Inner-City Cyber Cafes Out To Narrow Digital Divide.

Can cappuccinos, cinnamon buns and computers with high-speed Internet access make a dentin the digital divide?

Aiming to overcome the electronic equivalent of redling, Operation Hope has opened its first Cyber Cafe in South Central L.A. to help connect low-income residents to the information highway.

It's also the first partnership between the federal government and the private sector in a brick-and-mortar solution to bridging the digital divide that finds minorities well behind whites in computer ownership and Internet access.

Backed by a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Commerce Department, Operation Hope has partnered with corporate sponsors like Unisys Corp. and Intuit to open the first of what is envisioned to eventually be a three-location local franchise of Cyber Cafes.

The nonprofit organization based in L.A. already operates three banking centers in communities largely ignored by mainstream banks. Now the organization is adding technology access and training in a comfortable, aesthetically pleasing environment.

"If you call it a computer resource center, no one wants to go there, bit say 'Cyber Cafe and you can convert individuals into customers," says John Bryant, chairman of Operation Hope. "All corporations are looking for new markets, and this is a way to build future customers to be mainstreamed. There is a corporate net benefit for changed behavior."

Located in a nondescript strip mall at 3721 S. La Brea Ave., adjacent to the Operation .Hope Banking Center, the initial Cyber Cafe offers 16 Internet-ready computers, computer education and coffee to the under-wired community.

The facility is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Hourly rates range from $4 to $7.50 for walk-in customers, depending on when they use the equipment. Fees are the highest during the busiest time of day, which generally runs from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. "Our focus is education and technology," says Charles Doff, manager of the Cyber Cafe.

Since the 1992 riots, Operation Hope has worked through public schools and community organizations to educate thousands of people about economic issues and it has partnered with 11 financial institutions to help make $60 million in home and small-business loans.

Steve Ryan, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Los Angeles law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (a corporate sponsor of the Cyber Cafe project) said he had no trouble involving his corporate, high-tech clients - Unisys and Intuit - in the effort. Along with providing equipment and software, those firms installed the computers and software and offer ongoing training classes to customers.

U.S. government figures paint a distressing picture of the digital divide that Operation Hope hopes to help narrow. Across the country, only 16 percent of households with annual incomes of $15,000 or less have computers, compared to 80 percent of households with annual incomes of $75,000 or more. In addition, 60 percent of households with incomes exceeding $75,000 have Internet access, compared to just 12 percent of households earning $20,000 to $25,000.

Whites are more likely to own computers than African Americans and Hispanics: 47 percent of white households have computers, compared to 23 percent of African-American and 26 percent of Hispanic homes.

In April, Vice President Al Gore agreed to attend an inner-city economic conference sponsored by Operation Hope and to attend the facility's official opening.

The La Brea Avenue location to be the springboard for two additional Cyber Cafes now in the planning stages. Each will be adjacent to already existing Operation Hope banking centers in Watts/Willowbrook and the city of Maywood.

"I think it's a cool idea. I've been an Operation Hope member for two years and it helps me be more professional. I type a letter quickly and I'm ready to rock-and-roll for my next meeting," says Darrin Monroe, a filmmaker and Web surfer at the Cyber Cafe.