Fourteen-year-old Lily Huerta wants to be a veterinarian. Or maybe a doctor. Or even a lawyer. She says she’ll decide later, when she’s older.

But right now, Lily is struggling just to do her homework. She doesn’t have Internet access at home, and can only use the Internet for small chunks of time at a local community center – the All People’s Christian Center in Los Angeles.

“A lot of kids get a good grade because of the research they do on the Internet,” Lily told me during a recent trip to L.A. as part of the America OffLine project. “For me, I might get a lower grade because I don’t have Internet access at home. So I can’t get the good grades that I want to achieve and make my parents proud of me.”

Tired of rushing research projects, Lily desperately wants Internet access at home. Unfortunately, her family can’t afford the cost of a high-speed Internet connection, and Lily is now among the millions of people across the country who are being left out of an increasingly digital world.

This Saturday, Lily will be talking about her digital struggles as one of the featured speakers at a public town hall meeting in L.A. sponsored by InternetforEveryone.org. The initiative is bringing together public interest organizations from the ACLU to Common Cause and industry groups from Facebook to Skype to push the incoming Obama administration to get high-speed Internet to every home and business in America. The meeting will be the first of several held across the country to bring people together to talk about how to address America’s digital challenges.

Right now, the United States lacks a national broadband plan, and the country has fallen to 22nd in the world in terms of high-speed Internet adoption. With a new administration in Washington, we have the opportunity to restore America’s global leadership in the information economy.

High-speed Internet is one of the most transformative technologies in human history. In little more than a decade, broadband access has completely changed how we do business, engage with our government, teach our children, and interact with the rest of the world.

Having a connection to a fast and affordable Internet is no longer a luxury – it’s a public necessity.

In Lily’s world, not having access means she’s missing out on an entire social world.

“I can’t chat on the Internet with my friends and sometimes they have big news –‘Oh yeah, we’re having a party. Do you want to come?’ But when the party passes, they’ll say, ‘You didn’t get the e-mail?’ Yeah, e-mail. I don’t really have Internet at my house.”

And although Lily has basic computer skills, she says not using a computer on a daily basis makes navigating the Net difficult.

“[Teachers] might teach you something, but if you don’t have a computer or Internet at home, you won’t be able to practice it and get better at it and remember how to do it.”

Lily says she lives in a dangerous neighborhood, where gangs and violence are prevalent. Her mother, Julia Huerta, doesn’t want Lily on the streets at night, hopping from the library to friends’ houses to use the Internet. Having a connection at home would ease her worry, she said – and help with her own struggles doing without the Internet.

Julia works at the Center’s after-school program for 4th and 5th graders. Like Lily, she finds herself rushing to use the Center’s overburdened computer lab to look up activities for her kids.

“If I had Internet at home, I could do my work at home and be ready [before arriving at the Center],” Julia said.

Getting one nation online is not going to be an easy task – and it’s one of the questions attendees at this Saturday’s meeting will be discussing. Some of the other questions the meeting will focus on are:

• How do we expand consumer choice and lower costs for Internet services?
• How can the Internet be a catalyst for economic growth, jobs and prosperity?
• How do we preserve the Internet’s level playing field so everyone can access the content, applications and services of their choice?
• What roles should be played by the federal government, local governments, private industry and everyday citizens to build a better Internet?

The answers from the L.A. meeting will be combined with feedback from other meetings and a digital forum and delivered to the Obama administration and congressional leaders as a people-powered guide to building a better America.

For her part, Julia thinks the government can help by subsidizing Internet access or lowering prices for computers and connections.

However it’s achieved, Julia knows that Internet access would change her daughter’s life. “I hope my daughter to be the best in the world. She is going to be the best dancer. A good doctor. Whatever she wants.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 4:59 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.-->