By B. Keith Fulton

(B. Keith Fulton is director of technology programs and policy for the National Urban League.)

Many leaders and policy makers have acknowledged the existence of a "digital divide" between the affluent and the poor that has been fueled by inadequate access to quality computing facilities, network devices, infrastructure and few inexpensive training opportunities in low-income communities.

While typically associated with the Internet, the ramifications of this digital divide are much greater.

Global shifts in our world economy have created an epochal transition from an industrial-based economy to one based on service and information. That transition has created a tremendous demand for workers who are literate in using information and technology tools.

According to labor experts, at least 60 percent of all jobs by 2000 will require some competency with computer-based technology and applications. Currently, one in 10 information technology jobs goes unfilled. These jobs pay on average 78 percent more than jobs in other industries. Experts say 350,000 tech jobs are vacant and 1.3 million will be unfilled by 2003. The demand for skilled tech workers is expected to mushroom over the next five years. Where will these workers come from?

The U.S. Office of Technology Policy estimates that African-Americans account for only seven percent of computer systems analysts and scientists, and 5 percent of computer programmers.

While the need is particularly acute for computer scientists, engineers and systems analysts, few programs address the entry-level information and technology literacy skills that can lead to more advanced IT careers.

The underrepresentation of women and minorities in the tech workforce is disturbing, given the fact that information and communications technologies are driving the world rapidly into the "Knowledge" or "Information Age."

This new age, in and of itself, demands technological know-how that only 22 percent of the current workforce possesses.

In response, some members of Congress and some business leaders have pushed for changes in emigration policy to ease the demand for tech workers. Others say Americans, especially women and minorities, can be trained to fill worker shortages.

In our emerging economy, the Internet will serve as the central nervous system for training and continuous development. Historically, personal development has been driven by several hundred years of book-based knowledge archived in university libraries for the elite.

In an information economy, knowledge enhanced by new media will be made available over devices widely available for all. Notwithstanding these inevitable shifts, the promise of a level playing field will not come with a guarantee of equal access or training on the networks and devices that will make learning from anywhere an option for all Americans.

According to the most recent report from the U.S. Department of Commerce, only 19.3 percent of African Americans and 19.8 percent of Latinos are connected to the Internet, compared to 40 percent of non-minorities.

While most programs to improve these numbers focus on schools and libraries as natural places for technology training, it has become clear that schools and libraries have problems, too.

In short, schools and libraries in low-income areas are behind in the Information Age. Only 14 percent of the schools in these areas are connected to the Internet. By comparison, nearly 80 percent of schools in more affluent areas have a connection to the Internet. And the lack of teacher training and know-how make it difficult for schools to transfer tech skills.

Similarly, community libraries in poor areas do not have the available staff or equipment to teach marketable information and tech literacy skills to their patrons.

Clearly, both children in schools and adults using community libraries for computer access are at a disadvantage when it comes to developing the information and technology literacy skills that can help them to become self-sufficient in the 21st Century.

Changes in welfare policy and a revived national focus on worker preparation point to community-based institutions as a logical safe place for kids and caring adults to gain marketable information and technology literacy skills.

The jury is still out on whether or not these institutions can bring their job training know-how to help our nation to traverse the digital divide. Resources for community-based training programs and after-school programs remain scarce.

The only thing that is certain is that all our institutions must work together, or we risk taking our 20th century inequities well into the 21st.

B. Keith Fulton can be reached at bkfulton@nul.org