Washington, D.C., is in some ways the latecomer among the five cities studied when it comes to adapting to the Internet, but that does not mean that citizens and government officials have not been aggressive in pursuing Internet opportunities.\u00a0 The city is actively trying to promote dot-com development downtown through networks of entrepreneurs who are linked to venture capitalists.\u00a0 And as in several of the other cities, planners are trying to develop a hip, artsy downtown district that will serve as a magnet for young people with dot-com business ideas.\u00a0 The area is known as NoMa, for an area north of Massachusetts Avenue near Union Station.\u00a0 City government is also moving to provide financial incentives for dot-com and other technology companies locating in the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n\n
At the community level, the city boasts a large number of projects devoted to bringing Internet and computer access to low-income people.\u00a0 Several have received funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce\u2019s Technology Opportunities Program; others have foundation funding.\u00a0 Some focus on job training while others are more broadly educational.\u00a0 The city government has not been active in funding community Internet projects, but the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has a \u201cDigital Divide Task Force\u201d whose objective is to catalog existing computer and Internet literacy projects and explore where gaps exist.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n
Washington\u2019s case is unique in that is a distinct governmental unit surrounded by suburban Maryland and Virginia, both of which are affluent centers of vibrant New Economy business activity.\u00a0 This section concentrates solely on the District.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n
Like most of the cities studied, Washington has a variety of initiatives designed to make the Internet available to low-income people.\u00a0 These initiatives have different focuses.\u00a0 One is devoted mainly to job training, another to integrating the Internet into a charter school for troubled kids, and another to bringing the Internet into the homes of residents of low-income housing.<\/p>\n\n
a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Forever Foundation<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n In Washington\u2019s Shaw neighborhood, the See Forever Foundation has established the Maya Angelou Public Charter School as a way to reach at-risk kids who have not been well served by the public school system.\u00a0 Technology plays a large role in the curriculum; the school has about 50 computers on site and 20 in a central lab that serves as a classroom.\u00a0 The school is also trying to serve the Shaw community by introducing the Internet to nonprofits and senior citizens in the neighborhood.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n The school serves approximately 80 students, most of whom have had trouble with the law.\u00a0 Many had dropped out of school.\u00a0 About 20 percent live at the school, and school days are long\u2014from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.\u00a0 In addition to providing students essential course work, the school also offers practical exposure to real-world employment.\u00a0 At the school\u2019s \u201cStudent Tech Center,\u201d students teach parents and siblings computer and Internet skills and engage in graphic design projects for neighborhood clients.\u00a0 Students are paid for teaching and receive evaluations of their work.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n The location and design of the building that houses the school are important parts of its mission.\u00a0 Originally started as an after-school tutoring program, See Forever for a while operated in a public school building.\u00a0 It needed its own facility to operate as a charter school, so See Forever chose to renovate a building in the Shaw neighborhood, long known as a center of the District\u2019s drug trade.\u00a0 Maya Angelou Co-Principal David Domenici wanted to renovate a building that students and neighborhood residents could have pride in; he also wanted to create a \u201ctechnology storefront\u201d feel, so people in the neighborhood would avail themselves of the technology classes offered.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n Initially, Shaw residents disliked the prospect of a school that served kids who had had run-ins with the law.\u00a0 However, students and school staff have reached out to the community, and there has been steady growth in attendance at computer classes and use of the school\u2019s computers by residents. This has done much to improve the school\u2019s reception.<\/p>\n\n In a more systematic fashion, the school is developing ShawNet, a wide-area network and Web-hosting site for area small businesses and nonprofits.\u00a0 The project will cost $900,000, with $395,000 coming from the U.S. Department of Commerce\u2019s Technology Opportunities Program.\u00a0 The project puts students\u2019 skills to practical use as they perform a service for the nonprofits.\u00a0 This initiative has had a slow start. Nonprofits\u2019 resources are thinly spread, and Internet access is limited.\u00a0 But in the three years supported by the TOP grant, See Forever hopes to get 50 nonprofits on the Web and 50 small businesses as well.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n The other goal of the grant is to encourage Internet access among senior citizens through the \u201cBack Pack Technology Program,\u201d in which Maya Angelou students will take laptop computers to seniors and provide Internet training.\u00a0 Over the longer term, students will help interested seniors buy home computers and set up Internet access.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n b.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Byte Back<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n Byte Back is a Washington, D.C., nonprofit with a small paid staff, many volunteers, and a presence in numerous-community based organizations. It offers two types of training to District residents.\u00a0 The first is basic computer and Internet literacy. As of spring 2001, Byte Back courses were available at nine sites throughout the city, ranging from Byte Back headquarters near Catholic University to a family center in a housing project, several churches, a Boys and Girls club, and a Catholic Charities facility.\u00a0 Classes are usually limited to about 10 people, and students pay nominal fees–$10 for introductory courses and $25 for more advanced ones such as Power Point or HTML. In spring 2001, 560 students were participating in 70 courses and more than 2,000 people had passed through one of these classes since Byte Back was founded. <\/p>\n\n The second type of training is a yearlong program for what Byte Back calls its \u201cinterns,\u201d designed to give them the advanced training necessary to gain employment in the information technology industry.\u00a0 Interns \u201ctest in\u201d to the program based on pre-existing computer aptitude or on skills gained in basic Byte Back courses.\u00a0 They commit 30 hours a week to the program: ten hours of class time, ten hours of homework, and ten hours of service, which can include technical support or teaching.\u00a0 Interns, of whom there are 40 at a time, also attend bi-monthly community meetings.<\/p>\n\n Volunteers serve as another pillar of Byte Back\u2019s organizational approach.\u00a0 Through word of mouth and postings in church bulletins, Byte Back has a corps of computer and Internet professionals who teach Byte Back classes to walk-ins or interns.\u00a0 This gives interns valuable contacts to professionals whose companies may be hiring.<\/p>\n\n Like many organizations that provide computer and Internet training to low-income people, Byte Back has to cope with high demand for its services, which in turn means rapid organizational growth.\u00a0 Interns whose primary interest lies in computer programming have to deal with administrative issues as more people sign up for courses.\u00a0 Byte Back hopes that its model can be replicated in other cities; if so, similar organizations will have to handle growth effectively.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n c.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Edgewood Terrace\u2019s EdgeNet<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n Northeast Washington\u2019s Edgewood Terrace housing development represents an ambitious and well-publicized effort to transform once run-down apartment units into a vibrant and wired community.\u00a0 The Community Preservation Development Corporation (CPDC) purchased the low-income public housing development in 1993 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.\u00a0 CPDC set out to create a community with on-site amenities such as after school programs for kids, adult education classes, and Internet access.\u00a0 The innovative part of the plan was to provide Internet access in residents\u2019 apartments along with a portal and intranet known as EdgeNet.\u00a0 To date, CPDC\u2019s overall\u00a0 plans have unfolded well, although in-home Internet access has hit some technical snags.<\/p>\n\n Edgewood Terrace has 884 apartments on a 16-acre site, and its courtyard once housed an open-air narcotics market.\u00a0 After redevelopment, Edgewood Terrace has become a mixed-income community with an average annual household income of $35,000.\u00a0 Early in planning, CPDC saw Edgewood as an opportunity to use computer technology to improve the community.\u00a0 Since the units were to be completely refurbished, CPDC decided to wire the buildings and apartments with high-speed communications infrastructure\u2014T-1 lines into buildings and fiber-optic cables to each floor.\u00a0 A project such as this takes time.\u00a0 CPDC will begin in the summer of 2001 the refurbishment of the final 200 units of Edgewood.\u00a0 This means that 592 apartments will have been retrofitted with broadband connections. However, due to technical problems, only 140 units have Internet terminals.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n When Edgewood reopened in 1995, CPDC immediately started offering computer training to residents.\u00a0 By 1998, Edgewood\u2019s learning center had opened, offering more classes and Internet access.\u00a0 Today, about 150 adults per year pass through the learning center\u2019s 16-week training programs in computing and Internet skills.\u00a0 The course\u2019s objectives are to prepare students for entry-level jobs in areas such as Web page design.\u00a0 The results appear to be good; because of vocational assessments of applicants for the classes, students admitted have strong aptitudes for the courses.\u00a0 Job retention rates are high; approximately three-quarters of the students are working at the same job six months after starting.\u00a0 And not all students are Edgewood residents; today, about 90 percent of students in the workforce training programs come from the neighborhood surrounding Edgewood.<\/p>\n\n Edgewood also has extensive computer and Internet programs for kids aimed at helping them perform better in school.\u00a0 CPDC is opening a new \u201cexperiential learning center\u201d in the summer of 2001 for kids and families, and there are plans for an \u201cEdgewood News\u201d program to be produced by students and Web cast on EdgeNet.\u00a0 The learning center will also have a cyber caf\u00e9<\/p>\n\n The path to home Internet access has been rocky at times. Any Edgewood resident is eligible for a terminal as long as he or she pays a $24 fee for admittance to the Edgewood technology advisory board (ETAB) and undergoes a 45-minute orientation session.\u00a0 The ETAB was established to give residents a strong voice with CPDC management about the program. About 18 months ago, in-home Internet access became a reality for about 30 Edgewood residents\u2014the development\u2019s \u201cbeta\u201d testers.\u00a0 However, seven months after the 30 residents were wired, the network started experiencing frequent crashes.\u00a0 CPDC spent money to solve the problems, but during the process the entire ETAB board resigned (many were later persuaded to return).\u00a0 Progress was set back, but rollout of terminals in homes continues.\u00a0 As of late Spring 2001, 140 of 592 units have Internet access and CPDC\u2019s goal is to have terminals in 400 units by the end of the summer.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n The ambitious scope of Edgewood Terrace, along with its presence in the nation\u2019s capital, has made it a focal point for publicity.\u00a0 Many politicians have visited Edgewood and many technology companies have showcased their technology there, to the benefit of the community.\u00a0 For six months, Microsoft ran a commercial that identified Edgewood by name, showing residents using computers and Microsoft software.\u00a0 The attention Edgewood has attracted has, on balance, been a good thing for the community, but it has also been something of a distraction to CPDC management.\u00a0 Now the surge of publicity has run its course, CPDC management seems to be heaving a sigh of relief.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n As with other community access projects profiled in this report, Edgewood has benefited from a TOP grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce.\u00a0 The $500,000 grant was used to purchase much of the technical infrastructure for the project, such as the new server and switches.\u00a0 The CPDC also received grants from HUD\u2019s Neighborhood Networks program.\u00a0 Edgewood has received limited support from District government, mostly in grants from D.C.\u2019s Department of Employment Services for work-force training programs.\u00a0 With only one quarter of current residents having Internet access in the home, it is too early to assess the Internet\u2019s impact on the community.\u00a0 But CPDC\u2019s investments in improving Edgewood has made the community a much better place to live.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n One part of CPDC\u2019s approach that seems worthy of emulation is the ETAB.\u00a0 This gives residents a voice in how CPDC\u2019s technology plans will unfold and, as evidenced by the protest over the network\u2019s technical problems, the ETAB is a focal point for community dialog.\u00a0 The resignations from the ETAB obviously signaled great dissatisfaction over CPDC\u2019s management of the network, but as a forum for protest it gave the community a chance to participate in addressing the problems.<\/p>\n\nThe Internet and Washington\u2019s Economy<\/h3>\n\n