Here, technology will help kids to learn and live better. The partnership between Brown and MCI WorldCom will provide direct and lasting benefits to communities across the country and will give colleges and universities an important opportunity to advance the public mission of higher education. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, inadequate access to information technology limits educational and economic achievement among underserved populations. Research also shows that access to technology is divided sharply along ethnic, racial and class lines. By making computers and the Internet a part of daily life at schools, community centers, and civic organizations in underserved areas, the program will help children and their parents discover how information technology can enhance their experience in classrooms and communities.
Previous experience demonstrates that there are limitless ways to accomplish that goal.
For example, a Providence elementary school built a web site that depicted how different waves of immigrants had changed their neighborhoods over the last 100 years. The children interviewed local residents and undertook extensive neighborhood research. In Philadelphia, youngsters worked with University of Pennsylvania students to research the life of political activist and performer Paul Robeson, whose home is a neighborhood landmark. They created web sites to disseminate their research and to inform their community of its historical connection. Campus Compact, an organization of more than 600 college and university presidents founded in 1985, is one of the nation's foremost advocates for service learning and community involvement on the part of college students, faculty, and staff.