Those working to close the digital divide say that falling computer prices and donations of computers to low-income families and schools are helping to narrow the gap. Yet even as those on the wrong side of the divide are acquiring technology equipment and skills, those on the other side are moving into more powerful computers and more sophisticated software. With her notebooks in hand, Lisa Collins is a foot soldier in the fight against digital poverty. She runs Corporate to Community, a Reston-based company that corporations hire to search through their offices and locate older, unused computers. The computers are then donated to low-income students.
Companies rent storage units and waste a lot of money on paying for the space.
I say, for heaven's sakes, don't waste the computers. Get them out there. She has diverted several thousand computers from storage and landfills. Some are useable only for the parts. But others can go straight into the homes of students.