Feature

Access for All

By Susan Walters, President, BAVC

In 1976 a group of independent filmmakers and community-based organizations in the San Francisco area found themselves left out of the breakthroughs in video technology and unable to participate in the mass media boom including public television in the United States. They formed the Bay Area Video Coalition or BAVC (pronounced "bayvac") to give a voice to those silenced by lack of resources and lack of access. 

Nearly a quarter-century later BAVC is a leader in bridging the digital divide, harnessing the breakthroughs of information technology, everything from video to the Internet, for the benefit of everyone, not just the techno-savvy. And just as it did in 1976, it is opening the information age to minorities, low-income people, nonprofits, artists and mavericks, and supplying a booming economy with trained and highly motivated workers for industries that grow with new ideas. 

Bridging the digital divide is more than just access to equipment. Truly bridging the digital divide means that everyone participates in the benefits of the new economy. 


Marginalized Groups

Even in the United States, at present not everyone can participate in the new economy. BAVC has been working with the city of San Francisco to develop a job-training program, JobLink, as part of the "welfare to work" program for jobs in the booming fields of video, Internet and multimedia. Former welfare recipients, residents of low-income areas and low-wage workers who feel cut off from the new economy come to BAVC to learn the skills they need in order to participate.

In 1992 the father of Sam Kress was diagnosed with leukemia. Sam had to stay home with his father as his full-time caretaker. Their only source of income was his father's $250 per month from the state. Two years later when his father died, Sam went on welfare. After six years of marginal existence, Sam enrolled in a basic computer skills course at Goodwill Industries, and it was there that he learned about BAVC's JobLink.

Sam attended classes at BAVC, located in San Francisco's Mission District and, building on the basic skills he learned at Goodwill, he attended classes for four months gaining skills for new jobs using the worldwide web.

Working in 10-person teams, participants like Sam spend a minimum of 30 hours per week, over a 16-week period, engaged in all aspects of web site development from concept through site launch. Each web team creates and presents company web sites to at least two clients. After 480 hours of training at BAVC, each participant completes an additional 100 hours as a new media intern with a local company before receiving their certificate of completion.

Part of the class was a project to design a web site for the Mission Hiring Hall, a local community employment pool in its low-income and minority neighborhood. Sam became the lead coder for the project. After completing the training, he became an intern at the San Francisco Media Archive and recently was hired by Global Partners, Inc., as their lead web developer. Sam has gone from being nearly unemployable to full participation in the new economy, earning a salary of over $40,000 annually in a career in which he can grow.

BAVC's JobLink program is a bridge over the digital divide that serves the needs of both sides. For people in the community, who for a variety of reasons have not been a part of the new economy, it creates job opportunities. They learn the skills needed for high-paying entry-level positions, while organizations and industries using the new technology find a new source of trained and eager workers that meets their chronic labor shortages.
But the information age is about more than just jobs and the new economy. Every aspect of our lives, not only the way we work, but the way we communicate with our families, our friends, the way we reach out to the world beyond our neighborhood, the way we educate ourselves, obtain health care, and participate as citizens, is affected by the revolution in connectivity made possible by new technologies. 


Widening Gaps

The Digital Divide Network, an organization founded by the Benton Foundation and the National Urban League, has said, "People without ready and reliable access to the tools of our information age are increasingly becoming second-class citizens. It may be in their inability to search for and apply for a job, to broaden their educational choices, or to meet with others with similar interests. The gap between having and not having the ability, knowledge, hardware, education or income to take advantage of these technologies is being felt. Communities without an Internet-ready workforce are losing the opportunity to develop, attract or retain businesses."

Individuals, small businesses, non-government organizations, non-profits and artists can all grow by the access to their larger communities and to each other made possible by innovations in technology. What we have done at BAVC is create a model that can guide similar efforts throughout the United States and the world. If we don't address the division between those who can use the resources available and those who cannot, we risk relegating a portion of our society to the permanent underclass.

Some relevant web sites are at: www.bavc.org; www.digitaldividenetwork.org; www.benton.org  

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