MORE THAN A COMPUTER CLASS: The DIGITAL ELDER Project Addresses a Rising Challenge in the Nationwide African American Community

By, Shani Byard-Ngunjiri, M.S.
Executive Director, Message Media Ed
http://MessageMediaEd.org/ http://DigitalElder.org/

WHY THE DIGITAL ELDER PROJECT?

The African American community is plagued with social and economic challenges that have resulted in dismantled family units, rampant unemployment, increased perspectives of self-doubt and communal hopelessness across America (National Urban League, 2007). In 2007, the NAACP declared a nationwide state of emergency in the Black community. In Los Angeles, California, African Americans make up 10% of the population. However, the unemployment rate for African Americans in Los Angeles is 14%, more than double the rate for Whites and Asians, and 13% of African Americans are receiving public assistance, compared to 5% of Latinos and 2% of both Asians and Whites (State of Black Los Angeles, 2005). Since the early 1970’s, South LA has been consumed by gang violence, drug abuse, Black-on-Black crime, and disproportionate incarceration rates for African Americans (PBS.org, 2010).

The educational system is failing Black youth as well. LAUSD is an outdated educational system, failing to properly prepare our youth to become critical thinkers and to successfully transition into the workplace as a staggering 52% of Black youth do not graduate from high school (Civil Rights Project, 2005). These dropouts lack the skill-set needed to secure jobs and often contribute to disparate rates of teen pregnancy, and incarceration (State of Black Los Angeles, 2005).

As a result, a rising trend is occurring: grandparents are left with the responsibility of strengthening what’s left of the family unit and becoming caretakers for their adult children and grandchildren. This growing local phenomenon is nationwide as well. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 American Community Survey, there are 6.2 million grandparents acting as primary caregivers for children under 18 years old. Of those more than 1.2 million are African-American.

The plight of the African American community has placed elders at the forefront of preparing young adults and youth to enter today’s modern workplace. Although we live in the 21st century – deemed the Digital Age due to the infusion of media and technology in the global marketplace, and in every aspect of modern communication – members of the local and nationwide African American community are far behind, and largely contribute to the ‘digital divide’.

In a city plagued with budget cuts and outdated technology, libraries, senior and student community centers in South Los Angeles are extremely limited in their capacity to provide up-to-date computer access and training in skilled use of technology to build job and career skills. Additionally, over 1 million households in Los Angeles do not have a computer and over half of Los Angeles’ population does not have access to the internet. The majority of this ‘digital divide’ is concentrated in the disadvantaged regions of LA, including South Los Angeles (City of Los Angeles, 2009). Therefore, more mature adults, ages 50 and up, lack knowledge of and key skill-sets for, guiding the family in operating and utilizing 21st century communication tools for socioeconomic advancement. Additionally, since this generation of Black youth are large users and consumers of cell phones, iPods and other telecommunication gadgets, grandparents experience an extreme disconnect in communication with their grandchildren.

Lastly, the challenges faced by African American grandparents in strengthening the family unit in the Digital Age can be emotionally and physically exhaustive, making those at the helm of the household in need of positive social connections with peers experiencing similar challenges.