This morning the FCC announced public-private partnerships that will be offering free computer training to folks on the far side of the digital divide. FCC Chair Julius Genachowski pointed out that right now 18 million Americans live in areas unserved by broadband. The FCC is working on serving those areas. Today 100 million Americans aren’t adopting broadband; that’s about a third of the country – and that’s the issue he addressed today. (You can see an archive of his presentation online.)

First he gave a laundry list of reasons to get online:

• More than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies today, including Wal-Mart and Target, require online job applications.
• Students with broadband at home have a 7 percent higher graduation rate.
• Consumers with broadband at home can save more than $7,000 a year.
• Closing the broadband adoption gap will create $32 billion in annual economic value, or about
• $100 for every American, every year.
• Right now, government spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year on paper communications with citizens, most of whom are non-adopters. If we move more services online, we can incentive broadband adoption and make government more efficient.

Then he announced a list of corporations who are stepping up to help:

• Best Buy – geek squad to teach basic digital literacy in 20 cities/towns (and train the trainer)
• Microsoft – to teach advanced/business digital literacy including Office training
• Arise Virtual Solutions – online training for customer service skills
• CareerBuilder.com – online prep and certified training for $1
• Monster.com – to scan for “middle skills jobs” in high demand
• Discovery Education – to offer online student success training
• MetrixLearning – to offer online jobs skills training in English, Spanish and Mandarin
• Brainfuse – to provide résumé writing assistance
• Sesame Workshop – to offer online games and lesson on hunger and economic hardship program

There is still opportunity for other businesses and community organizations to get involved through the Connect to Compete project…

Private companies and non-profits have announced the formation of Connect to Compete, a non-profit initiative, to execute the offerings made on expanding digital literacy and helping Americans close the jobs skills gap. The new organization, which will be housed at One Economy, will be a collaborative effort with other non-profits and industry partners.

Connect to Compete will launch national pilot programs beginning in the spring of 2012. For more information, please contact info@connect2compete.org.

Genachowski urges (and I paraphrase) “Imagine what having millions more Americans connected will mean to the American economy.” Just earlier this week, I posted the research that quantifies the impact broadband will have. One report indicates that each job destroyed by broadband is replaced by 2.6 jobs; another report indicates that broadband adds .3 percent to a nation’s GDP – making the case that these companies are investing, not just spending, in the US and in Americans.