bridging the digital divide

At a forum of world leaders in Florence, Italy, last November, President Clinton called the advantage enjoyed by those who have access to computers and the Internet over those who do not one of the greatest domestic problems facing developed nations.

"I think we should shoot for a goal within the developed countries of having Internet access as complete as telephone access within a fixed number of years," he said. "It will do as much as anything else to reduce income inequality."

A PBS series, Digital Divide, focuses "on the role computers play in widening social gaps throughout our society, particularly among young people." Along with the growing gap between those who have the technological tools and those who do not, it also stands for a divide by gender and race, between the haves and have-nots, and represents the educational inequalities that exist in our schools (both private and public).

The show visited schools at different stages of technological integration. One school is corporately funded and has 220 students and 280 computers - but no library. It also doesn't have arts or sports programs or any extracurricular activities. As one student said, "We don't have library books, but everything is online."

Another school, publicly funded, was designated a technology magnet school and has a few dozen older computers. A corporation donated two state-of-the-art labs. However, given the rapid rate at which technology changes, "sota" only lasts a few months, and of course, there are repair, upgrade, maintenance and additional training costs - none of which is funded by the state, city, county or corporate angels. The teachers are complaining that they don't have enough pencils, books or even working bathrooms. Meanwhile, the income gap between rich and poor widens.

As ORTists, we know how costly furnishing classrooms with computers can be. After all, we have been supplying schools around the world since the advent of computers.

WHAT YOUR CHAPTER CAN DO

• Donate a used computer to a school or organization that's helping schools catch up.
• Contribute books through our "Adopt-A-Shelf" program or tutor a child in reading.
• Call members who visited an ORT school (ideal speakers at events and meetings) to discuss how ORT is dealing with the new technology.
• Learn more about the digital divide by visiting the following Web sites: www.pbs.org/digitaldivide, www.digitaldivide.gov and www.digitaldividenetwork.org (a list of local efforts to combat the digital divide). And www.suite101.com offers material on the use of computers in education.

vote 2000

Wherever we look now - radio, television, the Internet - and for months to come, candidates fill the news. As a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, Women's American ORT may not endorse candidates or parties. These prohibitions apply to local, state and national primary and general elections. But it is permissible to engage in non-partisan voter registration and non-partisan candidates' forums. As WAO members, we know the importance of casting our vote.

The presidential candidates offer proposals on education reforms of every type including prayer in public schools and school vouchers for private schools. (For updates on vouchers, visit www.pta.org.)

WAO has clearly stated policies in our Public Policy Resolutions that affirm:

• Our clear opposition to school vouchers "as a serious drain of funds needed to maintain and improve our public education system."
• Our support of public education reforms that support the achievements of all children.
• Our continuing opposition to the incursion of religion into public schools.
• Our strong support of literacy programs for children and adults in and out of school.

WHAT YOUR CHAPTER CAN DO

Encourage members to vote, whatever their stand. A Web site of interest is www.youthvote2000.org, sponsored by a coalition reaching out to younger voters.

Encourage members to know where the candidates stand on issues. For information on campaign spending and a comparison of the candidates, take a look at www.opensecrets.org.

Possibly sponsor a non-partisan candidates' forum, where all candidates express their opinions - with particular emphasis on the educational issues WAO addresses in its resolutions.

Learn more about school choice and charter schools by visiting the following Web site: www.heritage.org/schools. (The Heritage Foundation is a conservative organization.)

campaigning for literacy

Chapters across the country are continuing to donate books to those who need them, from elementary school children learning how to read to hospital patients, residents of senior citizen communities and nursing homes to abused women and their children living in shelters. The latest success story is from Houston where Young Leadership is not only donating books but also helping paint and furnish an appropriate reading area in an abused women's shelter.

WHAT YOUR CHAPTER CAN DO

Join the growing number of WAO Chapters by participating in "Adopt-A-Shelf" projects. (For more information, contact the National Office at 800.51.WAORT, ext. 263.)

Participate in National Library Week (this year's theme is Read! Learn! Connect! @ the Library), April 9 to 15, sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Benton Foundation, by contacting a local library and asking how you can help. Enlist members for library-oriented volunteer activities such as story hours, summer reading programs, book fairs or used book sales.

Learn more about the ALA and the Benton Foundation by visiting the Web sites www.ala.org (includes 2000 Calendar of Promotional Events for Libraries and Literacy) and www.connectforkids.org.

upcoming opportunities for Pro-Choice activism

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (of which WAO is a member) will sponsor rallies at the national political conventions in July and August. The coalition will convene interfaith convocations in Philadelphia, where the Republican convention will be held, and Los Angeles, site of the Democratic convention.

The Philadelphia event will take place Sunday, July 30, the day before the Republican convention opens. And in Los Angeles, the convocation will be held on Sunday, Aug. 13, the day before the Democratic convention.

Both events will be held in the morning, followed by a procession and a rally. Coalition President, the Rev. Carlton Veazey, announced that the convocation and march are intended to show that "... we will not tolerate the dangerous religious right political agenda that erodes our medical and moral options and threatens the well-being of women and families."

WHAT YOUR CHAPTER CAN DO

Tell members about the interfaith convocations at the conventions and encourage members in Los Angeles and Philadelphia to attend.

Arrange a public forum on the issue, updating the community on the current status of the debate, perhaps including a lawyer, a cleric and an elected official.

Learn more about the convocations by calling the Washington-based Religious Coalition at 202.628.7700 or visiting the Web site, www.rcrc.org. The National Organization for Women also lists recent developments at www.now.org.

be counted

The 2000 National Jewish Population Survey, sponsored by the United Jewish Communities (the new entity formed by the merger of UJA and the Council of Jewish Federations), will be contacting a sample of some 6,000 households later this year. The summary report will be issued in mid-2001.

The federal government is currently conducting its official census. Some of us will receive the long form, others the short form.

WHAT YOUR CHAPTER CAN DO

Encourage members to fill out both the Jewish and federal census forms.

Learn more about the Jewish census by visiting www.ujc.org and the federal census by visiting the U.S. Census Bureau's site, www.census.gov.

WAO at the UN: preparing for Beijing+5

In the last issue of QuORTerly Briefing, we informed you that Women's American ORT has representation on several of the United Nations Non-Governmental Organizations. One such NGO is the Working Group on Girls, a group of NGOs associated with UNICEF and the NGO Commission on the Status of Women.

At the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, 189 countries committed to the Platform for Action, which included a separate section on girls acknowledging rampant "discrimination against girls from the earliest stages of life, through their childhood and into adulthood." To date, however, only 34 governments have incorporated specific provisions for girls in their National Plans of Action.

Annual meetings of the Commission on the Status of Women have evaluated the progress made in addressing issues including the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and adolescent girls, exploitive labor and violence against women and girls. With an aging population, a topic beginning to receive greater attention is the status of older women around the world.

Education is viewed as the key to overcoming many of the obstacles facing girls. Of particular interest to WAO members are a variety of vocational education programs, ranging from sewing, hairdressing and cooking to carpentry, electronics and motor repair aimed at helping adolescent girls become economically self-sufficient.

The WGGs are preparing an alternative report documenting the disparities between what was committed to in Beijing and what has actually taken place to present at Beijing+5, the Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly that will be held in June.

WHAT YOUR CHAPTER CAN DO

Update members about WAO's role at the U.N.

Learn more about the Working Group on Girls by visiting the Web site, www.girlsrights.org.

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