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Tomorrow July 10th and on Wednesday July 11th the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to approve the City’s proposed agreement with Earthlink and Google to provide FREE wireless internet access to the City of San Francisco. Approval of this agreement will be historic as it will put San Francisco on the path of being one of the first major cities in the U.S. to achieve FREE wireless access for all residents. To learn more about these hearings and what you can do to help in the effort for a wireless San Francisco visit the Wi-Fi Now Website.

Approval of this wireless agreement will go far in helping us to bridge the digital divide in San Francisco. And yes, there is a digital divide in our City. Only 55% of low income households in San Francisco have a home computer, and only 50% have internet access. Communities of Color suffer disproportionately from the digital divide, as White residents are 2 times more likely as African Americans to have home internet access and 4 times as likely as Latino residents to have internet access. As the internet and all the information and networks it provides is increasingly necessary to obtain employment, education opportunities, health information and government services, bridging the digital divide becomes more critical to closing the economic, education and social divides in our city.

The Board of Supervisors took a big step in the right direction two weeks ago in restoring the city's digital-inclusion funding. The digital inclusion program will help assure that San Francisco’s underserved communities can take full advantage of the benefits provided by high speed internet access. Through a low-cost loan program for computer purchases, training and tech support programs, the digital inclusion programs are an important part of bridging the digital divide in San Francisco.

However, in order for these programs to be effective residents must have access to the internet. The Board of Supervisors have a chance in the next two days to help underserved communities gain access to FREE internet access and help us achieve a ZeroDivide in San Francisco.