THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
December 9, 1999
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
SUBJECT: Narrowing the "Digital Divide:" Creating
Opportunities for All Americans in the
Information Age
Information tools, such as the personal computer and the Internet, are increasingly important to economic success and full participation in all aspects of American society. People with computers and Internet access can use these tools to find a job, acquire new skills, start a small business, get lower prices for goods and services, and become more informed citizens.
Currently, not all Americans are enjoying the benefits of the Information Age tools. In July 1999, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration issued a report, Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide, which found a growing gap between those with access to these tools and those without. Black and Hispanic households are only two-fifths as likely to have Internet access as white households. Households with incomes of $75,000 and higher, in urban areas, are more than twenty times as likely to have access to the Internet as households at the lowest income levels, and more than nine times as likely to have a computer at home. As information technology plays an ever-increasing role in Americans' economic and social lives, we cannot afford to leave anyone behind.
Fortunately, competition and advances in technology are driving down the cost of computers and Internet access, which will make these new Information Age tools affordable for more Americans. I believe that we should set a national goal of making computers and Internet access available for every American. Furthermore, we should explore ways of using technology to expand the economic opportunities for those Americans who have not yet enjoyed the benefits of our prosperity.
Accordingly, I am directing executive departments and agencies ("agencies") to take the following specific actions to help Americans benefit from advances in information technology:
(a) expand our growing network of Community Technology Centers to
provide access to technology for low-income Americans; and
(b) encourage the development of information technology
applications that would help enable low-income Americans to
start and manage their own small businesses.
4. The Secretaries of Education, Labor, and Commerce shall work with
the private sector to upgrade the information technology skills of
America's workforce, particularly workers living in disadvantaged
urban and rural communities.
5. The Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Education, and the
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall highlight and
disseminate the lessons learned from their grant programs and
educational technology initiatives, with an emphasis on underserved
citizens, to increase the number of communities across the Nation
that could reap the benefits of information technologies for their
residents.
6. Items 1-5 of this memorandum and my July 1, 1997, and November 30,
1998, memoranda shall be conducted subject to the availability of
appropriations and consistent with agencies' priorities and my
budget, and to the extent permitted by law.
7. The Vice President shall continue his leadership in coordinating
the United States Government's electronic commerce strategy.
Further, I direct that the heads of executive departments and
agencies report to the Vice President and to me on their progress
in meeting the terms of this memorandum, through the Electronic
Commerce Working Group (ECWG) in its annual report. To the extent
that substantial new policy issues emerge, the analysis and action
on those policies will be coordinated in a manner consistent with
the responsibilities of the ECWG, the National Economic Council,
and the Domestic Policy Council, as appropriate.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
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