Jorge Martinez is Director of Information Systems at Knight Foundation. Below, he writes about Elevate America and Knight’s role in funding this project starting in 2007.

In 2007, Knight Foundation provided $250,000 to support a digital literacy program begun by the City of Miami. Elevate Miami was designed to help the elderly and young in our city’s underserved populations acquire the technology skills necessary to be an engaged citizen in today’s world.

Knight funded Elevate Miami’s Rites of Passage program. A collaboration between the City and Miami-Dade Public Schools, it provides the families of 6th graders that maintain high academic standards throughout the school year and pass technology skills training, with a new computer and access to the Internet. The program awarded new computers to 600 families in 2008.

At yesterday’s US Conference of Mayors meeting, Elevate Miami was singled out as a national role model for how public-private partnerships can work to bridge the digital divide in our cities, with Microsoft announcing a new program that will provide software and technology training materials to local governments and non-profits, to replicate the success of Miami’s program on a national scale, titled Elevate America.

Knight Foundation created the Knight Center of Digital Excellence to provide convenient, affordable, high-speed access – and its corresponding benefits in education, healthcare, economic development and government access to our communities. We welcome Microsoft’s entry, and look forward to building upon the work begun in Miami-Dade, by accelerating the adoption of digital literacy skills necessary to make our vision a reality.

What do you think about Elevate America?