Currently, SeniorNet Learning Centers are heavily concentrated in urban, middle class locations. In response to this problem, in 1997 the SeniorNet Board of Directors mandated that at least 50 percent of all new Learning Centers be placed in low-income or rural communities. In the past two years, 70 percent of new Learning Centers have been located in low-income or rural communities.

Much of SeniorNet's program is easily adapted for low-income and rural environments. The peer teaching model and specialized curriculum work well in any place where older adults are trying to learn computer technology. SeniorNet's business model, however, is less adaptable.

As a non-profit organization SeniorNet has developed a business model that serves the dual purpose of providing low-cost services while providing a mechanism for the program to be self-supporting in the long run. In brief, the model works as follows. Everyone who takes a class at a SeniorNet Learning Center is required to pay a $35 annual fee to join national SeniorNet. The local non-profit partner who hosts the Learning Center then charges whatever fee they feel is appropriate for the courses they teach (the average fee is $35 for a 16-hour course, but many local Learning Centers charge as little as $5/class). The local partner organization keeps the class fees and uses this money to upgrade their Learning Center and support other programs. Overhead is kept low by having a rent-free space as well as volunteer instructors and coordinators (trained by SeniorNet) who teach classes and run the program.

This model has worked well for SeniorNet allowing for rapid expansion while keeping numerous Learning Centers operating over the long-term (several Learning Centers recently celebrated ten or more years of operation). Unfortunately, in rural and low-income areas this model is more difficult to maintain. This is not only the result of the SeniorNet membership and class fees (SeniorNet has a scholarship fund, but it will become depleted over the long-term), but also because it is difficult to find the skilled volunteers necessary to keep the program operating with a low overhead.

Another model of operation has evolved at two SeniorNet Learning Centers in both low-income and rural areas. Surprisingly, the same model appears to work, at least in the short-term, in both areas, and arose independently in both rural Arkansas and urban Detroit. This model requires that paid staff be hired to run the program and teach classes as necessary. Although both Learning Centers are fee-based, neither will be self supporting in the long-term without significant assistance from outside sources.

This situation is of grave concern to SeniorNet because without a model that is self supporting in the long-term it is difficult to secure the initial funding to open Learning Centers. SeniorNet also shares the concerns of various funders that it will be impossible to keep these Centers operating on a long-term basis without long-term outside funding.

SeniorNet's research as well as our long experience shows that older adults need not only access to computers, but also training about how to use the equipment in order to successfully bridge the digital divide. It is also clear from our experience that rural and low-income older adults do not have access to these services and that as a result they are being left by the side of the road of the information superhighway.