HP Digital Village

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did HP create the Digital Village program?

Why was the grant offered without the traditional request for a precise plan, a budget, and specific equipment?

How did you select the communities to become the current Digital Villages?

Why did you utilize a web-based process for distributing the information about the program and for accepting proposals?

Will HP offer an opportunity for other communities to be selected to become HP Digital Villages?

Why did HP create the Digital Village Program?

As a leading technology company, HP is sensitive to the "digital divide." The term was most commonly used to describe gaps in access to technology along certain demographic factors. However, we recognized that it also reflected differences among groups in relevant content, creation and effective use of technology.

Many of HP's past and current citizenship initiatives in philanthropy, education and volunteerism help address various aspects of the digital divide. Based upon experience, HP was in a position to address all facets of the problem, including basic access, content and use.

HP's Digital Village Program represents the multi-dimensional strategy that directly targets the issue; draws from the experiences and insights we've gained in working with public and community organizations to integrate technology in a meaningful way; and listens to communities the way we listen to customers to jointly develop the solutions that meet their needs.

Why was the grant offered without the traditional request for a precise plan, a budget, and specific equipment?

Prior to creating the Digital Village Program, HP developed its own vision of the future where technology is accessible to everyone in the world as a means to learn, work and benefit from information. We call it "e-Inclusion." The ability to create that vision was the result of HP leadership that stressed the need to revive the creative spirit that existed within the company.

Our Philanthropy organization wanted to offer that same opportunity to our "customers" -- to take the lead and catalyze communities to come together and create the vision for their community. We learned two important lessons that we share regularly with the broader community as we build the Digital Villages:

It's about people rather than technology.

It's about what you want to do rather than what you want.

How did you select the communities to become the current Digital Villages?

HP looked first for communities that possessed certain key qualities that are necessary to create and sustain an effective community network, including:

A thoughtful and innovative community development vision and plan;

A broad and diverse project partnership; and

The community capacity to support the project.

In addition, an important goal for HP in implementing this program is to learn how we can better serve communities. Consequently, we wanted to select three communities that would challenge us in very different ways in order that we might share that information with others facing similar challenges. HP's Digital Village portfolio consists of communities that are varied on many levels and present us with the opportunity to discover and share multiple learnings.

Tribal Digital Village

The Southern California Tribal Community consists of 18 reservations that are rural, isolated and scattered across 150 miles and 124,000 acres, including one reservation that did not get electricity until 1998. The tribes have embarked upon a project to extend wireless access throughout the reservations, but they have only begun to experience and consider the possibilities about what they can accomplish once the community is wired. This community presented HP with an opportunity to not only learn and share how rural communities can benefit from technology but also how technology can be used to promote the arts and cultural preservation.

Baltimore Digital Village

The East Baltimore Empowerment Zone community is an inner city of nearly 36,000 people, of whom 84 percent are African American and 40 percent live below the poverty line. This community is focused on leveraging technology to build a community network of participants and providers to create a culture of "e-living." The network will support learning for youths and adults, strengthen and connect community organizations and businesses, and enhance the delivery of community services.

East Palo Alto Digital Village

East Palo Alto is a predominantly Hispanic and African-American community in the heart of Silicon Valley, California, that has long been supported by HP. The community had recently developed a plan that called for using technology to create a community that is involved, informed and connected. With a heavy focus on education, job training and business development, the community intends to become a full participant in the digital age and a beneficiary of the technology industry surrounding it.

Why did you utilize a web-based process for distributing the information about the program and for accepting proposals?

HP promoted the Request for Proposal (RFP) via the web and required submissions on the web for two primary reasons.

First, we were concerned that if we had not used the web in this way, we would have received responses from communities that suffered from basic telecommunications and IT infrastructure issues that we lacked sufficient resources to address within the context of the grant.

Second, we were aware that the next phase of the "digital divide" in the U.S. would go beyond access and be more focused on the use of technology, the effectiveness of that use and the significance of having relevant content.

Providing technology to organizations and institutions in underserved communities in the U.S. for several years taught us a variety of lessons about providing basic access to technology. We were seeking to learn some new lessons. Our insistence on a web-based submission and our communication about the opportunity via the web gave us a certain assurance that the applicant communities may have a lead on tackling the access issue and, thus, be better prepared to take the next, more substantive and complex step to discover how to use technology to transform their communities.

The results supported our assumptions -- we received over 840 registrations of interest and over 210 completed proposals, all from communities that we agree qualified as "underserved."

Will HP offer an opportunity for other communities to be selected to become HP Digital Villages?

HP will identify other Digital Villages in the near future both in the U.S. and outside the U.S. We are carefully analyzing the processes, programs and results within our existing villages to determine the most effective approach for identifying additional communities. The expansion of the program will be announced on the Digital Village web site.