Giving Compass' Take:

• Several tech experts discuss the challenges that COVID-19 exacerbates for students who don't have access to the internet and are falling behind in distance learning. 

• How can donors address the digital homework gap? 

• Read more about the connectivity gap, particularly in rural America. 


The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the widening digital divide. Roughly one-in-five American adults are “smartphone-only” internet users with no access to home broadband service or laptops. Low-income Americans and communities of color are particularly disadvantaged.

As schools move to distance learning, workers are displaced from their jobs and public services move online, the need for an affordable, reliable broadband connection and productivity technology is even more acute.

Read the full article about COVID-19 and the digital divide at The Aspen Institute.