Building the Bridge: Analyzing the Digital Divide and Nonprofit Organizations

San Diego Futures Foundation

The mission at San Diego Futures Foundation is to improve lives in San Diego County by making information technology available to underserved populations by providing technology equipment, training, support, IT outsourcing, and digital media services to Nonprofit organizations, disadvantaged small businesses, low-income households, people with disabilities, and seniors. SDFF is working hard to bridge the digital divide in our community. It is salient to mention that San Diego Futures Foundation in San Diego's history of bridging the digital divide, in that the nonprofit originated from a government agency in 1999 to address the technological disparities in the city. Their website is here

Research Questions

In what ways do age, race (language), class(income), and ability interconnect in their relationships to the digital divide?

In what ways are nonprofits feasible solutions to the digital divide, and what effects does the nonprofit industrial complex have on how organizations supporting those experiencing technological disparities?

Historical Context

Given that digital access is a growing disparity in the U.S., the history of bridging the digital divide is as recent as about 20 - 30 years. One of the 1998 Regional Technology Alliance findings presented that “wealthy households are twice as likely to own computers as low-income households” which illustrates not only technological disparities within the community but also highlights the pre-existing issue of economics and equity (Dowling, 2001). There has also been limited investment in broadband infrastructure in low-income communities, also referred to as digital redlining.

Contributing Factors of the digital divide

Age: Age-related aspects of the digital divide illustrate how marginalized groups in technology such as seniors tend to struggle with technology.

Race(language): Race may not be the sole reason for the digital divide but “race differences in home computer ownership are consistent across different levels of education” (Hoffman, 1998).

Class(income): Low-income households will continue to play a game of “catch up” with newer technologies because of the expensive costs.

Ability: The lack of assistive services within the software on all websites reinforces the digital divide for those with disabilities.

Understanding underlying Issues

Accessibility

Accessibility not only refers to transportation or availability of technology, but also refers to ones ability to receive opportunities. In Development of Opportunity-Based Accessibility Indicators; Yali Chen defines accessibility as "the ease (or difficulty) with which activity opportunities can be reached" (Chen, 2011). There are many forms of accessibility that can be addressed in the digital divide such as 'universal accessibility which refers to "including all people with disabilities in the target population for user-centred design" (Abascal, 2015).

Nonprofit Industrial Complex

The nonprofit industrial complex is a system in which nonprofit organizations operate. In The revolution will not be funded: Beyond the non-profit Industrial Complex; Sonia Munshi and Craig Willse describe it as "a system of relationships between the State (or local and federal governments), the owning classes, foundations, and non-profit/NGO social service and social justice organizations" (Munshi, 2013). This systems constraints, shapes, and enables the kind of work organizations like San Diego Futures Foundation does.

Findings

Tech on the Go program.mp4

Experienced different levels of Access

Some seniors needed help with digital literacy
Some community members were not able to receive help due to their ability to leave their homes
Not all participants had the money for low cost computers
Limited broadband infrastructure

Not all of the participants experienced the same kind of disadvantages associated with the digital divide. Some experienced different levels of access when receiving help from San Diego Futures Foundation. This highlights how there are bigger systemic issues that must be addressed in order for different aspects of the digital divide can be fixed.

Employee Satisfaction

3 employees left during my field study
Hyper extension of program manager
Many new employees and volunteers were also college students

Nonprofits struggle with low employee retention rates. The hyper extension of employees effects the level of support the organization is able to offer a community. Organizational roles often shift in order to compensate for losses or requirements of funders. A cycle begins to happen when new employees enter the organization and stay for a couple of years then leave which causes an organization to look for more employees. Low employee retention rates stunt the growth of the organization and the support they give their community.

Funding Exclusivity

Grant Process required many forms of paperwork
There was limited grant availability
Some funders would only provide grants for programs that involved specifics demographics

Grant exclusivity creates limited resources for community organizations. The requirements of grants determine whether an organization is capable of getting funding, smaller organizations that also have similar missions to larger nonprofit organizations could struggle a lot more given a grants exclusivity through its requirements.

Funding Dependency

Limited forms of income for the organization
Grants permitted new programs to be developed for the organization
grant contractual requirements such as social media posts

Organizations often compete for limited funding which in turn makes nonprofit organizations “focus solely on building and funding their own work” (Perez, 93). The organization not only had to do work that supports their mission in the digital divide buwt also put forth ideas and services that were created by their funders. Funding dependency and funding exclusivity feed into each other and illustrate aspects of the nonprofit industril complex.

Accessibility

The digital divide may be the social issue that all of the participants experienced, but all participants did not have the same forms of disadvantages and disparities. San Diego Futures Foundation provides different forms of access to their community such as technology equipment and digital literacy (information). Not all forms of access were met properly by the organization such as simply providing information about services they offer to their community.

Nonprofit Industrial Complex

The nonprofit industrial complex determines in what way a nonprofit organizes and brings support to its community. Much of the leg work of programs developed by San Diego Futures Foundation must be executed by them while also abiding by requirements set by their funders. Funding is a large aspect of NPIC that heavily affects and influences how an organizations allocates access.

In conclusion:

Different aspects of neoliberalism shape, constrain, enable, and amplify San Diego Futures Foundation’s mission through its societal and state relations while being accountable to funding partners. My field study has highlighted the various levels of accessibility needed in order for individuals to be more in tuned with technology, while also illustrating how nonprofits are depended on to create various forms of access in a community. The point of access not only refers to having internet connection or computers, but also refers to physical, social, and financial factors. Various aspects of the nonprofit organization such as funding dependency, funding exclusivity, low retention rates were recurrent patterns that occurred throughout my field study. These aspects perpetuate the nonprofit industrial complex in that each of these aspects feed into one another and create conditions that are not feasible in an organization’s longevity and efforts to close the digital divide.

Sources

Dowling, Meredith. “Mapping a Future for Digital Connections: A Study of the Digital Divide in San Diego County.” ERIC, 30 Nov. 2000, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED463391.
Hoffman, D. L., & Novak, T. P. (1998, February 2). Bridging the digital divide: The impact of race on computer access and internet use. ERIC. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED421563
Smith, A., & INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence INCITE! (2007). The revolution will not be funded: Beyond the non-profit Industrial Complex. Duke University Press. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-revolution-will-not-be-funded

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