While many people in the U.S. have had access to the internet all their lives a sad fact is that one out of every four people living in the U.S. don’t have Internet at home. This is the reason that President Obama has begun an initiative that looks to change that through ConnectHome.
Its mission:
Every child should be given the same opportunity to build a brighter future and to achieve their dreams.
Access to the internet is very important tool for learning, especially as more and more schools expect that access when assigning children assignments. Those children in economically depressed or racially segregated areas seem to be the ones most effected by the lack of internet at home.
Google has gotten involved in the ConnectHome project by offering $0 monthly home Internet service to residents in select public housing authority properties through its Google Fiber project.
Here are a few more initiatives that are now in motion:
– In select communities of Choctaw Tribal Nation, Cherokee Communications, Pine Telephone, Suddenlink Communications, and Vyve Broadband will work together to ensure that over 425 of Choctaw’s public housing residents have access to low-cost, high-speed internet.
– In Seattle, and across its coverage footprint, CenturyLink will make broadband service available to HUD households, via its Internet Basics program, for $9.95 per month for the first year and $14.95 per month for the next four years.
– In Macon, Meriden, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans, Cox Communications will offer home Internet service for $9.95 per month to eligible K-12 families residing in public housing authorities.
– As part of its existing ConnectED commitment, Sprint will work with HUD and the ConnectHome program to make its free wireless broadband Internet access service program available to eligible K-12 students living in public housing. This builds upon the free mobile broadband service previously committed to low-income students by AT&T and Verizon, for ConnectED.
