Bill would boost basic computer training
By Matthew Dembicki, Published April 24, 2009

A bill introduced in the House Thursday would provide funding for community colleges to offer free computer training to workers and others seeking to enhance their computer skills to find jobs or job-related programs.

H.R. 2060, the Community College Technology Access Act of 2009, would fund community colleges that offer technology training and open their computer labs to the public for at least 30 hours a week.  

The ability to use the Internet and other computer programs to find jobs and job training programs is integral to the country’s economic recovery, said Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, who introduced the bill. He added that the country’s more than 1,100 community college are well positioned in rural, suburban and urban areas to help residents access jobs and training information.

Larson cited a recent poll that indicated only about half of low-income Americans use the Internet or e-mail. Many returning veterans will also need to upgrade their computer skills as they look for new jobs, he said.

“This is precisely what we need in this economy,” Larson said during press briefing on the bill. “Without basic information technology skills, many workers are trapped in dead-end jobs, and as non-wired employment becomes obsolete, they face being locked out of the mainstream workforce entirely.”

In his district in Connecticut, Larson said Capital Community College has more than 1,200 computers could be used for such a purpose.  

The proposed legislation is based on a 2007 paper from NDN, a nonprofit think tank and advocacy organization, which called on using community colleges to provide universal computer training. If two-thirds of community colleges participated and each provided three instructors for 30 hours a week over 48 weeks, Congress could provide each worker in the U.S. access to information technology training for about $125 million annually, according to paper written by Robert Shapiro, chair of NDN’s Globalization Initiative.

At Thursday’s briefing, Shapiro noted that colleges have already made initial investment in the computers, and it was only a matter of keeping the labs open longer during the weekdays and on weekends to expand access.

The bill is supported by the American Association of Community College (AACC) and the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), as well as several members of the Congressional Community College Caucus, including caucus co-chair David Wu (D-Ore.) and Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.). Both lawmakers as well as representatives from AACC and ACCT spoke about the bill at the briefing.