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Chief Executive, The, August, 2001 by Mary Hager

The corporate world gives digital "have nots" access to the Internet via complex networks; critics wonder when and if efforts will pay off.

Twelve-year-old Rodney F., who was born in Guatemala, has been in the United States less than a month and speaks no English, but every day after school he rushes to a state-of-the-art computer laboratory in his Falls Church, VA, housing development. There he works intently on a game that demands logic and dexterity--but no English--as he waits for a group session--in Spanish--that will help equip him with basic skills he needs to thrive in the digital age.

Half a world away in Ngoudiane, Senegal, villagers are helping build one of their country's first Joko Clubs. In Wolof, Senegal's main language, joko means link or connection, and that is what these clubs will provide. Equipped with phones and computers, the clubs will give people in Senegal, a relatively poor but politically stable country in West Africa, access to markets, information, education, and other opportunities never before available.

In both cases the corporate world is trying to help bridge the gap between those who have access to the Internet and its benefits and those who do not. The computer laboratory in Virginia is part of PowerUP, an ambitious program started two years ago by Stephen M. Case of AOL Time Warner, his wife Jean, and Colin L. Powell to bring America's children in poor communities into the technological mainstream. It also includes a site in New York City, which has brought the Internet to deaf and hearing-impaired children. Another, in Pueblo, CO, works with emotionally and developmentally impaired students. The clubs in Senegal are part of the Hewlett Packard Co.'s multimillion-dollar effort to introduce information technology to remote parts of the world--and, it is hoped, to expand the company's markets.

These are not examples of simple corporate giving. Both involve complex networks that span corporate, governmental, and nonprofit worlds and represent long-term commitments, a reflection of the scope of the digital divide, and the challenge, and opportunities, it presents.

The divide issue has become difficult for corporations to ignore but, they recognize, impossible to tackle alone. "No sector or company has the resources or the assets to make a difference," observes Dr. Tony Wilhelm, director of communications programs for the Benton Foundation, which set up and maintains the Digital Divide Network, a Web site (www.digitaldividenetwork.org) devoted to these issues. The foundation is a legacy of William Benton, the advertising mogul.

When the term "digital divide" was coined in the mid-1990s, it referred mainly to computer and Internet access, though it quickly broadened to include the even wider gap between the information "haves" and "have nots." Today it has become a catch-all for a long list of disenfranchised groups--those without telephones and electricity, those who cannot read or write, ethnic and racial minorities, the disabled, and rural and inner-city populations. It also includes those in Third World countries--who seem to be a fair distance from the more affluent, educated portion of the global population already using the tools of the information revolution.

The obvious consequences of this widening divide spurred corporations into action in the form of equipment, training, and finances. Their efforts have taken very different tacks. Some focused on the 44 million Americans who are functionally illiterate. Others took on wiring and providing computers to schools, libraries, community centers, and other places that offered access. Yet others addressed content, developing new curricula, and helping teachers learn to use the new technology more effectively.

These projects have the frill commitment and often the personal support of the men and women at the top. The Case Foundation put in $10 million to jump-start PowerUP, the Waitt Family Foundation, set up by Gateway founder Ted Waitt, provides computers. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wires and equips libraries to expand Internet access through communities. Some CEOs--like John Chambers of Cisco Systems, Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard, and Craig Barrett of Intel--are known for their personal involvement, but they are far from alone. Most information technology companies and their CEOs are involved, either individually or as partners, in large undertakings.

Even CEOs from companies not involved in information technology have taken on the cause. The idea of adopting an entire middle school to bring everyone from parents to custodians into the digital age originated with William Harrison, CEO of JP Morgan Chase. Fleet-Boston is providing free computers and one year of nocost Internet banking services to selected customers in low-to-moderate income communities.

Charles Moore, deputy to the chairmen of the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy, believes that CEOs see their philanthropic efforts as investments, but that they also give for a practical reason. "Almost all recognize there is a clear business value to corporate philanthropy," says Moore. "A brand name is the name of everybody's game, no matter what kind of business or service, and to link their brand name with solid citizenship reputation is a big plus."