Goodwill Industries' Internet Grant: Bridging the Growing Information Gap

Hal D. Gangnath
Goodwill Industries International
9200 Wisconsin Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814
Voice/Message: (301)493-0481 ext. 582
TTD: (301) 530-9859
FAX: (301) 530-1516
Internet: gangnath@goodwill.org

Web Posted on: November 30, 1997

Introduction

Information and communication technology will shape early 21st- century society much as industrial technology shaped the early 20th century. As high-tech information networks are established and information plans are implemented, attention must be paid to the "information gap": the growing gulf between information haves and have-nots. This paper examines how Goodwill Industries is using a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to provide Internet access and training to people with disabilities and other barriers to employment (consumers). It also discusses lessons learned from the project.

Goodwill's TIIAP Grant

Goodwill Industries secured its grant during the 1995 round of the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP), National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The program was highly competitive, with more than 4,000 letters of intent submitted for the 1995 round (the second round for the program). Out of 1,800+ full applications, only 117 were actually funded.

Goodwill's proposal was submitted as an access project. Access projects seek to reduce disparities in access to/use of the national information infrastructure -- and to increase support for users from a diverse community. Goodwill was notified of its award in October 1995.

Member Goodwill Industries participating in the TIIAP project were selected to represent the diversity of Goodwill's 187-member network in terms of size, geographic location and the characteristics of the people they serve. Consequently, the lessons learned from this project will be valuable to a wide variety of nonprofit human-service providers.

Reaching the Project Goals

The specific goals of Goodwill's project are:

• 1) to train men and women with vocational disadvantages to use the Internet;
• 2) to use the Internet to communicate with local organizations and agencies that provide basic human services to the same people Goodwills serve;
• 3) to support and promote use of the Internet by the professional staffs of local Goodwills; and
• 4) to showthat Internet training will increase employment opportunities and starting wages for the people served by Goodwill Industries.

To reach these goals, a project manager at the Goodwill International Office (GIO) is working with local coordinators from seven participating Goodwills. These Goodwills are located in

• Baltimore;
• Boston;
• Fort Worth, Texas;
• Great Falls, Mont.;
• Knoxville, Tenn.;
• Rockford, Ill.
• and Santa Ana, Calif.

Local coordinators from the participating Goodwills were brought to Washington, D.C. in early March 1996 to discuss how their organizations could best take advantage of the project. They learned about the many resources available for the people their Goodwills served, and discussed how they could create resources of their own. For some local coordinators, this was their first exposure to the Internet. Others had been using the medium for years.

After the workshop, the coordinators returned home to their respective Goodwills to develop plans for providing Internet training to those served by their organizations. Once the network was in place, the project manager visited each participating Goodwill to help train staff and review project goals.

Goodwill TIIAP Staff Internet Survey

A fall 1996 survey sent to participating Goodwills assessed staff members' general levels of comfort with computers and the Internet -- as well their attitudes about the Internet's usefulness as a tool for serving Goodwill consumers. Out of 110 respondents, 72 percent were female and 29 percent male.

Most described themselves as "comfortable" with computers. Only eight percent said they were either "uncomfortable with" or did not use computers. About one third (35 percent) claimed to be "moderately comfortable" using computers. More than half (59 percent) described themselves as either "very comfortable" or "expert." In essence, respondents' overall computer literacy was high. This conclusion is further supported by the fact that more than half of the respondents said they used computers between 10 and 30 hours per week and two thirds (68 percent) indicated having access to computers at home.

Yet despite the relatively high comfort level with computers and technology, more than half (58 percent) said they'd never used the Internet before gaining access through their Goodwill. Slightly more than a quarter (27 percent) had used the Internet or some other online service for more than three months prior to gaining access through their Goodwill. But one in five (21 percent) reported still not using the Internet -- in spite of the fact that it was now accessible through their local Goodwill. Seven out of ten (70 percent) reported using the World Wide Web. The same proportion reported using the Internet to send e-mail.

Although the survey indicates that 45 percent have not been trained to use e-mail, and 50 percent have received no World Wide Web training, this does not seem to be a major problem. Nearly one third of respondents said they didn't need any additional training in either area (36 percent for e-mail and 32 percent for the World Wide Web). Another third expressed a desire for one hour or less of training (36 percent for e-mail and 34 percent for the World Wide Web). In terms of those wishing more than an hour of training, slightly more people wanted it for the Web than for e-mail.

Only 18 percent of those surveyed said they normally learn new computer programs through classroom training. About a quarter (26 percent) said they learned by asking other users; more than half (51 percent) said they were "self-taught." This suggests that effective training strategies should include classes in conjunction with self-help materials that allow each user to learn at his or her own pace.

A second part of the survey asked respondents to gauge a series of statements regarding the utility of the Internet by checking one of the following: agree strongly, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, or disagree strongly. Questions were stated as both positives and negatives (e.g. "The Internet will help me do my job better" and "The Internet is not for busy people like me.")

Only two items scored less than 60 percent positively towards the Internet. 58 percent of respondents either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the following statement: "I'm concerned that linking our organization to the Internet will leave my computer vulnerable to 'hackers' trying to break into it and steal or destroy my data." Similarly, only 57 percent agreed with the statement, "These days if you don't have access to Internet e-mail you are out of touch."

Statements that elicited the strongest agreement (more than 88 percent) included the following: "There are a lot of valuable resources on the Internet for the people our organization serves..." and "Knowing how to use the Internet is becoming an important, marketable office skill like word processing or using spreadsheets." Conversely, the statement drawing the strongest disagreement was "The Internet is mostly for computer nerds and kids, not for busy people like me."

These results indicate that "selling" the Internet is no longer a top priority. Most people seem to realize that it is more than a high-tech toy for nerds. It has become a valuable resource for consumers.

Examples of How the Internet is Being Used

The following are a few illustrative examples of how the participating Goodwills are using the Internet to provide consumer services.

Since the Internet has been installed at Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries (MMGI), Boston, staff have incorporated its use into several components of their job training and placement programs. For example, Internet exposure and training have been added to the core curriculum for the organization's computer training program. Students -- including people with disabilities and those with other barriers to employment, such as welfare recipients -- have learned how to access the Internet and use it for research and job searches. To date, approximately 30 individuals have received specific training in Internet usage. Internet access has increased the marketability of MMGI's programs.

Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois, (Rockford) has integrated Internet instruction into its 12-week office technology training program. One student was subsequently placed in a job after conducting an Internet search with the Illinois Department of Employment Service. A computer at the Rockford Goodwill is specifically designated for daily job searches and placement.

Some consumers have used the Internet for less serious endeavors. At Northern Rocky Mountain Easter Seals/Goodwill Industries (Great Falls, Mont.), developmentally disabled consumers attended a concert by the group Alabama, then tapped into the Internet to look up other possible concerts to attend. They also accessed the Alabama web page and sent e-mail messages, thanking the band for donating the tickets that allowed them to go to the concert. Goodwill consumers have looked up a variety of topics of personal interest on the web, including dinosaurs, volcanoes and frogs. The Internet's vast resources are seemingly endless.

Lessons Learned

With several months left in the project, and most of the goals within reach, some important lessons have been learned.

Connecting to the Internet will take longer and cost more than planned. Technical problems, such as end-user hardware problems, indicate that more computers will have to be upgraded than originally anticipated. Securing price quotes and installation schedules from ISPs can be a time-consuming process -- especially when dealing with sites spread over a broad geographic area. Local and national telephone companies may soon enter the picture.

It is best to clearly anticipate the speed of the connection you'll need at each location (this should be based on anticipated usage). For many users at one location, a local area network is sufficient. It is not always necessary to purchase fancy network hardware/software/e-mail systems.

The information available on the Internet is becoming easier and easier to find. Many users do not need a great deal of formal training to use the Net; nevertheless, they are anxious about using the new medium, and consider the whole process pretty mysterious. As such, organizations should be flexible in their training approaches. A little bit of support and encouragement can go a long way.

Finally, as valuable as the Internet is, it is still viewed by some as a diversion, and hence, not a top priority. Many local coordinators who have been given Internet responsibilities in addition to their regular duties are now carrying increased work loads and working longer hours. They feel they must wait until "after hours" to work on Internet-related projects. Similarly, Internet-related problems are often given a lower priority, and consequently take longer to solve.

Web page development suffers most from "low-priority" syndrome. There's a large gap between what people want to do, and what they are actually able to accomplish. This results not from a lack of ability, but rather from a lack of time.

As Internet communication becomes more mainstream in our culture, this low-priority syndrome will have to change. The onus is on organizations to commit to entering the Information Age -- and to back up that commitment by providing staff with adequate time and support to develop Internet strategies. GIO has made such a commitment. We have developed a "web team" (comprising representatives from various departments) to work collaboratively to make our Web site as useful and accessible to members as possible.

This paper is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.