Obama to expand broadband in public housing: How wide is the digital divide?
President Obama is introducing a new initiative that will expand broadband access for public housing residents. The pilot project, called ConnectHome, is the administration鈥檚 latest effort to bridge the 鈥渄igital divide鈥� between the haves and have-nots.
ConnectHome will make it cheaper and easier for more than 275,000 low-income households, including almost 200,000 children, to get home Internet, according to a . Internet Service Providers, non-profits, and the private sector will offer broadband access, technical training, digital literacy programs, and devices to people living in assisted housing units in 27 cities across the country and one tribal nation.聽
The president is scheduled to speak about the program on Wednesday in Durant, Okla., where the Choctaw Nation is working with four local providers to bring the Internet to 425 homes.
Since Mr. Obama took office in 2009, the private and public sectors have invested over $260 billion into new broadband infrastructure, and 75 percent of Americans now use broadband at home, the White House reports.
However, by the President鈥檚 Council of Economic Advisers shows that nearly two-thirds of households in the lowest-income quintile own a computer, and less than half have a home Internet subscription.
This limits the opportunities of lower-income Americans in a world where success in business and academics relies so heavily on using the Internet, Obama said in . ConnectHome is intended to bridge the 鈥渁chievement gap鈥� that results from this lack of Internet access.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 about giving the entrepreneur, the small businessperson on Main Street a chance to compete with the folks out in Silicon Valley, or across the globe,鈥� Obama said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about helping a student access the online courses and employment opportunities that can help her pursue her dreams.鈥澛�
鈥淭oday, high-speed broadband is not a luxury, it鈥檚 a necessity,鈥� he added.聽
