Back then, Adkins, a general manager of Web servers at IBM, was one of the people behind vast networks reaching into every area of modern life, a perfect icon for the BFTAW program - an entire week packed with activities highlighting opportunities in the field of technology for black families.

Adkins recalled that when Career Communications Group launched the partnership with IBM to help close the "Digital Divide," he felt a deep sense of responsibility at being a part of a nationwide campaign aimed at helping make more black families ‘e-ready.’

Not an uncommon investment for a global business leader overseeing R&D in 30 labs in 17 countries around the world!

The mission of the annual BFTAW, Adkins says, was not simply to raise awareness that technology was here to stay; it was about building a pipeline, and transforming the future.
 
This is because parts of the problem of the digital divide - or the gap between those with access to technology and those without - stems from education, explains Adkins.

"You could argue it’s a challenge for the public system -- how to get more people like us excited about technology. When you think of building the talent pipeline - getting folk interested so that people coming out of educational institutions will compete for the more attractive jobs - it is a big responsibility."

With close to 80 percent of the fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. requiring postsecondary education, and 40 percent of the workforce marching into retirement, IBM and other companies are working to raise the level of digital inclusion by increasing the number of individuals using technology tools, as well as developing talent through partnerships like Black Family Technology Awareness Week, and involvement of employees like Adkins as volunteers.

Although groups that have traditionally been digital ‘have nots’ are now making gains, according to a report on Americans’ Access to Technology Tools, and a 2006 Pew survey showed 61 percent of African Americans reported using the Internet, as compared to 23 percent of African American adults in a similar survey conducted in 1998, a recent report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has studied Internet use by race, ethnicity, and age, show low-income communities continue to face problems related to access and the quality of technology available to them.

Too few black families own computers, too few know how to use them effectively, and still too few have equipment that would allow them to take advantage of programs that offer Internet technology skills that are essential in a global economy.

Adkins says that because technology is becoming a greater part of our lives - self checkouts in retail stores, smart kiosks, online banking - there is continuing need to work with families and communities to meet some of the financial challenges of getting computers in homes, to ensure computers and other technologies are into the educational process, so that young people get excited about math and science, and technical careers.

Reflecting on the pace of technological advances in IT, the 25-year IBM veteran predicts “When I think of where the industry was when I started, and where it is today, and where I know it’s going, it will take agility and flexibility to survive.”

Commenting on the forces propelling change, he says, “There are certain things you can't stop; developing nations aspire to be just like developed nations, in terms of wealth and economic stability.”

Adkins agrees that though disruptive trends in industry can be a cause for concern, “they force a different type of opportunity in terms of value and skill migration… Capabilities can be built with that under standing,” he assures.

The globetrotting engineer credited with having the biggest development job in industry, says that he sees himself as an ordinary guy who has done extraordinary things.

Accomplishment, he adds, comes with a responsibility to inspire hope in others, and to teach -- a dream Adkins would like to see come true in the not-to-distant future.

“My notion is, if I can do it, you can do it, too,” he says. 

“My accomplishments might not touch everyone, but I hope it will touch enough people to make a difference. As black professionals, we have a responsibility to be role models, because if we don't do it, who else will?"

Black Family Technology Awareness Week is sponsored by IBM and promoted by Career Communications Group. BFTAW is a yearlong campaign highlighting opportunities in the field of technology for black families.