An effort to bridge digital divide

A conversation that began around one Davidson family’s kitchen table has grown into a communitywide effort to end the digital divide in north Mecklenburg County.

Now organizers of the movement – known as E3D for Eliminate the Davidson Digital Divide – are working on a pilot program that will bring 50 computers to those families at Davidson Elementary School who don’t have one. Ultimately, they hope the effort will serve as a model to be replicated across Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

Franny Millen, a seventh-grader at Bailey Middle School, was talking with her parents last fall about a disconnect between students who have computers at home and those who don’t.

“I have noticed for a while now that not a lot of my friends have the same access to technology as I do,” said Franny, 12. “The thought of kids having lower grades than me because of not having any technology bugs me. Kids who don’t have technology have harder times at school.”

In fact, according to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, 59.3 percent of economically-disadvantaged students at Davidson Elementary School – those who likely wouldn’t own a computer at home – passed both reading and math end-of-course tests during the 2011-12 school year, compared with more than 95 percent of non-economically disadvantaged students.

Eileen Keeley, Franny’s mom, said the digital divide is evident across all school levels – from teachers assigning elementary school students to research online for a project to teachers requiring high school students to turn in papers typed and double-spaced.

“More and more, we were seeing that homework assignments presumed that the person had a computer at home,” Franny’s father, Pat Millen said.

For the student who can’t complete a homework assignment because they don’t have access to a computer, “it’s a little embarrassing, and it’s definitely demoralizing,” he said.

And although local public libraries do provide free access to computers, Pat Millen said that’s not always a reasonable solution.

After all, the student would need to find a ride to and from the library. And once they get there, all the library computers may already be in use.

In fall 2012, Franny suggested to her parents that they do something to close the gap. About that time, Franny and Pat Millen ran into town mayor John Woods during a visit to Summit Coffee.

“He understood why it was important. He was on board form the very beginning,” Franny Millen said. “The project has grown so much bigger than just me and my family.”

Now, a couple of months later, the Millen-Keeley family, the Ada Jenkins Center, Davidson College and the town of Davidson have all paired up with one specific short-term goal as a pilot: Buy a computer for every student who doesn’t have one at Davidson Elementary School.

According to principal Dana Jarrett, that equates to about 50 computers, which Pat Millen values at about $15,000 when software is included.

Participating families will be asked to contribute a nominal fee to participate – about $10 a month for a year, Pat Millen said. The remainder will be provided by individual businesses and grants.

Pat Millen said he expects the organization to decide within the next month what type of hardware and software to purchase. He hopes the estimated 50 families at Davidson Elementary School have computers in their hands by August.

Once families receive the computers, Davidson College students will work with families to teach them how to properly care for the computer and how to use it.

“It will open up worlds that have never been readily available to them,” Pat Millen, 49, said. “It’s going to level the playing field.”

Stacey Riemer, associate dean of students and director of civic engagement at Davidson College, said that the effort is not only a victory for the individual child who will receive a computer but for the community as a whole.

“A lot of times these programs are developed in isolation of partners. What’s really exciting about this is that the whole town is working together,” Riemer said. “The sheer number of folks who are already engaged in the effort is incredible.”

Pat Millen said that the entire experience so far with E3D has been a great lesson in civic engagements for Franny, who is already on the organization’s executive board.

And what better place to teach her social consciousness, he said, than Davidson.

“Davidson is a place where community service and thinking about your neighbor are sort of a regular part of people’s lives,” Eileen Keeley, 45, said. “Feel so lucky to be in a place where people care so deeply about their neighbors and our community. It’s a privilege.”