Crossing the Digital Divide on Chicago’s Toughest Streets

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[Commentary] Too often the “digital inclusion” crisis in America is seen as a low-emotional-valence issue that is both exhausting and impossible to fix.

The facts behind the crisis are easy to tick off: In many cities in America, 40% or more of citizens don’t have high-speed Internet access at home. Data caps and overage charges make mobile wireless access by way of smartphones unattractive as a substitute for that wire, and about two-thirds of Americans say they wouldn’t want to rely on a smartphone alone for Internet access. If you can afford it, you probably have both smartphone access and a wire at home — about 85% of Americans with a smartphone also have home high-speed Internet access. A far larger portion of poorer Americans are smartphone-dependent than richer Americans.

The successful Smart Chicago summer program, called Youth-Led Tech, combined crucial elements that meant the effort actually reached and held the attention of teenagers in Chicago neighborhoods. What Smart Chicago learned should be put to use by cities across the country; the group has posted online all the information it can about the program for just this reason. But cities will need substantial philanthropic and private support to pull this off. And they’ll need a local Smart Chicago.


Crossing the Digital Divide on Chicago’s Toughest Streets