| NEW YORK - October 25 - Bridging the Organizational Divide: Toward a Comprehensive Approach to the Digital Divide, a new PolicyLink report, cites gaps in the current digital divide policy agenda and urges support of community based organizations' use of existing and emerging technologies as a tool to strengthen community-building efforts.
"We must link the legacy and power of the social justice field to the promise of cutting-edge technology innovations, " asserts PolicyLink President Angela Glover Blackwell.
The organizational divide represents the collective lack of technology capacity in the community-based nonprofit sector. According to the report's principal authors, Josh Kirschenbaum and Radhika Kunamneni, a comprehensive policy approach to bridging the digital divide should support 1) universal access and training; 2) capacity building for community based organizations; 3) the creation of relevant online content; and, 4) new IT applications.
The report cites some nonprofits that have successfully adopted technological innovations, including:
- New York, New York - Welfare Law Center's Low-Income Networking and Communication (LINC) project uses IT to build and strengthen a welfare reform advocacy movement.
- St, Louis, Missouri - Grace Hill's Member Organized Resource Exchange (MORE) is an internet-based computerized tracking system that allows low-income residents to barter services, supporting a "neighbors-helping-neighbors" approach to community change.
- Los Angeles, California - Neighborhood Knowledge of Los Angeles (NKLA), a project of the UCLA Advanced Policy Institute, the Community Development Information Coalition, and a host of city agencies and non-profit organizations, provides residents with detailed geographic information about tax delinquencies, code violations, utility liens, and other signs of property neglect allowing them to develop strategies to improve living conditions.
PolicyLink is a national nonprofit research, communications, capacity building, and advocacy organization, dedicated to advancing policies to achieve economic and social equity based on the wisdom, voice, and experience of local constituencies. For a copy of Bridging the Organizational Divide: Toward a Comprehensive Approach to the Digital Divide, please visit http://www.policylink.org/pdfs/Bridging_the_Org_Divide.pdf. For more information on PolicyLink, please visit http://www.policylink.org.
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