CASA Digital Divide

	Addressing the Digital Divide The long-term impact of the project of narrowing the digital divide is very promising, at least for the local communities with whom CASA works. Regrettably, large sectors of American society do not have access to participate in an information-based society nor have the means to develop pertinent skills because of their geographic location, occupation, age, class or ethnicity. Furthermore, the inability of minority individuals in particular, Blacks and Latinos to acquire ownership of computer technology and the benefits for possessing these kinds of knowledge and skills has powerful implications for widening the digital divide between the haves and have nots (McConnaughey et al., 1998). If we adhere to the principles of a participatory democracy, it is precisely these sectors which could benefit from access to modern technology and (given the basic knowledge of technology application) could be able to stay on par with more resource-rich student populations, as well as gain independence, competence, and stability as full-fledged members of the society.
Effective Curriculum The most challenging issue lies in creating and delivering effective curriculum and instruction that not only sustains minority-learner’s (child and adult alike) active participation, but also maintains the integrity of their inter-generational relations. Too frequently educational programs experience great difficulty in retaining theses types of individuals once they are recruited, and even more tragic, the education that is imparted often has deleterious affects on the inter-relations between children and their elders, as each pursues divergent and conflicting learning opportunities (Wong-Filmore, 1991).
	Community Technology Center CASA’s community technology center strives to circumvent this unfortunate outcome by coordinating culturally and developmentally relevant computer-mediated activities designed for four stages of the life span. By horizontally and vertically linking the content and practice of these four developmental levels, we will be providing a continuity of experience in which adults and children come to intimately understand the social and cultural conditions that constitute each other's learning contexts.