Developing Access to Technology in America (DATA)

Every day, there are high- school students that face the challenge of completing homework assignments, research papers, and online quiz, test, and homework problems without a personal computer at home. Some of these students have to stay late at their high schools almost everyday to complete these task. Once their high school closes its doors; they must travel to their friend’s home and family members homes or go to the public library to gain Internet access. Many students diligently go through this process weekly to ensure that their grades do not suffer. However, there are many students that surrender during this battle and allow their grades to drop. The lower grades they receive will negatively affect the college and scholarship application later, possibly preventing them from going to or being able to afford college. Every Spring there are students that do not get accepted into a college that they were qualified for because they could not finish the paper or online application in time (which requires personal statements, essays, and information) because they did not have a personal computer. Every summer there are students that find out that they cannot afford to pay for college. Some of these students missed the opportunity to research, identify, print, and complete scholarship applications because they did not have a personal computer. We want to work at solving this issue by awarding laptops, printers, software, and technology education (Microsoft, resume drafting, financial aid searching etc) to deserving rising seniors in high school. These seniors would come from Kenwood Academy which is a Chicago Public School in Cook County Illinois that serves over 1700 students from all different backgrounds. Many of these students are from low income households that cannot afford to purchase personal computers. As the program grows, we would like to offer this program to all the schools within the Chicago Public Schools system. In 2002, The U.S Department of Commerce’s study on computer ownership revealed that certain households continued to own computers at much higher rates. .Households with higher incomes, college or graduate degrees, and parents that have employment are more likely to have one or more computers in the home. In 2002, a household where a parent has a college education or higher was sixty-one percent more likely to have a computer in the home compared to households where the parent only has a high school education and that the highest income level households are sixty-four percent more likely to have a computer at home than the lowest income level households. The study also revealed that African-Americans and Hispanics were forty percent less likely to have a computer at home than Whites. These statistics allude to something very discouraging occurring within one of the most technologically advanced country in the world: a digital divide. A divide that will continue to exacerbate the disparities seen within public school performance, access to higher education, income, healthcare, and participation in political affairs. As Dr. Mark David Milliron stated “…a troubling trend has emerged; the promise and power of technology and the Internet is not being realized equally I our society. The lack of technology access and corresponding skills puts disadvantaged members of society increasingly at risk of becoming disenfranchised spectators of a digital world that is passing them by.”