ENGL 130 - Community Needs Essay

There is currently what is known as a “Digital Divide” between lower class families and upper class families. Households with low income are less likely to own a computer and therefore the students within that household can fall behind in learning computer skills. According to Ronald Roach’s article Digital Divide Rooted in Home Computer Ownership, “many children use technology to complete schoolwork: forty‑four percent use computers.” In situations where a family cannot afford a computer, it is important that the school system can provide these opportunities, to level the playing field. Unfortunately, “California is ranked among the bottom three states as far as ratio of students to computers,” as stated by Pat Furr, the founder of Computers for Classrooms, Inc.

Computers for Classrooms (CFC) is a committee dedicated to refurbishing donated computers for use in schools throughout the state of California. This picture shows a 5^th grader helping a 2^nd grader learn PowerPoint on a computer donated by CFC. The committee was created by “credentialed teacher, and master's degree candidate in computer science” (California Materials Exchange) Pat Furr in 1991, and since 2002 has also been refurbishing computers for the benefit of low-income families with students. These computers sell for $90 or $120, depending on which operating system the family wants installed. This is a huge discount compared to the normal price of a computer today, which can be closer to a thousand dollars. Furr started CFC by working out of her garage, but has now expanded to a large warehouse in south Chico. They have the ability to store 540 pallets of computers and monitors and distribute about five thousand computers each year, with the help of about twenty-five or thirty volunteers each day.

The correlation between computer access and student ability is well documented. In Students "Turn-On" to Classroom Computer, authors Paula Cerutti, Lowell K. Brubaker and Elizabeth Littler describe various students who had improvements in their schoolwork capabilities when a computer was brought into their classroom. The article was written back when computers were first being developed, but the concepts in it have not expired. One student named Sam was doing poorly in all subjects, but after a computer was introduced into his classroom he learned to write programs for it, and then became more interested in school because he enjoyed this new subject. He knew that he would need to be good at math and English to continue writing programs in college, and he improved his grades.

Access to Classroom Computers, written by Henry J. Becker, is a more recent article. It is a report on a study done in over 1000 schools by the University of Minnesota and UC Irvine to see how computers are distributed at the schools and how often they are used. The study discovered that when schools are set up more economically, with thirty or so computers in a lab instead of five in every classroom, students do not use the computers as much. Their teachers need to schedule time for their classes, usually about an hour or two per week, and that sparse amount is not enough for students who have no other computers to learn much at all. Conversely, classrooms which have multiple computers in them offer an easier opportunity for use. Teachers are more likely to have computer related activities if the computer is in their classroom, and students learn more easily because they have more time. Since this necessitates that each school has many more computers than if it had only a lab, there is a financial concern. Programs like CFC, who donate computers can help make schools more computer accessible to students.

I was able to find on the California Materials Exchange website the five main components of CFC:

1. Furnishing multimedia computers free to California schools.

2. Working with Private Industry Council (PIC) to train clients in warehouse, inventory, and computer repair skills.

3. Training volunteers to repair computers and learn how to keep their own computer in good condition.

4. Developing community partnerships to provide computers for families who otherwise could not afford them. Program includes mentoring with Big Brothers and Sisters.

5. Reusing and recycling computers so that they do not impact the landfill.

The first and fifth elements were the reasons Pat Furr started CFC back in 1991, because of the huge classroom need and large environmental effect of electronic waste. Now the program also has as a main concern the fourth element, getting computers into the homes of low-income families. This has been shown to be the most crucial step in helping students. CFC’s website says that students “are twice as likely to attend college if they have access to a home computer their senior year in high school.” This is further justification of why their organization is so important.

The CUSD Business Services website has a page dedicated to the Computers for Classrooms and Families Program, which is a partnership between CFC and the Chico Unified School District. They mention that the formal requirements are “families that qualify for the Free or Reduced Lunch Program or if your children attend a CUSD "Title I" school are eligible to acquire a computer.” It gives a link to the voucher required to receive a computer, along with instructions on getting to CFC’s location. The website also points out that you can earn a computer for free by volunteering at CFC for fifty hours. This rule exists because there are some families who just cannot afford the $90 to purchase the computer. By volunteering, they earn a computer as well as learning a new skill which is important in today’s computer-filled world.

In an interview with Pat Furr, I learned that Latinos have the least amount of computers in their homes compared to any other ethnic group. She also mentioned that Asians have the most, and Caucasians are close behind. The CFC website has a PowerPoint presentation on it with this graph comparing the percentage of the U.S. population with a home computer by ethnicity. This graph does not include Asians, but it does show that since 1984, Whites, Blacks, and Latinos have had increased prevalence of computers, but with Whites staying far ahead of the other two.

Since Latinos have constantly been lagging behind the curve, and especially since many immigrants have a language barrier, it is important to make an extra effort to get these people computers. An online Chico News & Review article entitled “Bridging the divide [sic]” goes over information regarding CFC’s participation in a “Migrant Education program for Butte, Glenn and Tehama counties.” At the time the article was written, 100 computers had been distributed to migrant families for only $60 each. These computers have been specially designed in both Spanish and English, so that the users have the option of which language to use every time they turn their computer on. CFC is also encouraging these low-income families to learn how to better use their computers, by offering $10 rebates for each time they attend a computer class. This picture shows one such family on the day they came to pick up their first-ever computer from CFC.

After doing so much good around Chico, Pat Furr was contacted by various other people and organizations in order to get computers from her. CFC now has supplied computers to schools or families in 33 counties in California, and has also shipped them to other countries such as Kenya, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Peru. Business Week wrote an article on CFC in October 2007, and there is an upcoming article in Scrap Magazine in the May-June 2008 issue, according to Furr. The word is spreading about this problem, but it isn’t over yet. Although Pat Furr and CFC have helped literally thousand of students, there are still millions more who don’t have the necessary access to computers to grow toward a bright future. The computer deficiency can be solved if individuals and businesses learn more about the problem and how to lend a hand. Please help out by donating old computers instead of throwing them away, and together with CFC, we will improve our students’ success.

Works Cited

Becker, Henry J. “Access to Classroom Computers.” Communications of the ACM. Jun 2000. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. CSU Chico, Merriam Library. 6 March 2008 < vid="2&hid=" sid="ad1dbeb0-c592-4fd8-921b-9846eba25170%40sessionmgr107">.

“Bridging the divide.” Chico News &Review. 15 November 2007. 4 March 2008. < oid="598712">.

Cerutti, Paula, Lowell K. Brubaker, and Elizabeth Littler. “Students ‘Turn On’ to Classroom Computer.” Education. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. CSU Chico, Merriam Library. 6 March 2008 < vid="2&hid=" sid="ad1dbeb0-c592-4fd8-921b-9846eba25170%40sessionmgr107">.

“Computers for Classrooms and Families Program.” CUSD Business Services. 7 February 2008. 4 March 2008. <>.

“Computers for Classrooms Program.” CalMAX California Materials Exchange. 27 February 2008. 4 March 2008. <>.

Furr, Pat. “Great Valley 5-11-5.ppt.” CFC Manual. 11 May 2005. Computers for Classrooms. 27 March 2008. <>.

Furr, Pat. “ISRI 4-18-7.ppt.” CFC Manual. 18 April 2007. Computers for Classrooms. 27 March 2008. <>.

Furr, Pat. Personal interview. 6 March 2008.

Roach, Ronald. “Report: Digital Divide Rooted in Home Computer Ownership.” Black Issues in Higher Education. 2003. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. CSU Chico, Merriam Library. 6 March 2008 < vid="2&hid=" sid="ad1dbeb0-c592-4fd8-921b-9846eba25170%40sessionmgr107">.

“What is the Computers for Classrooms Program?” Computers for Classrooms, Inc. December 2006. 4 March 2008. <>.

ENGL 130 Community Needs Collage

For this one I had to put together a collage portraying a specific need in our community. This shows that there aren't enought computers in our classrooms, and for low-income families. It also shows Computers for Classrooms, the main non-profit that is solving the issue in this area.