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A Special Message From General Colin L. Powell, U.S.A. (ret.) |
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 We hear much today about the "digital divide"
-- the gap between those who have access to the wonders of digital technology and the Internet and those who do not. When I address this issue I use an even stronger term: digital apartheid. What is at stake is today's technology
"have-nots" -- especially the young -- and whether they may find themselves marginalized for life because they lack the skills and tools to participate in our globalized, knowledge-based economy. This is true in America and in the rest of the
world.
If digital apartheid persists, we all lose. The digital have-nots will be poorer, more resentful of progress than ever and will not be able to become the skilled workers or potential customers that are needed to sustain the growth of the Internet economy. So the private sector is eager to tear down the wall between the digital haves and have-nots. One reason why I am an optimist on this issue is my vantage point as Chairman of America's Promise -- The Alliance for Youth. Our mission is to endow young people with the character and competence they need to become successful adults by promoting Five Promises to Youth: caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, marketable skills, and opportunities to serve. Marketable skills increasingly mean digital skills, and high-tech companies have been among our earliest and most enthusiastic allies in equipping young people for careers in the digital economy. Oracle Corporation created a $100 million foundation to provide network computers and computer training to students and teachers in American schools. America Online developed a Web site, AOL@School, to help teachers and students tap the educational resources of the Internet. Cisco Systems is setting up 2,000 Networking Academies in high schools and colleges throughout the United States to train students to design, build, and maintain computer networks. IBM will provide $10 million in technology and technical services as part of its Teaming for Technology program. Another new initiative, PowerUP, is an alliance of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the YMCA, AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers, and a number of high-tech companies. It provides computer training to young people who otherwise might not get it. The progress America's Promise has made in giving disadvantaged American youngsters access to digital technology helps to dramatize what can be achieved through private and public/private initiatives. What has been done here can be done worldwide. The private sector has the incentive, as well as the resources and ingenuity, to lead the world in realizing this critical goal.
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