The digital divide is the gap between those with regular, effective access to technology and those without.

Mt. Airy Community Computing Center is dedicated to improving society by bringing access to technology to older adults, ex-offenders, women in recovery and children.

About MACCC

Mt. Airy Community Computing Center serves a wide range of neighborhood constituents, including ex-offenders, older adults, women in recovery and children to further its mission of closing the "Digital Divide" between advantaged and disadvantaged neighbors.

The digital divide is the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital technologies and those without. The term digital divide refers to those who can benefit from it, and those who don't, as opposed to just talking about who has direct access to technology, and those who don't. The digital divide is not a clear single gap that divides a society into two groups. Researchers report that disadvantages can take such forms as lower-performance computers, lower-quality or high-priced connections (i.e. narrowband or dialup connections), difficulty in obtaining of the Internet and technological advances in developing economies. Many people can get low cost access in local Internet Cafes, but the evidence still suggest that people are much more likely to make regular use of an Internet connection at home than anywhere else.

Howard Bilofsky, the chair of MACCC's board of directors, says "for adults and children to be truly literate, participating members of the community, they must have the technology skills needed to compete for jobs, complete school assignments and make applications to education and financial assistance and a range of other important everyday tasks increasingly dependent on knowledge with computer technology."

MACCC Programs and Activities

Description of Programs and Activities: Since 1999, when MACCC began as the largely volunteer effort of committed community volunteers, the organization has worked to raise our most vulnerable neighbors' awareness of the power and usefulness of computers and their ability to leverage this technology for their own benefit in their day to day lives. MACCC has a computer training lab with a variety of programs that are made available to both the community at large and to some of the neighborhood's most highly vulnerable groups. Examples of our programming include:

  1. Partnerships with area After-school and Summer Programs which serve low-income children to provide high quality computer enrichment and instruction activities during out of school-time hours;
  2. A program for adults who are newly released from prison and their children to assist both parents and children with basic computer literacy and life skills training, providing a computer and internet access at the completion of the program;
  3. A partnership with Interim House, a residential women's Drug and Alcohol treatment program located in Germantown to offer their residents focused computer skills training aimed at improving work and life opportunities;
  4. Through a cooperative relationship with Mount Airy Learning Tree, a community based adult learning program, offering a rich variety of 50-70 different training opportunities each year on the use of software, the internet and computer technology to support a job search, resume writing and job applications;
  5. A contract with Weavers Way to provide technology training for the staff;
  6. Free Computer Training Workshops offered to the community, once a month. Participants learn how to create resumes, set-up email accounts and one free refurbished computer is raffled off each session.
  7. There is no computer lab in the Northwest that is more responsive to such a wide variety of community computer needs as is MACCC. We believe there is no resource quite like it in the City.