While requiring outside assistance in realizing capacity development, economic, social and political interests in most communities already have a good idea of the needs and challenges facing them, and often have long-standing established working relationships among organizations at the community level. However, need does exist for outside resources (funding, expertise, information, etc.) to help facilitate progressive change for individuals and the overall community.¹⁷ Such support needs to be provided over a significant period of time (for example, years) so that the community infrastructure can be developed in an effective way, and that individuals can develop the proper skills and be able to realize opportunities.

Existing community access and networking services are already feeling the pressures of attempting to meet service demands, with these problems likely to become more acute as more non-users, particularly those with extensive training and literacy development needs, begin accessing these services. For example, barriers to continuing offer access services over the longer term for existing CAP sites include: equipment upgrades; lack of staff and volunteers; general funding requirements; and the cost or lack of communications or bandwidth. Without federal funding, a little less than half of community access sites would continue providing current levels of service (41 per cent), with the others cutting back on the very resources or services regular or occasional site users actually need, for example, reduce hours of operation (15 per cent), site closures (13 per cent), fees for Internet access (11 per cent), reduced or no training (10 per cent)). ¹⁸ Public access sites that are networked are showing signs of achieving some efficiency in service delivery. For example, as compared with many single sites, networked groups tend to offer better services in the areas of distance education, community information, and training, while offering about the same level of service for general Internet access. ¹⁹ Federal support for a number of CAP sites, suitably located in communities, will be required to facilitate an ongoing public service role, and to fulfil demand for an emerging role as a constituent component in integrated community access, learning and capacity development initiatives.

¹⁷ V. Rideout, "Public Access to the Internet and the Canadian Digital Divide", forthcoming, 2001.
¹⁸ "Community Access Program: Census of Sites", Draft Report, February 2, 2001, Industry Canada, pp. 25-28.
¹⁹ "Community Access Program: Census of Sites", Draft Report, February 2, 2001, Industry Canada, p. 26.