they can't just throw money at IT and expect it to succeed. Similarly,
companies can't throw money--or hardware and software--at schools, hoping
that somehow the technology will catch on.

The business milieu is one that involves clear outcomes, measurable goals,
and specific, agreed-to standards: Money is its driver. But schools aren't
in business to turn a profit. Their culture is hard for businesses to grasp,
says Brown's Amirault. "We haven't done a good job of explaining why people
should use technology. Job preparedness is a lame explanation," he says.
"Teachers aren't buying it. Schools aren't set up to embrace technology the
way corporations are."

Eric Hartwig, principal at Menlo-Atherton High School in Menlo Park, Calif.,
agrees that companies need to understand the culture of education. "It's
easy to say, 'Schools should behave as businesses.' But we don't have the
structure or the liberty to act as businesses," he says.

Hartwig's school draws students out of five communities, from tony Atherton
to East Palo Alto, which has the highest dropout rate in the San Francisco
Bay area. The school is proud of its ethnic diversity: Caucasians,
African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, and Pacific Islanders make up the
student body, and there's no ethnic majority. Some come from homes where the
technology includes T1 lines and personal tech support from parents who are
IT executives. At the other extreme are students with no PC at home and
working parents to whom the Internet remains a mystery.

Step into Manuel Delgado's class in computer basics, and it's quiet except
for the tikka-tikk-tikka of 30 sets of hands working 30 keyboards. Delgado
says a lot of his students don't have PCs at home, so they need to increase
their skills at school. For some, this course will serve as the foundation
for programming courses; for others, it's a good basis for college or for
entry-level jobs after graduation.

Where do Menlo-Atherton's computers come from? A variety of sources,
including the school budget, donations, grants, fund-raisers, and lobbying
by parents who are Silicon Valley heavyweights who want more technology in
the school.

On the surface, Menlo-Atherton would seem a good fit for Cisco's Networking
Academy, which was highly publicized when it was launched in 1997. Initially
created to train teachers and students to maintain their schools' IT
infrastructures, the program has evolved into an in-depth curriculum leading
to student certification in Cisco networking and a near-guarantee of IT
employment.

The Networking Academy is also Cisco's top digital-divide initiative. "It's
great for students at risk and schools in [federally designated] empowerment
zones," says Susan Jeannero, senior manager of education marketing. And it's
close to Cisco's core values. "Education is always top of mind. An educated
workforce is critical to adapt to the Internet economy." In addition to
schools, Cisco offers the program in community colleges, adult learning
centers, juvenile detention centers, and even homeless shelters.

Still, Menlo-Atherton decided not to continue with Cisco's Networking
Academy after using it for a year. The vendor's offer, which included
hardware, teacher training, and a two-year curriculum, was "very sexy, but
not as successful as we'd hoped," principal Hartwig says. "From an IT point
of view, it's very accessible, but the curriculum is more sophisticated than
a lot of kids are ready to handle."

That's not to say he thinks it couldn't work. Hartwig would like to see the
IT industry get more involved with implementation; in Cisco's case, to
release an employee for a year to work in the schools. "That person could
become familiar with adolescent learning and psychology, and learn how the
school system actually works," he says.

In some of the poorest neighborhoods, where schools often lack computers,
there are other ways for students to get their hands on technology, thanks
to after-school programs such as those supported by San Francisco startup
Salesforce.com Inc. through its foundation, Salesforce.com/foundation.

Launched in December 1999 with an initial $2.5 million of Salesforce founder
Marc Benioff's personal funds just two months after the company was born,
the foundation supports 14 community technology centers at schools,
after-school centers, a YMCA, and even a residential detention center for
teens. Benioff says his company works hard to leverage its partnerships:
Gateway Inc. provides the hardware, Cisco the networking equipment, and
Amer-ica Online the Internet access. Secretary of State Colin Powell's
PowerUP organization provides the working model and ancillary support. In
addition to funding for staff and other center needs, Salesforce volunteers
its staff as teachers, mentors, and IT experts.

Benioff explored the idea of corporate philanthropy firsthand while working
at Oracle, when CEO Larry Ellison asked him in 1997 to head company efforts
to get technology into schools. Suddenly, he was living in two worlds. "I
spent half my time in management meetings and half in schools in places like
south-central Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.," Benioff says. Meeting
Powell especially inspired him. When it came time to launch his own company,
Benioff wanted to bring what he learned to his new venture.

Suzanne DiBianca, chief service officer and head of
Salesforce.com/foundation, advocates a partnership approach, in which
Salesforce and the schools and community centers collaborate from the
beginning. "Be up-front about the partnership and how deeply you want to be
involved," she advises. "And choose organizations that have great visions
for what they would do with the money."

One such group is Community Bridges Beacon, a community technology center
housed at Everett Middle School in San Francisco's economically
disadvantaged Mission district. The center attracts dozens of neighborhood
children and teens after school each day for classes, to do homework, or
just to have fun.

Because the most sophisticated IT infrastructure in the world is useless
without people who know how to use it, Salesforce.com/foundation requires
organizations that receive funds to use at least three-fifths of the money,
typically $30,000 of $50,000, to hire qualified staff. IT employees also
volunteer in the community centers.

In Salesforce's first six months, its staff put in 500 hours of community
service; DiBianca says she hopes to double that this year. The executive
team is behind it, she says, and it's good for morale and employee
retention.

Many companies want to be generous. Pragmatically, they hope to redress the
IT labor shortage that will likely continue for years. Employees also like
working for a company that extends its core values of innovation, intellect,
and invention into the community. But despite the efforts of contributors
across the country, many schools still struggle against big odds, and
sometimes, the computers in the classroom come from unexpected places.

Remember the six iMacs at Link Community School? They came from the "have"
side of the digital divide, but corporate America had nothing to do with it.
It was a student project by 17-year-old Tiffany Halo, a senior at
Morristown-Beard Prep School. With guidance from her parents, she started a
foundation called the Students Urban Renewal Fund, raised $5,000, got a
matching grant from the Victoria Foundation, which awards grants to address
the needs of the Newark community, and gave the money to Link for the iMacs.

Now, in part because of Halo's project, the school will standardize its
student hardware on the Macintosh platform. It's a start. IT director
Becker's $256,000 technology plan for Link calls for a LAN and Internet
access, a state-of-the-art technology learning center, and the creation of
an interactive Web site. In her ideal world, the entire building would be
wired and each classroom would have Internet access. "I want them to have
computers so badly," she says. "It's all about the money."

For forward-thinking companies--technology and otherwise--the money is the
easy part. The challenge to corporate philanthropy is tougher: to forge
partnerships with education in order to transform the digital divide into
digital opportunity for all children. The future IT workforce, and the
strength of the nation's economy, may depend on it.

SOURCE: Informationweek via DigAfrica -- DigAfrica analyzes, informs and
updates on Internet & Telecommunications activities and progress in Africa
as-they-unfold.
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