Obama Launches ConnectHome Initiative

President Obama announced a broad initiative intended to provide high-speed Internet service to low-income households. The announcement came last Wednesday.

The pilot program, named ConnectHome, hopes to deliver high-speed broadband access to over 275,000 low-income households across the U.S. The pilot program will launch in 27 U.S. cities including New York, Boston and Seattle and the Choctaw Tribal Nation in Oklahoma. According to the White House the program will connect almost 200,000 underpriviledged children to the Internet. The program will be kept small to prove it can work.

ConnectHome is part of the Obama administration’s continuing effort to close the digital divide and ensure that all people have access to high speed Internet service regardless of income level.

In March, President Obama created the Broadband Opportunity Council, made up of 25 federal agencies and departments. The group was given the objective of giving more people access to broadband. The Obama administration sees broadband access as a critical component for U.S. economic growth and competitiveness.

According to a 2014 report from the Pew Research Center African-Americans were less likely to use the Internet and also less likely to have broadband Internet access.

African-Americans fall behind whites by seven percentage points (87 to 80 percent) when it comes to Internet use. Black people follow whites by 12 percent in home broadband adoption.

The Obama administration continues to fight against the digital divide and government agencies are backing him up. Most recently the FCC announced an effort to allow Americans on public assistance to use their benefits to pay for stand alone Internet access.

“Broadband has gone from being a luxury to a necessity,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.  “But the fact of the matter is that the majority of Americans earning less than $25,000 a year don’t have broadband at home.”

The ConnectHome program is a partnership between the U.S. government and a group of organizations from both the private and public sector. Google Fiber has agreed to connect public housing communities in Atlanta, Durham, Kansas City, and Nashville with home Internet service.

CenturyLink, will provide broadband service to HUD homes in Seattle for $9.95 a month for the first year. That rate will increase to $14.95 in the next four years. Other corporations that are participating include Cox Communications and Sprint.

ConnectHome goes beyond simply providing an Internet connection. Other companies are stepping in to provide training and devices to low income Americans. Best Buy, a major electronics retailer, will train HUD residents and provide technical support.

The James M. Cox Foundation will provide 1,500 tablet computers to familes and students in Macon, GA for $30 a piece. The Cox Foundation is a not-for-profit associated with Internet service provider Cox Communications.  GitHub, an open source project,  is kicking in $250,000 to pay for digital literacy. The Public Broadcasting Service is producing new programs for children and the American Library Association will provide on-site training.

ConnectHome will link the president’s ConnectED initiative. That program is a five year initiative which was announced in 2013. ConnectED intends to get 99 percent of US students, grades K-12, on high-speed Internet access in school and libraries within five years.

Breaking It Down

As a nation we must avoid creating a permanent under class of citizens. There is much talk of ending poverty and improving education. So the imperative must be to create total access to information. The ability to acces the Internet literally means to open the world to the economic disadvantaged. We will never have economic equality. That is contradictory to the economic system we live under. But we must provide equality of economic opportunity. Leaving people in poverty creates anger and resentment leading to violence and crime. How is that good for anybody? Knowledge, education, ConnectHome and the ConnectEd initiative can help bring people out of poverty. Children who are unable to complete homework assignments because they have no Internet are victims of a sub-standard education. It’s a sentence to a life below economic standards. The Internet is the greatest communication tool yet in human history. It can literally provide the user an education to the college level or higher if they have it and know how to use it.  President Obama is right to point out that the nation’s economic might is tied directly to the ability to access the Internet and limitless information. Ignoring the needs of the poor is a threat to national security. The president of the United States swore an oath to combat the nation’s enemies foreign and domestic. Ignorance is the enemy. Poverty is the enemy. And they are within our borders.