Families who qualify for free school lunches will be able to sign up for $9.95 a month high-speed Internet services from top cable providers.
Further, families eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches will be able to buy low-cost computers.
Specifically, households need at least one child that participates in the National School Lunch Program to be eligible for the reduced-cost high-speed Internet service.
The initiative is part of the Federal Communications Commission's effort to extend affordable broadband Internet access across the United States.
A third of Americans, some 100 million people, do not have high-speed Internet services in their homes, with cost being among the top barriers to broadband adoption.
A Commerce Department report on U.S. broadband adoption released on Wednesday found that only 43 percent of households with annual incomes below $25,000 had broadband access at home, while 93 percent of households with incomes exceeding $100,000 had broadband.
Eligible families will be able to sign up for the service during a three-year period starting in the spring in some areas, with the offer going nationwide by next September to coincide with the school year.
"Providing our children with a quality education requires much more than the teaching and learning that takes place inside of the classroom," said Michael Powell, head of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.
Families can enjoy the discounted rate for two years. Source
40 comments:
While I agree that poorer families need access to today's internet but I wonder what the returns will be in the long run. Will we see better students as a result? We haven't seen this with what is offered now for free or reduced government entitlements now. Free cell phones (I know one family that has them and they lose them weekly and just reapply for a new one), Headstart, the free lunch program and breakfast for all. None of these programs have shown any student improvement and Headstart has been around over 20 years. All we have seen is arrogant students who think they world owes them. Want internet? Then work for it. Where does it stop?
It is certainly a Catch22. I hate to see kids deprived of an education because of poverty. However, most kids will not be tuning in to educational sites on their own at home any more than they will do homework without parental supervision. It would be interesting, also, to know how much time the parents spend on the computer compared to the time their children spend on the computer--these reduced rate offers.
Even at school when kids have access to computers (and assignments to do during the time) they get on unapproved sites.
If accountability isn't built in to give-away programs, I fear it's money down the drain (taxpayer money). No one seems willing or able to find a way to make people accountable. I believe there are ways.
"My" third grader at Whittier told me that AfterCare all kids were kicked off the computers because some kids were going to unapproved sites.
Cheaper porn access. Great!
Just great, more freebies for the ones who already get all the freebies they can on my tax dollars.I have to pay for their lunches, textbooks, cellphones and now their internet. Let all of us who have to pay for these things for our families file a discrimination lawsuit against the government. Why work? Don't work and get it all free.
#1 - this is a private/nonprofit partnership - not a government handout
#2 - it isn't free - people still have to shell out some of their own $$$ to get this
How does this work in Illinois and specifically in Peoria where so many families now get free lunch even though they do not financailly qualify?
Ever heard of a library? Last time I checked, they had computers there.
Yes, we wouldn't want businesses offering products and services for a lower cost - or providing free training...
"only 38% of all public libraries offer a basic digital literacy class – and only 25% in rural America."
http://connect2compete.org/connect-to-compete-overview
Have you checked your internet provider bill lately? Wasn't the theme yesterday that we discovered a long time ago that nothing is free? We don't begrudge anybody anything, but where is the limit?
The other question is...why isn't this opportunity and the "Obama" phone offered to people on social security? You have to be on welfare to get the phone, and you have to have a child eligible for free lunch to be included in this offer. The segment of our society that has worked hard and retired should be eligible also because many of them live below the minimum standard.
I know people who have an "Obama" phone and an iPhone...something I cannot even afford. Where is accountability?
AKA-Just Call Me Rambling
LOL! You can get one if you are a senior citizen, its about low income and not a thing to do with welfare, or crap coming out of your pockets. Oh, and it is not called the Obama phone. Educate yourselves and everyone else so we can kill this please. Thank You.
Who's Rambling?
"The program as it exists today was created over a decade ago by an act of Congress, the Telecommunications Act of 1996. A version of the Lifeline program was already in operation as far back as the early 1980s. (Source: Lifelinesupport.org)"
Safelink Wireless | ATT Lifeline and Link-Up | Verizon Low Income Programs
Apart from being administered by the FCC, it's not a federally-funded program. Since its inception, the program has been financed via the pooled contributions of commercial phone service providers, which in turn impose small monthly fees on their regular customers to recoup the cost.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=urbanlegends&cdn=newsissues&tm=380&f=10&su=p284.13.342.ip_p504.6.342.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&st=11&zu=http%3A//www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/universalservice.html
AKA- Call Me Rambling
http://urbanlegends.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=urbanlegends&cdn=newsissues&tm=380&f=10&su=p284.13.342.ip_p504.6.342.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&st=11&zu=http%3A//www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/universalservice.html
We have had friends contact Safe Link...once you get to filling out the welfare part of the application, you are finished.
People who have the free phones call them "Obama" phone...that was sarcasm, sorry you didn't get it.
I would dare to say that many of the children who receive free lunch already have to get their mother off Facebook in order to use the computer.
What is an Obama phone?
Another idiot analogy from the Right?
Emtronics, I agree. You would think that welfare just began when Obama took office. As I've said before the poor aren't the ones who really benefit from welfare--if that were the case, they wouldn't be any welfare. The businesses where those on welfare spend their money are the ones with the most to gain.
Obama did extend unemployment for eternity, didn't he? That, my friend, is telling the American people that he failed in creating jobs, don't cha think....
When you ask someone what they do for a living and their answer is I collect unemployment, that is a SAD state of affairs. Perhaps unemployment should be returned to 6 months only, bet more people would get off their duffs and perhaps take a job, not the job of their dreams, but a REAL LIFE paying job and get a bit of self-respect....
How bout you spout your crap at the people who have NEVER had a job and pay NOTHING for their child at school---no registration fee, no breakfast fee, no lunch fee, free shoes, free coats. Now they are getting cheap internet to go with their free phones. Unemployment is something I earned because I actually had a job. If there were more teaching jobs available in November, I wouldn't be on unemployment. Because administrators believe 30 kids in a classroom is an appropriate number, I am unemployed. I am, however, paying for my CILCO, my internet, my cell phone, and all the fees that go along with sending my child to school.
To the last Anonymous poster---You could be me. A teacher with no job, collecting unemployment while subbing. The more I sub, the less unemployment I get. Still have all my bills to pay. I'm not getting a handout and I wouldn't dream of asking for one. I knew going into teaching what it was like in Illinois.
Some posters seem to believe there are jobs for everyone who wants a job. Am I to believe that five to six checkout lines at places like Kroger's and Walmart (and now at HyVee now that the hype is instilled in us) are empty because no one wants a job? I tend to believe they are empty because Kroger's and Walmart know most buyers will still come even if they have to stand in line for long periods of time.
Of course (without data to prove it--maybe Jon can help), I believe that for some jobs, welfare is as lucrative as the pay and benefits for minimum wage jobs--so some do choose to stay home.
Yes, as was just pointed out, let's not confuse welfare with unemployment benefits.
We do have another problem in our society. Those who deal in the drug trade make money that is unreported--so some have a fairly good income--however, that income may or may not be shared with the mothers of the children of some of those working in the drug trade.
I will continue to believe that the drug trade (for which there are guilty buyers as well as sellers) remains one of the major problems and causes of crime in our society.
Alcohol is worse than pot - which isn't as bad as many of the legal pharma drugs prescribed for all kinds of what ails ya. Legalize and tax pot and it will become like wine - different costs for different tastes and government oversight that never fully overcomes the fallout. The penal system is just as bad as the military-industrial complex only with greater hardships placed on minorities who would otherwise be considered entrepenuers.
Horse crap! The GOP rode in on the election train in 2010 because of the fact there were no jobs. The GOP said they would create jobs if elected in 2010. They were elected and guess what? No jobs and yet the taxes on the richest, the so called job creators has been cut, from the Bush era, and still no jobs. To blame Obama is idiotic at best. Extending unemployment is another non issue. It has helped many to survive but it isn't an end all to sitting home on your butt as it only last 24 months tops. Otherwise shouldn't people just starve and then die to decrease the surplus surface population? What an ass. Stop listening to Lintball and Faux and get your own thoughts. Most people on the Right have failing memories like it was Bush who got this country in the mess and it was the GOP in 2010 that promised jobs and hasn't yet to create one single job.
People on welfare, all the people on welfare aren't bringing this country down. The cost of welfare is less than 4% of the Defense budget. It' just that simple minded people can't stand to see anyone get what they have for free, like food, cell phones, and internet service at a very reduced price. Yes it hurts when the system is abused, but the abuse is really very small.
Amen, Emtronics. There are those who want to blame all our problems on the poor, while the real culprits get by with no blame--they are truly clever folk, or many who believe them are just sheep led to the slaughter.
I don't belong to either party but I wonder what might have been if Clinton reponded to the USS Cole bombing with authority instead of playn hide the pickle in the intern. Bush's fault probably. But hey, if you think we are heading in the right direction Em, re-elect em - Obama, Schock, et al...
Obama got Bin Laden something Dubbya didn't do. Memory fail you there also? In fact Obama has gotten a lot of them via drone attacks very quietly. He hasn't had to stand on the deck of an aircraft carrier to do it either. Memory failure again? I'll stick with Obama as Perry, Romney, Bachmann, Newt, and the rest of them scare the hell out of me.
BTW, as for Clinton. He was the subject of a restless onslaught by the GOP at what $75 million dollars on investigation after investigation to drum up dirt on Clinton from Whitewater to a BJ in the Whitehouse and the money was paid to a GOP crony, Kenneth Starr. All they got was a BJ from an intern. Like sex has never happened in the Whitehouse? I wonder how many little boys Nixon had over?? Frankly, Clinton didn't invent the BJ and frankly Bush could have used a BJ. We might not have invaded the wrong country after 9/11 which ran this country into near bankruptcy.
Give our armed services credit - THEY got bin Laden!! Read the personal accounts of frustrated Seals on how the White House rushed the news and renderered much of the intelligence that was recovered worthless. Nixon and little boys??? Tasteless. Aren't you Catholic? As a Navy man, good to see you think the commander in chief responded the right way to the Cole bombing. BJ's must be the Catholic answer to everything from contraception to abstinence. Try it from a woman next time.
I give the armed forces credit and I also give credit to the commander - in-chief just as you would if it was Bush and that is something the Right hasn't done. Given credit to Obama and Obama made the gut decision to not tell Pakistan and go in and get him. Something I doubt Bush would have done and McCain said he would never do.
This has gotten off topic of the original post but I must point out that not one, not even one Republican or Right winged talking pundit gave credit to Obama for the death of Bin Laden and yet Obama thanked Bush. What a class act.
I am with you 100 percent on this Emtronics. Well spoken.
Me, too, Emtronics.
When you're done attacking the GOP, go back and check the facts on the actual votes. There are two houses to Congress. The democratic Senate has blocked nearly all the progress which could have been made. If you were for Obama's version of a job's bill, it was approved in the house, with some modifications, but completely failed in the democratic Senate. Harry Reid has actually been the Great obstructionist, but why bother with facts, when the liberal media can spin something else. Like I said, go to the Congressional Website and see which bills have passed the house and then killed in the Senate before spouting off nonsense. As far as handouts, this nation is no longer great because of them. No longer do the majority work to achieve the American dream. If immigrants who couldn't speak English could etch out a living for themselves and provide for their children, who in turn had a better live who in turn could give their children a better life..and so on. Now it is about gimme free this and that, I am entitled too....Fathers show up to make the kid then go off to kick it with their buddies, let the woman raise the kids. If you had any real idea of the abuses in the public aid system combined with abuses in the Social Security Disability system, etc. you would really go off your rocker, and no, they are not all black, but an increasing number are in this community, mainly because it's a numbers game, Census numbers note an increase in the African American population in Peoria, They also noted a decrease in the population in Chicago...Coincides with tearing down of public housing there and the increase in section 8 vouchers here. We are losing this war. It's not a class war, but values war. It shows in the children. They are not being raised, they are merely surviving. They have no hope for a better life, when their parents don't work to provide it. Many gripe about the educational system here, but anyone willing to get out of bed and come to school to learn, can do so, despite all the disruptions from those that clearly don't. Unfortunately, those that don't are increasing in number. Look at all problems in Dist. 150 schools.
Poverty is not the only factor. I grew up poor, my mother worked several jobs to ensure I had the best education available in the community. I can remember eating ham for a week that someone had given us, but we ate; and remember my mom's clothing had holes in it, so that I could go to school with what I needed. It's a matter of values, a work ethic, and plain old sweat equity.
I'll be done attacking the GOP when the GOP stops attacking the poor in this country. Your post Anon is exactly what I am talking about. The same generalization you blame me for attacking the GOP, you yourself used to generalize the poor on aid.
Em - he (or she) said they grew up poor but were instilled with positive values and a strong work ethic. That's whats wrong with the current system - it doesn't. Gov't policies have been wrong for some time and both sides are to blame. Leadership that touts socialism isn't leadership. We don't have a perfect government - one doesn't exist. Strong morals and values have been eroding and that sense of self-determination needs to be restored. Off to work to provide for my family and for taxes so the government can redistribute. Will be mailing letters today so your "business" gets some much needed revenue also. Quit squandering it.
Republicans aren't the paragons of virtue, strong morals and values--remember that greed is mentioned in the Bible as a sin. There are no sinless people in government or anywhere.
When it comes to politics, the truth is always in the eye of the beholder. That is the great thing about this country--we have a choice between two parties. I am, also, very tired of hearing that Obama wants to redistribute the wealth--all he's asking for is a fair taxing system that closes the loopholes used by the greedy who want to benefit from government but not pay for it. Most want government to be only big enough to serve their interests, but aren't interested in anyone else's needs being met.
Sharon - Giving taxpayer $$$ to Solyndra must be "good politics" to you. Robin Hood he ain't. Frankly, I'm tired of both parties.
I figure that the government does some good and some bad with our money--I haven't made it a habit to complain about taxes because I know that for 43 years I was paid with taxpayer money--and even now, of course, I receive a pension that undoubtedly has been subsidized with some taxpayer money to augment what I contributed myself.
Yes, I'm sure that I could find all kinds of ways that I could object to the way government money has been spent by both Republicans and Democrats. To single out one expenditure such as Solyndra is disingenuous--too narrow an example.
The big bad government. But, Most people want good roads, snow cleared, strong military, fire protection, police protection, but don't whatever you do give a dime to a hungry person and I want my SS check even though we paid in, it wasn't near enough to cover what I'll draw.
Yes people abuse the system. People abuse all the systems. look at politicians. Lobbyists pay them big money for votes and that's abuse.
Yes, people grow up poor and learn values and make it in life. That is the biggest problem today. Generation after generation grows up expecting, no, demanding a hand out but no matter how you paint it, if we stop wars, decreased the defense budget by 20%, we could pay for all of this, put every kid thru college for free, and fix our infrastructure in this country. But, the politicians won't have it.
Look at Warren Buffets proposal - makes sense. Chief among his ideas is you can't be re-elected if our debt is above a reasonable threshold and elected officials are precluded from becoming lobbyists once their political careers are done. Just sayn there are good ideas out there but more people need to put party politics aside and do whats right to restore hope.
Em, putting kids through college for free. There is free preK, K-12, that is not being taken advantage of by the people who really need it the most. Nearly everyone will agree that one of the most important ways out of poverty is education. I admit nothing is guarenteed, but nothing is life other than death and that the city council will pay a developer from every fund possible and allow elderly people to get mugged in their own homes.
I had an interesting discussion several months back with a former coworker, one who didn't like what he was doing so went on to get a doctorate to do what he does want. He posed an interesting question. During the civic rights movement, minorities were protesting, marching, and fighting (not necessarily literally) to get into school, schools that they had been denied previously, In a single generation that same population doesn't want to go to school, to do their homework, wants to hang out with friends and subsequently end up crowding our prisons. What the heck has happened? Why the difference in that short amount of time. It's very sad to see something so precious fought for and abandoned in less than a lifetime.
I am serious, this is one of the issues that needs thorough discussion with some solutions from the community as a whole.
Emerge, what do you think of that observation/opinion of my friend? It begs many questions which need serious solutions.
I agree, free college isn't a cure all and not everyone is going to be able to even handle college. My whole point is or was, look at what we, Americans, spend on weapons and war planes. It says to me that as a country, our priorities are not in order.
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