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To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (92948)	2/3/2000 6:40:00 PM
From: 10K a day	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

dailynews.yahoo.com Wednesday February 2 8:56 PM ET Pilot Program Shows How 'Digital Divide' Might Close By Andrew Quinn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Answering President Clinton's call to help poor Americans access the Internet, a group of high-tech executives Wednesday unveiled a plan to put low-income families online -- with cyber commercials and wired sales pitches helping to foot the bill. The ClickStart.org program, which has already put Internet terminals into a handful of California homes, is touted as a business model that could ultimately make cheap Internet access available to as many as nine million low-income Americans. ''They're hungry for it. They're ready for it,'' said Julie Henderson, executive director of the Oakland-based Marcus Foster Education Institute, which helped Clickstart organize the initial roll out of Internet terminals. The Clickstart group announced their pilot program shortly after Clinton, in a speech in Washington, detailed plans for closing the ''Digital Divide'' -- which has thus far made the Internet mostly a tool for the rich, the white, and the well-educated. In his fiscal year 2001 budget proposal to Congress, Clinton will promise $2 billion in tax incentives over 10 years to encourage private sector activities such as computer donations and some $380 million in grants to train new teachers on the use of technology. It will also include $50 million in government grants for public/private partnerships to expand home access to computers and the Internet for low-income families, with Clickstart serving as one model of how things might work. The program is still in its infancy, but includes some serious backers including senior executives from Excite+Home Network, Novell Inc (NasdaqNM:NOVL - news)., and Creditland. Garrett Gruener, the high tech venture capitalist who founded Internet search company Ask Jeeves Inc.(NasdaqNM:ASKJ - news) , said three factors were working in Clickstart's favor: cheaper hardware, cheaper Internet access, and growing enthusiasm for all things Internet, which cuts marketing costs. Currently, service providers such as PeoplePC offer an entire package of computer, service contract and Internet access for as little as $25 a month -- cheap when compared to the premium prices paid by many richer consumers, but still out of reach for those with the lowest incomes. Under the Clickstart program, participants would pay $5 per month for their Internet access through service providers. Another $10 would come from government grants, and up to $5 from Internet advertising and sponsorship deals struck by the provider companies. The remaining $5 would be erased by declining equipment and service costs. In return for their $5, participants in the programs may see a lot of new advertisements. But they will also acquire a tool which -- following the telephone 70 years ago -- is quickly becoming indispensable in society. ''By making it easier for everyone to get on the net, we all become richer and society becomes better,'' Gruener said. Henderson said the Oakland program was working well, with parents trained and equipped not only to get on to the Internet but to navigate it for the information they need. ''They embraced it....in a very wonderful sense of the term, they're out of control. They're on the Internet,'' she said, adding that participants were doing everything from exploring ways to sell T-shirts online to studying for school diplomas. ''It's providing job skills that have not been available,'' she said. ''While we can't guarantee a new job, we certainly can open the door.'' The Clickstart program eventually plans to distribute up to 500 home computers or Internet terminals in the San Francisco Bay Area, with donations making up that part which organizers hope will eventually be paid for by government grants. And while the current program has been forged in close cooperation with the Clinton administration, executives say they are confident it will survive and prosper -- even if a Republican should take control of the nation's budget strings. ''We certainly expect this to be a bipartisan (effort),'' said Wade Randlett, vice president of Red Gorilla and co-founder of TechNet, a network of senior high-technology executives. ''We are hopeful that we will receive Republican support as well.''