The coronavirus pandemic is expanding California’s digital divide
If every California student without an adequate internet connection got together and formed a state, it would contain more residents than Idaho or Hawaii.
Image Credits: Catherine Delahaye / Getty Images
Originally published on TechCrunch
If every California student without an adequate internet connection got together and formed a state, it would contain more residents than Idaho or Hawaii.
A total of 1,529,000 K-12 students in California don’t have the connectivity required for adequate distance learning.
Analysis from Common Sense Media also revealed that students lacking adequate connection commonly lack an adequate device as well. The homework gap that separates those with strong connections from those on the wrong side of the digital divide will become a homework chasm without drastic and immediate intervention.
To raise awareness of the enormity and immediacy of the digital divide, I started No One Left Offline (NOLO) in San Francisco. It’s an all-volunteer nonprofit that’s creating a coalition of Bay Area organizations focused on giving students, seniors and individuals with disabilities access to high-speed, affordable Internet.
During the week of July 27, the NOLO coalition will launch the Bridge the Divide campaign to raise $50,000 in funds that will be used to directly cover broadband bills for families on the edge of the digital divide.
At this point in our response to COVID-19, emergency measures have only stopped the homework gap from growing rather than actually shrinking it. That’s precisely why we need a new form of addressing students’ lack of adequate internet and devices. The digital “haves” should embrace directly covering the broadband bills and upgrades required by the “have nots.” This form of direct giving is both the most effective and efficient means of giving every student high-speed internet and a device to make the most of that connection.
But too few people are aware of just how dire life can be on the wrong side of the digital divide. That’s why I’m hoping you — as a fellow member of the digital “haves” — will join me in taking a day off(line) on July 17. I’m convinced that it will take a day (if not more) in the digital dark for more Americans to recognize just how difficult it is to thrive, let alone survive, without stable internet, a device and a sufficient level of digital literacy.
The increased attention to the digital divide generated by this day off(line) will spur a more collective and significant response to stopping the formation of a homework chasm.
Current efforts to close the homework gap have at once been laudable and limited. For example, internet service providers (ISPs) deserve praise for taking a voluntary pledge to limit fees, forgive fines and remove data caps. But that pledge expired at the end of June, months before school starts and in the middle of an expanding economic calamity.
It’s true that many ISPs are still going to extraordinary lengths to help those in need — look no further than Verizon donating phones to Miracle Messages to help individuals experiencing homelessness connect with loved ones. However, even these extraordinary measures will not fully make up for the fact that hundreds of thousands of Californians are experiencing greater financial insecurity than ever before. They want and require a long-term solution to their digital needs — not just voluntary pledges that end in the middle of a pandemic.
In the same way, many school districts in the Bay Area have rapidly loaned hotspots and devices to students and families in need. In fact, even before COVID-19, the Oakland Unified School District and the 1Million Project were providing hotspots to students in need. These sorts of interventions, though, do not afford students on the wrong side of the homework gap the same opportunity to fully develop their digital literacy as those that have devices to call their own and internet connections sufficient to do more than just homework.
Every student deserves a device to call their own and a connection that allows them to become experts in safely and smoothly navigating the internet.
Direct giving is the solution. Financially secure individuals across the Bay Area can and should “sponsor” internet plans and devices for families in need. By sponsoring a family’s high-speed internet plan for a year or more, donors will provide students and parents alike with the security they need to focus on all of the other challenges associated with life in a pandemic. What’s more, sponsored devices would come without strings attached or “used” labels.
Students would have a fully equipped laptop to call their own as well as one that didn’t lack key functionalities, which is common among donated devices.
Because access to the internet is a human right, the government should be solving the homework gap. So far, it hasn’t been up to the task. So, in the interim, we’ll need a private sector solution. The good news is that we collectively seem up for the task. According to Fidelity, most charitable donors plan to maintain or increase their giving this year.
Consider that even 46% of millennials plan to increase their philanthropy. Unfortunately, one inhibitor to giving is the fact that “many donors don’t feel that they have the information they need to effectively support efforts” to address the ramifications of COVID-19.
That’s where NOLO and other digital inclusion coalitions step in. We’re sounding the bell: The public sector isn’t closing the homework gap; it’s on us to make sure kids have the connections and devices they need to thrive. NOLO is also providing the means to act on this information — during its Bridge the Divide campaign, donors will have a chance to sponsor broadband bills for community members served by organizations across the Bay Area including the SF Tech Council, BMAGIC and the Mission Merchants Association.
Our collective assignment is making the homework gap a priority. Our due date is nearing. The first task is taking a day off(line) on July 17. The next is donating to the Bridge the Divide campaign during the week of the 27th.
Let’s get to work.
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@kevintfrazier
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Closing a divide, one device and foster youth at a time
Help No One Left Offline and Every Child close the Digital Divide among Oregon's foster youth
Kevin Frazier edits The Oregon Way and NOLO Blog. He grew up in Beaverton and attended the UO before working for the State of Oregon. His current “day jobs” include attending law school and running No One Left Offline.
The best gift? Connection.
When the holidays roll around, there’s an urge to buy our loved ones flashy watches (as if their phone didn’t keep the time), new coffee devices (as if anyone has the patience to wait twenty minutes for a pour over), and comfy sweaters (ripe for hanging next to the one from last year).
That’s why my loved ones received a different kind of gift this past holiday season. It’s not that they had been naughty, I just knew a traditional gift would be destined for the heaps of stuff that’s unnecessary and bound to be thrown out.
This Christmas, I donated five hotspots to No One Left Offline (NOLO) on behalf of my loved ones. Each of these hotspots will be distributed to a foster family that’s currently on the wrong side of the Digital Divide — in other words, to Oregonians lacking the Internet they need to thrive. Thanks to Every Child Oregon, these hotspots as well as more than 70 other devices procured by NOLO are heading for foster families in every corner of the state.
Admittedly, these gifts were a bit like feeding two birds with one scone:
crossing off my Christmas obligations, and
simultaneously helping NOLO begin its biggest endeavor yet — assessing how these hotspots are helping improve outcomes for foster families.
A growing divide
At this point in the pandemic, unless you’ve been in the longest recorded Netflix-binge session ever, you’ve surely heard that there’s a lot of kids out there who have struggled to attend school as a result of insufficient Internet. According to Common Sense Media, at least one in four students lack adequate Internet.
And, unless you’ve been avoiding all Oregon-related news for the last few years, you’re surely aware of the fact that the number of youth entering the foster system in the state has remained stubbornly high.
Chart provided by the Department of Human Services.
As the chart above makes clear, upwards of 3,300 young Oregonians are entering the foster system on an annual basis.
NOLO’s prioritization of foster youth is intentional. The Digital Divide tends to be even wider among foster youth. Case in point, 90 percent of teens in the US own a laptop, but that number drops to 20 percent for teens growing up in foster care. And, closing the Digital Divide for foster families has benefits that extend beyond the youth. Foster parents that lack sufficient Internet, for example, struggle to connect with social workers, which is critical to the well-being of the kids in their stead.
An easy way to do your part
NOLO is proud to be working with Every Child to close this Divide as soon as possible. Together, they’ll have distributed more than 80 hotspots by the end of the month, each equipped with a year of Internet and capable of supporting 10+ devices, to foster families around Oregon.
To make sure these devices are impactful as possible, NOLO will be surveying foster families about how access to the Internet is transforming everything from work to play.
As you know, completing surveys isn’t the most fun. That’s why I am reaching out to you — The Oregon Way community — to see if you or any organization you work for or know of might be willing to provide some incentives for hotspot recipients to provide information that will help NOLO and Every Child hasten their effort to make sure no child is left offline.
A gift that keeps giving
The gift of connection is much more than a one time act. When we close Oregon’s Digital Divide, we will be on our way toward making sure that every resident—from students to seniors—has the chance to reach their full potential.
Oregon has long prided itself on being “first.” Maybe it has something to do with our track and field legacy. History aside, let’s be the first state to close the Digital Divide among foster youth. It’s a big, bold goal, but it’s well within our capacity.
Please reach out to kfraz@berkeley.edu if you or your organization are in a spot to help make this pilot program a success.
Send feedback to Kevin:
@kevintfrazier
Keep the conversation going:
Facebook (facebook.com/oregonway), Twitter (@the_oregon_way)
Check out our podcast: