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East Palo Alto Seeks To Close The Digital Divide

EAST PALO ALTO (CBS/KCBS) -- Hewlett-Packard has donated $650,000 in equipment and $50,000 in cash to East Palo Alto's Ravenswood School District.

With the increased reliance on technology, school districts in low-income areas are finding it increasingly difficult to compete. But with the South Bay-based tech company's help, the district is trying to narrow the digital divide.

Solomon Hill, Director of Technology for the 5,000 student district, says thanks to HP's donation, they're using technology to try and level the playing field.

KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:

"We fill a number of gaps in low-income communities, and one of the gaps is we provide a lot of the technology access that more privileged communities have," said Hill.

The juxtaposition couldn't be clearer as East Palo Alto is divided by its affluent neighbor by the six lanes of highway 101.

But Hill said the partnership with HP is making a difference by providing students with much-needed access to technology, which in turn "helps them learn more efficiently".

Hill added that the donation is invaluable because most of their students don't have access to computers in their homes, but that the district is working on a number of initiatives that attempts to place donated, recycled computers into their homes. Often times, assignments must be done at school before going home in order to access computers.

"We hear a lot of stories when our students graduate and go to high school; they have to line up at the library to do some of those assignments," said Hill.

Hill maintained that test scores are starting to reflect the impact made by the HP donation.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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