Foundation Journal

As organizations in Kansas City like Connecting for Good and KC Digital Drive have pointed out, Broadband Internet access usually decreases with income levels. And usually the older people get the less they go online. Income and age are two factors determining how connected people are in the digital world. A December 19 article on the Tech Crunch website points out another component of the digital divide: In the developing world, 25 percent fewer women  [PDF] have access to the internet than men. It’s increasingly important to consider all aspects of the global digital divide to ensure that tools are accessible to intended users.

Food pantries and agencies pick up their holiday meats at  Harvesters food bank in Kansas City on December 19, 2014, one of the busiest days of the year. The problem of hunger and poverty is widespread in the U.S., and not going away. Some accounts show the number of people in poverty not decreasing despite the economic "recovery" with  one in six people at or below poverty wages . And it's not just during the holiday season that people go hungry despite the generosity of people and businesses to donate and deliver food. Work at food banks focuses on delivering large quantities of fresh, nutritious produce in addition to dry, canned goods, among many types of food throughout the year. The millions of pounds of food available to poor people, not only helps people make ends meet, but also reduces food waste as indicated in this video story about food rescue in New York City . A recipient of food assistance in New York City said "Sweet potatoes, corn, it'

If you are you looking to learn more about or get involved in efforts in Kansas City to bridge the "digital divide," then consider attending a Digital Inclusion Town Hall on January 16, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. as described in organizers' invitation. Organizers of the 2014 Kansas City Digital Inclusion Summit — a first-of-its-kind event addressing troublesome gaps in residents’ access to computers and the Internet — return three months after that daylong gathering to deliver their official report. The October summit examined trends, discussed challenges and opportunities, spotlighted current inclusion efforts, and shared best practices. Since then civic leaders and other individuals and organizations have been exploring ways to bridge Kansas City's digital divide by providing better Internet access and quality tech education. The town hall meeting also features an announcement of a new digital inclusion coalition and presentation of an action plan. Co-presented by th

"If you're not online, you're not a fully functioning citizen," Michael Liimatta, president of Connecting for Good , said on the Community Broadband Bits podcast this week. The discussion includes an explanation by Liimatta about the "difficulty of connecting low income populations and how Google's entrance into the City has not solved the digital divide but has sparked a deeply needed conversation on how to meet those needs." Listen to the podcast to learn about the efforts to provide resources for Kansas City residents to improve their digital literacy, an essential step to help with everything from completing online job applications to researching personal medical conditions. Podcast audio:

Orchard operation near Waverly, Mo On a recent trip to Columbia to visit my daughter attending the University of Missouri my wife and I took a scenic route through the historic town of Lexington, then went north on highway 65 out of Waverly. The hilly area is home to many fruit orchards, some of which line the roads. Fruit stands and orchard stores are common to the area. North out of Waverly across the Missouri River the landscape changes to flat bottomland containing expansive row crop farms covering thousands of acres. This abundant farmland stretches 65 miles east from Carrollton to Moberly on highway 63. Orchard near Waverly, Mo. From the look of the farm size and large quantities of orchards you would think this provides a satisfactory quality of life for people in the nation's breadbasket, but a story about a food assistance program in the Kansas City Star revealed a different side to this area. The two schools in Carrollton, county seat of Carroll County, "

Technology company Meta Mesh announced this week the expansion of a wireless mesh network in a "struggling neighborhood" in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Community-owned mesh wireless networks like one established in Pittsburg help residents maintain their privacy at a much lower cost than Internet Service Providers like Comcast and Time Warner. The PittMesh effort like the KC Freedom Network built by the Free Network Foundation in Kansas City promises a level of freedom and privacy not found on the expansive (and expensive) Internet maintained by the large ISPs. See the following video to learn about mesh networks in simple terms. Let's be clear - most people don't need or don't know what to do with the higher speeds offered by Google Fiber, AT&T, and now Consolidated Communications' 1 gigabit per second speeds at $69.95 . In fact, organizations like Connecting for Good chomp at the bit to take a single gigabit network connection and cover a whole

During the October 17, 2014 Digital Inclusion Summit (see Jason Harper's report ) in Kansas City noted Digital Inclusion Strategist Angela Siefer identified herself as a “huge, huge advocate of city involvement in digital inclusion” projects towards improving affordable Internet access in low-income neighborhoods. This position represents a challenge to Kansas City to build bridges that close a digital divide in our community. Kansas City would do well to look at the example of Philadelphia and Minneapolis to launch big impact efforts, as Ms. Siefer pointed out in her presentation. And through the efforts of an emerging digital inclusion coalition that includes the KC Public Library, KC Digital Drive and Connecting for Good, a roadmap has been defined to bring city and other resources to this effort. Through a city-run project called "Keyspots" Philadelphia placed 80 free wireless hotspots in operation. Through their efforts they are offering 847 workstations across

While in Tucson recently I heard Arizona Daily Star blogger Angela Pittenger's report on getting low-cost produce from Borderlands Food Bank. This innovative program provides 60 pounds of produce for $10. While the amount of food may be overwhelming for a family, it nonetheless serves as a low-cost option in a family's food budget from the Nogales (Arizona) food bank.   Borderlands' assumed control of the program -- not without controversy -- as described in this report , and renamed it to "Produce on Wheels".