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OTX-West is dedicated to eliminating the digital divide in Oakland, California. We do this by refurbishing surplus computers, educating families and providing ongoing access and support to those who have received our computers. The experiences of OTX-West over the past 6 years has demonstrated both the need for home computers in the community and the reuse model as a green way to meet the need.

In today's world, everyone needs access to computers and the Internet in order to join the new economy. Access to education, health care, government agencies, jobs, and other services are all currently offered through the Internet. This need has many adults feeling like they are too old to learn the tools of the "information age." This way of thinking, along with the lack of resources in the communities, contributes to the "digital divide" that exits in Oakland.

It is not enough to provide computers, although this is essential. OTX-West provides education that is necessary for those who are getting their computers for the first time. Technical support is also necessary to keep these computers working properly so that the people of Oakland can continue to learn and become a part of the "information age" and not be left behind.

In an article published in the October 2005 issue of the Economics of Education, Robert Fairlie, associate professor of economics at U.C. Santa Cruz, summarizes the importance of computers and education for communities in need.

“Teenagers who have access to home computers are 6 to 8 percentage points more likely to graduate from high school than teens who lack access to a home computer, after controlling for individual, parental, and family characteristics.

Only 50.6 percent of blacks and 48.7 percent of Latinos have access to home computers, compared to 74.6 percent of whites.

Only 40.5 percent of blacks and 38.1 percent of Latinos have Internet access at home, compared to 67.3 percent of whites.

Among children, slightly more than half of all black and Latino children have access to a home computer, and about 40 percent have Internet access at home. By comparison, 85.5 percent of white children have home computer access, and 77.4 percent can use the Internet at home.

Among Latinos, Mexicans have the lowest home computer and Internet access rates, followed by Central and South Americans.

Racial disparities in access to computer technology--the so-called digital divide--are ignored in the latest Department of Commerce reports, entitled A Nation Online. “

"We are clearly not all a 'nation online'," said Fairlie. "Twenty million children in the United States, or 26 percent of children, have no computer access at home, and race is a key part of who's online and who isn't."