Comcast has expanded its Internet Essentials program to include lower-income families without children in school.
Third District Wilmington City Council Member Darius Brown joined with Comcast officials to announce that those receiving housing from U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other housing programs can apply for Internet Essentials, Comcast’s high speed Internet adoption program for low-income families. The program applies to complexes that are wired into the Comcast system.
Internet Essentials provides internet service for $9.95 a month plus tax. Those eligible can also purchase an internet-ready computer for under $150.00 while gaining multiple options to access free digital literacy training in print, online and in-person.
The program was started in 2011 by Comcast to help close a widening technology learning gap among students also known as the digital divide.
Comcast has now expanded Internet Essentials eligibility several times, most recently to include residents of public housing and those who receive HUD assistance.
At a news conference held today during a Community Fair at Kingswood Community Center on Bowers Street, Brown was joined by Kevin Broadhurst, Senior Director of Government Affairs for Comcast, Karen Spellman, the acting Executive Director of the Wilmington Housing Authority and At-Large City Council Member Justen Wright to promote the expanded availability of Internet Essentials.
“In my home third council district and throughout Wilmington we are on a mission to end poverty and extend the ladders of opportunity and prosperity to all people,” said Brown. “There is no better way to lift a person up than to offer them a chance to communicate, participate and compete like everyone else does today which is through a computer that is linked to the Internet. I thank Comcast for making this program available and for expanding it to more and more people and I thank the WHA and Kingswood for helping us to alert our citizens to this opportunity.”
“This is the largest expansion of the program since the inception of Internet Essentials in 2011,” said Broadhurst. “We are thrilled to be working with Wilmington City Council, the Wilmington Housing Authority and HUD to help close the digital divide and make a meaningful impact in our community.”
HUD estimates that up to two million HUD-assisted homes, including Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, and Multifamily programs now have access to low-cost Internet service which is also more than 40 percent of all HUD-assisted households nationwide.
Comcast’s expansion of the program earlier this year marks the first time in its history, outside of some pilot markets, that adults without a child eligible for the National School Lunch Program are eligible to apply for Internet Essentials. The latest program will allow senior citizens with lower incomes to gain high-speed broadband at a low cost.
Comcast said that according to a 2013 American Community Survey, less than 43 percent of individuals without a high school diploma or an equivalent lack home Internet access and thus are not as readily able to acquire the necessary digital literacy skills to thrive in a highly competitive, global workforce.
“Internet Essentials is not only about building a bridge to help more Americans cross the digital divide, but is about helping people use the Internet to climb up the economic ladder to a better education and a better job that will help them achieve their dreams and help end the cycle of poverty,” said Broadhurst.
Those wishing to apply or seeking more information on the program can click here.
