September 17, 2017cycCleveland

“Adoption Persistence” study shows long-term impact of grassroots digital inclusion program

Two days ago the Ashbury Senior Computer Community Center released an important new report: Adoption Persistence: A longitudinal study of the digital Inclusion impact of the Connect Your Community project

This new report, produced for ASC3 by CYC Research Director Samantha Schartman-Cycyk and Valdis Krebs of Orgnet LLC, outlines the findings of a unique “longitudinal” survey of participants in a large-scale community broadband adoption program.

Samantha and Valdis conducted the new survey over the Summer, working with a “community calling team” of ASC3 graduates in a call center in ASC3’s offices. The team recontacted 429 participants in the original 2010-12 Connect Your Community Project (“CYC 1.0”), who were part of a random sample of “new broadband adopters” interviewed for the Project’s 2012 impact survey.

Adoption Persistence demonstrates the long-term, continuing impact of the CYC Project on the lives of these participants, four to five years after they took part.

Some highlights:

  • 76% of all respondents have maintained their home internet subscriptions.
  • Of the 24% who haven’t kept their home Internet connections, two-thirds (65%) say cost is the primary reason for them not maintaining their service. 18% say it is their lack of computers.
  • Only 10% of respondents report a lack of interest or need for home internet, preferring to rely on community resources.
  • 43% of respondents with Internet connections say they’re using patient health record portals (PHRs) like MyChart to manage their health online.
  • 69% of connected and 60% of unconnected respondents report that they use a computer for their jobs. And… “Of all currently employed survey respondents, 45% said they began their current position after their participation in the Connect Your Community project; and 45% attributed their obtaining this position to the training they received through CYC.”
  • 22% say they’ve used online resources to look up voting information. (Note: The survey was strted about two months after the Ohio Presidential primary election, and finished a couple of weeks before the GOP’s convention in Cleveland.)
  • 50% of the respondents said that they shared what they learned in the CYC project with others outside of the program, in their own personal networks.