Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen today announced details about the 2nd Annual Internet Essentials Progress Report, which features key milestones for the program as well as a number of program enhancements and a new award designed to honor top-performing school districts. Internet Essentials is a comprehensive broadband adoption initiative designed to help close the digital divide.
“In just 16 months, Internet Essentials has helped put a real dent in the digital divide and connected more than 150,000 low-income families, or 600,000 Americans, to the power of the Internet, most for the first time in their lives,” said Cohen.
In the Denver metro, more than 6,100 families are now online because of Internet Essentials, and in Colorado, more than 8,300 families are connected. “During our third year of Internet Essentials in Colorado, we look forward to making affordable Internet available to even more students and their families,” said Rich Jennings, regional senior vice president of Comcast in Colorado. “Every day, we are seeing the Internet make a real difference in the lives of students and families in Colorado, who are now able to go online at home and access the wealth of information the Internet has to offer.”
Additional key program milestones and facts through the end of 2012 include:
- Printed and shipped more than 25 million pieces of collateral material for free.
- Fielded more than one million phone calls in our dedicated Internet Essentials call center.
- Distributed more than 15,000 computers at less than $150 each.
- Trained 10,000 people in-person about digital literacy and how to use the Internet.
- Received more than 800,000 visitors to the Internet Essentials and Internet Basico websites.
- Partnered with almost 7,000 community-based organizations; government agencies and federal, state and local elected officials.
New in 2013:
- Expanding eligibility criteria to include parochial, private and homeschool students.
- Creating a online application request form
- Introducing Opportunity Cards
- Expanding low-cost computer options
- Honoring the top 15 performing school districts
