Summer-Fall 2001

"From Access To Outcomes: Raising The Aspirations For Technology Initiatives in Low-Income Communities," is a new Morino Institute Working Paper. The report, which has been refined with the help of more than 50 top thought leaders in the field, represents an ambitious effort to channel, redirect, and augment the energies that are being devoted to closing the digital divide. The real opportunity, the report concludes, is to go beyond the goal of expanding access to technology and focus on applying technology to achieve tangible and meaningful improvements in the standards of living of families that are now struggling to rise from the bottom rungs of our economy.

The report argues that it is time to stop focusing so intensively on the technology divide per se; the real divides we should seek to narrow are America's core social divides — the grave disparities in economic opportunity, education, health, safety, housing, employment, and even transportation. Technology, if applied correctly, can be a major help in narrowing these divides. Addressing a social challenge of this size demands a fundamental shift in thought and action -- in public policy, philanthropy, and corporate and nonprofit leadership. Anything less than a massive mobilization of resources, financing, talent, and innovation is destined to produce only incremental and isolated victories. Investments in technology must go far beyond funding for hardware, software, and wires and include significant additional funding to help people understand, apply, and manage the technology.