Supplement to Defeating the Digital Divide

Our analysis of 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) data shows that the Chicago Connected program helped to more than halve the connectivity gap for Chicago’s school-age children — from roughly 110,000 children in 2018 to roughly 46,000 children by the end of 2021 (19% disconnected in 2018 vs. 8% in 2021). The number of disconnected adults was also reduced in 2021 by 2% (from 15% to 13%) which amounts to a reduction of nearly 30,000 adults in 2021 alone. Relative to 2018, Chicago Connected helped reduce the connectivity gap for adults by 8%, or roughly 160,000 adults, through the end of 2021. However, this means that we still have about 185,000 disconnected households in the city. Disconnected households that have yet to be reached demand additional effort and focus on behalf of government agencies, community-based organizations, businesses, nonprofits, and internet service providers. We continue to emphasize the device gap – nearly 260,000 Chicago residents do not own a laptop or desktop computer. As we noted in the Defeating the Digital Divide report, we strongly believe that every Chicago household should own a laptop or desktop to fully participate in modern life.