[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 49 (Monday, December 13, 1999)]
[Pages 2554-2555]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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.

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    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 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