THE DIGITAL

DIVIDE
AMONG By CJ Gallo
UNHOUSED
COMMUNITIE
S
RESEARCH  "How has the digital divide impacted the amount of
access homeless communities have to job opportunities
QUESTION within post-quarantine society in Contra Costa County"
01
The digital divide is defined as
"the gulf between those who
have ready access to
computers and the internet,
and those who do not" by
Oxford dictionary
CONTEXT
02
Divides of all kinds, including
digital, usually exist in the
times shortly after a
groundbreaking invention
38
03
An example includes the
invention of the radio, which
steadily improved peoples
access to important news until
it reached a global scale after
38 years. 
4
CONTEXT
 About 44% of all U.S. residents do not make more than 30,000 dollars yearly
as of 2020.
 41% of adults in the U.S. that make less than 30,000 dollars annually do not
own desktop or laptop computer (Pew Research Center, 2021)

CONTEXT
 With the recent COVID-19 outbreak, many groups have taken the
next step with relying on digital technologies
 Some businesses all together couldn't maintain the same workforce
had to let some employees go, resulting in Californias record
unhoused population of over 160,000 people (United States
Interagency Council on Homelessness, 2020)

SIGNIFICANCE
 Despite recent lax in social restrictions,
the unhoused population has seen little
fluctuation
 With businesses now returning to normal
capacities, it would be thought that
unhoused populations would drop in size

SIGNIFICANCE
CONTINUED
  To restate: "how the digital divide has impacted the
amount of access homeless communities have to job
opportunities within post-quarantine society in Contra
HYPOTHESIS/ Costa County

ARGUMENT  I hypothesize that the digital divide is a leading factor

for this lack of hiring among unhoused populations and
that it has gotten more difficult for unhoused
communities to get hired because of it
 An example of this can be seen within the
"ban the address" movement
 Another example can be seen in the use of
artificial intelligence that scans resumes
for key words (Moss, 2021)

HYPOTHESIS/
ARGUMENT
 Because this topic is so recent, very few
studies have been conducted
 My method of study will be specifically
unique because I focus on ease of access
with digital tools

GAP/ JUSTIFICATION
METHOD/
JUSTIFICATIO
N
 This lack of response
possibly means that not only
unhoused communities, but
their shelters as well lack the
technological resources
needed to provide consistent
contact to other potentially
employee seeking
organizations
 Of the businesses, I chose 9 of the largest ones that had their own
websites METHOD/
 I originally had chosen as many as possible, but
only 9 offered jobs to all groups of people
JUSTIFICATION
STEP 1:
  Next, I answered the following questions based on the
information provided on each site
1. Does the place have a main website, and how difficult is
it to discover the main website
METHOD/ 2. Are online applications easy to access on the main
JUSTIFICATION website, is it difficult.
3. What requirements on digital application might limit
STEP 2: people and do they use a third party like linkedn
4. Is there physical application available and is there a
difference between physical and digital applications?
FINDINGS/ ANALYSIS
FINDINGS
FINDINGS
FINDINGS

• One star means the site requires

an account to apply
• Two stars means the site
requires an account, but still
provides application information
FINDINGS
LIMITATIONS
REBUTTAL
LIMITATION
REBUTTAL
  Research Question: "How has the digital divide
impacted the amount of access unhoused communities
have to job opportunities within post-quarantine society
in Contra Costa County"
CONCLUSION  Answer: There has been a negative impact on unhoused
communities
 Hypothesis to Reality to
access: access:

Unhoused: Down Unhoused: Neutral

Housed: Neutral Housed: Up

CONCLUSION
IMPLICATION
IMPLICATION
 BIBLIOGRAPH
Y
DiMaggio, Paul, and Eszter Hargittai. “From the 'Digital Divide' to 'Digital Inequality': Studying Internet Use as Penetration Increases.” How People Locate Content on the
World Wide Web, 2001, digitalinclusion.typepad.com/digital_inclusion/documentos/digitalinequality.pdf.

Golabek-Goldman, Sarah. “Ban the Address: Combating Employment Discrimination against the Homeless.” The Yale Law Journal - Home, 
https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/ban-the-address-combating-employment-discrimination-against-the-homeless. 

Hausman, David. “How Congress Could Reduce Job Discrimination by Promoting Anonymous Hiring.” Stanford Law Review, vol. 64, no. 5, May 2012, pp. 1343–1369.
EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=77709765&site=ehost-live.

Keniston, Kenneth. “The Four Digital Divides.” Bridging the Digital Divide, 2003, www.itfind.or.kr/ITRPT/four%20digital%20divide_2003_mitpdf%5b1%5d.pdf 

MOSS, HALEY. “Screened out Onscreen: Disability Discrimination, Hiring Bias, and Artificial Intelligence.” Denver Law Review, vol. 98, no. 4, July 2021, pp. 775–805.
EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=151985754&site=ehost-live.

Reitzes, Donald C., et al. “Digital Communications among Homeless People: Anomaly or Necessity?” Journal of Urban Affairs, vol. 39, no. 2, June 2017, pp. 145–159.
EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/juaf.12310.

Social Security Online. “Wage Statistics for 2020.” Wage Statistics for 2020, 2020, https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2022. 

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. “California Homelessness Statistics.” Homeless in California Statistics 2019. Homeless Estimation by State | US
Interagency Council on Homelessness, 2022, https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/ca/. 

Vogels, Emily A. “Digital Divide Persists Even as Americans with Lower Incomes Make Gains in Tech Adoption.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 10 Sept. 2021,
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/06/22/digital-divide-persists-even-as-americans-with-lower-incomes-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/.