Bonnie Watson Coleman: “I thank you for the opportunity to address this because I know this firsthand. In the capital city in the State of New…”

“I thank you for the opportunity to address this because I know this firsthand. In the capital city in the State of New Jersey, they have had to actually close libraries. Now, we already experience a digital divide in urban centers and in poor environments, and sometimes the only access that students have to computers and the Internet and the capacity to do research is in the libraries, in the local libraries. So it has negatively impacted their ability to get the information that they need to succeed in school. It has also negatively impacted those who are looking for jobs, who go to libraries to be able to research jobs on the Internet. It has had a devastating impact on the community. So when we look at our budget, the Progressive budget, and we recognize that we wish to restore services, restore funding to programs that empower our communities, it is giving them a chance, again, to become productive, productive in the work environment, productive in the school environment. It restores hope where hope has been taken away for so long.”