    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [December 9, 1999]
    [Pages 2242-2243]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 2242]]

    Memorandum on Narrowing the Digital Divide
    December 9, 1999

    Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies

    Subject: Narrowing the ``Digital Divide:'' Creating Opportunities for
    All Americans in the Information Age

        Information tools, such as the personal computer and the Internet,
    are increasingly important to economic success and full participation in
    all aspects of American society. People with computers and Internet
    access can use these tools to find a job, acquire new skills, start a
    small business, get lower prices for goods and services, and become more
    informed citizens.
        Currently, not all Americans are enjoying the benefits of the
    Information Age tools. In July 1999, the National Telecommunications and
    Information Administration issued a report, Falling Through the Net:
    Defining the Digital Divide, which found a growing gap between those
    with access to these tools and those without. Black and Hispanic
    households are only two-fifths as likely to have Internet access as
    white households. Households with incomes of $75,000 and higher, in
    urban areas, are more than twenty times as likely to have access to the
    Internet as households at the lowest income levels, and more that nine
    times as likely to have a computer at home. As information technology
    plays an ever-increasing role in Americans' economic and social lives,
    we cannot afford to leave anyone behind.
        Fortunately, competition and advances in technology are driving down
    the cost of computers and Internet access, which will make these new
    Information Age tools affordable for more Americans. I believe that we
    should set a national goal of making computers and Internet access
    available for every American. Furthermore, we should explore ways of
    using technology to expand the economic opportunities for those
    Americans who have not yet enjoyed the benefits of our prosperity.
        Accordingly, I am directing executive departments and agencies
    (``agencies'') to take the following specific actions to help Americans
    benefit from advances in information technology:
            1.  The Secretary of Commerce shall work with the private sector
                and others to develop a national strategy for making
                computers and the Internet accessible to all Americans, with
                the goal of significantly narrowing the ``digital divide.''
            2.  The Secretary of Commerce shall continue to measure the
                level of connectivity of Americans to telecommunications and
                information tools, and report periodically on the
                relationship of income, education, race, gender, geography,
                and age to Americans' access to these tools.
            3.  The Secretaries of Education, Housing and Urban Development,
                Health and Human Services, Labor, and Commerce shall:
           (a)  expand our growing network of Community Technology Centers
                to provide access to technology for low-income Americans;
                and
           (b)  encourage the development of information technology
                applications that would help enable low-income Americans to
                start and manage their own small businesses.
            4.  The Secretaries of Education, Labor, and Commerce shall work
                with the private sector to upgrade the information
                technology skills of America's workforce, particularly
                workers living in disadvantaged urban and rural communities.
            5.  The Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Education, and
                the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall
                highlight and disseminate the lessons learned from their
                grant programs and educational technology initiatives, with
                an emphasis on underserved citizens, to increase the number
                of communities across the Nation that could reap the
                benefits of information technologies for their residents.
            6.  Items 1-5 of this memorandum and my July 1, 1997, and
                November 30, 1998, memoranda shall be conducted subject to
                the availability of appropriations and consistent with
                agencies' priorities and my budget, and to the extent
                permitted by law.
            7.  The Vice President shall continue his leadership in
                coordinating the United States Government's electronic
                commerce strategy. Further, I direct that the heads of
                executive departments and agencies report

    [[Page 2243]]

                to the Vice President and to me on their progress in meeting
                the terms of this memorandum, through the Electronic
                Commerce Working Group (ECWG) in its annual report. To the
                extent that substantial new policy issues emerge, the
                analysis and action on those policies will be coordinated in
                a manner consistent with the responsibilities of the ECWG,
                the National Economic Council, and the Domestic Policy
                Council, as appropriate.

                                                          William J. Clinton