Research documents that individuals without consistent and reliable access to technology, specifically, computer technology including the Internet, are:
       • more subject to live below the national poverty level
       • less likely to obtain adequate employment
       • are generally not successful in participating in the social, economic, and education community.

Additionally, studies indicate that children who live in homes without computers and the Internet do not fare as well academically as their peers with regular and consistent access to the same devices.

Information tools, such as the personal computer and the Internet, are increasingly critical to economic success and personal advancement.

Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide finds that more Americans than ever have access to telephones, computers, and the Internet. At the same time, however, NTIA has found that there is still a significant "digital divide" separating American information "haves" and "have nots." Indeed, in many instances, the digital divide has widened in the last year.

This report, NTIA's third in the Falling Through the Net series, relies on December 1998 U.S. Department of Commerce Census Bureau data to provide an updated snapshot of the digital divide. The good news is that Americans are more connected than ever before. Access to computers and the Internet has soared for people in all demographic groups and geographic locations. At the end of 1998, over 40 percent of American households owned computers, and one-quarter of all households had Internet access. Additionally, those who were less likely to have telephones (chiefly, young and minority households in rural areas) are now more likely to have phones at home.

Accompanying this good news, however, is the persistence of the digital divide between the information rich (such as Whites, Asians/Pacific Islanders, those with higher incomes, those more educated, and dual-parent households) and the information poor (such as those who are younger, those with lower incomes and education levels, certain minorities, and those in rural areas or central cities). Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide (July, 1999).

Instructional Access is the premier "DIGITAL DIVIDE SOLUTIONS PROVIDER." Instructional Access technology training modules are specifically designed to meet the diverse needs of children, youth, adults, and families striving to attain self-sufficiency. All Instructional Access programs are comprehensive and holistic in nature. The unique social and psychological challenges common among families and individuals striving to attain self-sufficiency are addressed within the tenets of each Instructional Access technology job-skills training program.