Include seniors in digital literacy programs

In July 2012, Speed Matters reported that Connect2Compete, a public/private partnership sponsored by the FCC, was expanding its digital literacy program to include 2800  Labor Department job centers. Recently, Connect2Compete launched Everyone On, a program to pull in the 20 percent of adults who don't use the Internet.

In a post on the Benton Foundation blog, though, Bob Harootyan, manager of research for the Senior Service America and Benton director Cecilia Garcia, point out a serious shortcoming in the program. "C2C targets low-income families whose children are eligible for the federal free and reduced-cost lunch programs," he wrote "That means that low-income seniors, a highly vulnerable segment of the population, are being left behind."

In fact, seniors are the group that's most often on the minus side of the digital divide. As Harootyan and Garcia note, "... seniors remain far behind the 82 percent of all adults who are Internet users. And digging a bit deeper, significant numbers of low-income seniors do not have computers or broadband access at home."

Harootyan's group, Senior Service of America, runs the Digital Inclusion Initiative, which he says has helped 25,000 seniors gain the knowledge and skills they need to get online. But only a federal program like C2C, with the funding it needs, can help bring the millions of low-income seniors into the majority of Americans who use the Internet. Harootyan and Garcia believe that using public-private partnerships  to target disadvantaged seniors who use rental housing subsidies would be a good point of contact.

Speed Matters supports all efforts include every American in the digital future.

Connect2Compete increasing digital training program (Speed Matters, Jul. 20, 2012)

Everyone On (website)

Don't Leave Seniors Behind! (Benton Foundation blog, Mar. 21, 2013)

Digital Inclusion Initiative (website)