If you're trying to inform or engage communities that are significantly African American, it helps to have a very mobile-friendly digital presence. That's because, according to new Pew research, African Americans are still less likely than whites to have home broadband -- which may make black more likely to rely primarily on mobile devices for internet access. However, blacks also lag behind whites in overall internet use, which may be partly due to the challenges of mobile internet access. Community foundations may be well positioned to address some parts of this digital divide.

African Americans and Technology Use is the first in a Pew Research series of demographic snapshots of technology use and adoption among different groups of U.S. adults. Pew found that:

• Lagging home broadband adoption. 62% of blacks have some sort of broadband connection at home -- 12% less than whites.
• Slightly lagging overall internet use. 80% of blacks are internet users -- 7% less than whites. Nearly three fourths of all African American adults (and 98% of those age 18-29) have either a broadband connection or a smartphone.
• No gap in cell phone adoption adoption (mostly). "Blacks and whites are equally likely to own a cell phone of some kind, and also have identical rates of smartphone ownership. Some 92% of black adults are cell phone owners, and 56% own a smartphone of some kind."
• Low-income, moderately educated African Americans are more likely to own smartphones. Pew found a couple significant difference in cell phone ownership patterns. Low-income (household income less than $30,000/year) blacks were 14% more likely to own a smartphone than low-income whites. Also, among people with some college education, blacks were 13% more likely than whites to own a smartphone.
• Slightly lagging adoption of tablets and e-readers. "Both tablet computer and e-reader ownership levels are five percentage points lower among African Americans than among whites."

While it is possible to accomplish most online activities via a smartphone or tablet, speed and usability often are significant hurdles. This can place people who rely mostly on mobile devices for internet access at a significant disadvantage -- and frustration due to repeated encounters with a poor mobile internet experience can deter people from even trying to do more than the bare basics online.

For instance, it's notoriously more difficult to type more than a few words at a time on a smartphone or tablet touchscreen, compared to typing on a keyboard. Filling out forms (such as job applications) is also more challenging and frustrating via a touchscreen, as is interacting with more complex services such as online education. And too often, organizations bury access to key information or services several pages deep into a website, behind links with nonintuitive names. When you have to load several webpages and backtrack multiple times from dead ends -- all the while pinching, zooming and panning merely to see what's on each page -- it's easy to get frustrated and give up.

This indicates an opportunity for partnership and engagement, especially for community foundations and their: look beyond your own digital presence. You can curate and promote mobile-friendly content, services, and opportunities that help meet pressing community needs. You also can support efforts to make key community offerings more mobile-friendly -- especially via the mobile web.

For instance, try using your smartphone's web browser to check out the website of your local school district or health department, food bank, the job board of a major local employer, or any other key service. Turn off wifi to ensure that you're using your wireless carrier's data network. Try to conduct some basic task -- finding out how to enroll a child in school, ask a question of a librarian, request an appointment, apply for a job, or take an online class. What's that experience like?

If you find it difficult, frustrating, confusing or impossible to complete the task with confidence, contact the organization which offers that mobile-unfriendly experience and explore whether they might be interested in a partnership to make the most-needed mobile improvements.

Community foundations often are in a unique position to bring together mobile web developers and other talent to, say, make a key page or two within a website more mobile-friendly -- just enough to make it easier for people to complete an important task. This might happen through challenges, contests, hackathons; in conjunction with tech education programs; or simply by making introductions.

Also, the mobile web is the place to start. App development is far more costly and complex (it's really platform-dependent software development and deployment). Also, most important community information and services are already on the web in some format.

As more mobile-friendly community content and services become available, community foundations, and the organizations projects they support, can publicize them. This can happen via social media and e-mail, but also through newsletters, flyers, and print or broadcast media. You might also create a curated list of links to mobile-friendly websites and recommended apps that can help empower your community.

Don't forget about 311-style call-in information hotlines, which feature prerecorded messages answering common questions. These can be set up with an ordinary office PBX phone system, or via a virtual PBX phone service. If important information is just too frustrating or impossible to access via the mobile web, and if it's not easy or feasible to enhance that portion of a website, it might be better to help that organization (and your community) by supporting a project to record that information so people can call in and listen to it. This strategy works not only with smartphones, but with any phone -- and may be a better option especially for rural communities where wireless data coverage is spotty and travel is a bigger consideration.

Small projects, relatively inexpensive projects like these can make a huge difference in the mobile user experience, which in turn can yield greater community access to much-needed content and services. Until the digital divide in internet usage and broadband access disappears, it's best to find ways to help community members succeed despite that gap. Making it easier for people to accomplish what they already want or need to do is one of the best ways to gain their attention, respect and goodwill -- which support all kinds of further community engagement.