For kids from well-off families across New York City, summer means beach, camp, vacations, internships, and programs that mix recreation and learning — generally, a fun summer break. However, for many students throughout the Five Boroughs, summer break means the “summer slide.” That’s when learning accrued the previous school year slips away.
For some, that means a little catch-up throughout the summer alongside reading lists, or some remedial work at the end of break. With no access to a computer, though, summer slide can be a season when opportunity slips farther out of reach for those who need it most.
Research shows that children who spend their summers surrounded by books, enrichment programs, and internships that all depend on digital connectivity return to school with stronger academic skills, greater confidence, broader perspectives, stronger social networks, and experiences that shape their futures. High-quality summer learning programs have been shown to improve math and reading outcomes for students who attend consistently, while participation in extracurricular activities is associated with higher college enrollment and greater future earnings.
To access many of these resources, though, you need the resources. Barring family advantages, most of these beneficial factors are accessed over a device.
Sadly, in New York City today, given the shared crisis in affordability and access, too many legs-up have become the purview of the privileged. Summer slide for children from under-resourced communities can be a permanent loss. However, something can be done that has already taken root in the Bronx, where I run a community foundation solely focused on changing outcomes for lower-income families in what is the country’s lowest-income urban congressional district.
We’ve started to close the digital divide, which means more computers in the hands of kids for whom a basic learning and life tool that is taken for granted by most — but out of reach financially for many, with pernicious long-term effects. It is estimated that in the Bronx alone, more than 184,000 kids don’t have a device or regular access to one, and the borough continues to experience some of the city’s most significant gaps in reliable home broadband access.
In today’s economy, digital access is no longer optional. It’s as fundamental to a child’s future as textbooks once were. Students now rely on technology to learn, explore careers, complete schoolwork, apply for jobs, communicate with mentors, and build the digital skills that every profession demands.
Closing opportunity gaps means thinking beyond the traditional school calendar. Supporting children means investing in the entire ecosystem that helps them thrive, from literacy programs to healthy public spaces, and supporting the community organizations that sustainably give families a leg-up. We need to approach closing the digital divide, and putting a computer in the hands of every young person who doesn’t have one, as closing an opportunity gap.
Recognition is growing. New York City has begun to understand that closing opportunity gaps also means closing the digital divide. The Mamdani administration’s $2 million expansion of the Neighborhood Internet program, announced in the Bronx, will bring free high-speed broadband to more low-income New Yorkers and directly addresses one of the barriers that keeps students disconnected from learning, jobs, and enrichment opportunities.
That should be the goal for summer 2027: No student should lose access to learning simply because they do not have the technology to participate. By the end of the next school year, every family without a computer should know where to get one, and how to access broadband and digital support.
Summer slide is not inevitable. For many lower-income students, it is the result of barriers we already know how to remove. If New York City wants more children to return to school ready to learn, it should start by making sure they can stay connected while school is out.
LaToya Williams-Belfort is executive director of the Bronx Community Foundation.
