MEMPHIS, Tenn — About 275,000 low-income households across the nation will soon have access to high-speed Internet, including Memphis.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development selected the participating cities.
Parents and community leaders said this is long overdue, especially for children.
A lot of parents WREG spoke to said they can’t afford high-speed Internet in their homes, and the executive director of the Frayser Community Development Corporation said it’s something his community desperately needs.
Denise Westbrooks’ two grandchildren live in Frayser. When they need to use the Internet, they come to her house.
“They just can’t afford it in their home, even with Comcast and them, it’s so high,” she said.
President Barack Obama said Wednesday the ConnectHome initiative should help families such as the Westbrookses.
Memphis is one of 27 cities across the country chosen as part of the White House’s pilot program to connect low-income families to the Internet.
Internet service providers plan to offer broadband access, technical training and digital literacy programs.
Steve Lockwood with the Frayser Community Development Corporation predicted this will help make more school-aged kids competitive when they enter the job market.
“Communication’s a problem, and not everyone has computers,” he said. “I think more people have cellphones, but that doesn’t really bring you the whole platform of information that you’d like.”
The goal is to make sure 99 percent of kindergarten through 12th-grade students have access to high-speed Internet in the next five years.
“You do have a lot of low-income families, and with the way things are, everything’s about Internet, even the kids that need schooling,” Westbrooks explained.
Families will be able to learn for less than $10 a month.
