Chicago launches computer program for poor kids

Saying there are whole chunks of Chicago where children are falling further behind in school because they don't have computers at home, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Tuesday what he called a first-of-its-kind program to sell discounted computers to low-income families and provide them Internet service at a drastically reduced rate.

"We have done our job working with a great partner, Comcast, who will make Chicago the first city of its kind in the country to deal comprehensively with the digital divide to make sure every child has a chance to compete in the 21st century economy," Emanuel said at a news conference at a library on the city's South Side.

Under the Internet Essentials program, families of the 330,000 public school students who receive free lunches can get vouchers from Comcast for $150 each that will allow them to buy computers — some valued at up to $500 — and broadband Internet service for $9.95 a month for as long as each eligible family has a student in the school system. There are no installation or activation fees and Comcast will also provide free training.

Emanuel, standing near a map of the city that showed many neighborhoods with only 15 percent to 45 percent of households with Internet service, said that his office, churches, nonprofit agencies and others will get the word out to make sure eligible families know about the program before it starts in the fall.

And sounding a theme familiar to anyone who followed his mayoral campaign, Emanuel challenged parents to take part.

"The parent has to do one thing that no other program can do," he said. "Show initiative. Be the parent."

David Cohen, Comcast's executive vice president, said the Philadelphia-based company has been talking about launching a pilot program somewhere in the United States before Emanuel was elected in February, but decided to do so in Chicago after Emanuel contacted him in March and urged him to do so.

But Jim Lakely, co-director of the Center on the Digital Economy at the Heartland Institute, said talk of a program like the one in Chicago had come up when Comcast was trying to win approval this year from the Federal Communications Commission for the cable TV company's purchase of a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal. At the time, Comcast told the FCC it planned such a program, Lakely said.

James Martinez, a spokesman for the National PTA, said if there's another program like Chicago's, the PTA organization has not heard of it. He agreed with Emanuel that the program addresses a growing problem around the nation, where computers and the Internet have taken on a larger, crucial role in classrooms.

"Families that can't afford digital equipment, their kids (fall) back more and more," Martinez said. "Statistics show an achievement gap when families aren't able to afford technology ... and this (Chicago's program) helps close the digital divide between the haves and the have-nots."

Peter Chow-White, an assistant communications professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and co-author of a forthcoming anthology "Race After the Internet" said that while he applauds the program and Comcast's agreement to offer training, the school district itself must step up its training.

"It needs to be embedded within the education system as well," he said.

Lakely said he's concerned about what might happen if Comcast decides to stop offering the service.

"It will be a program in place that people expect, and if the government in Chicago would want to continue it, it would be on the public dime," he said.

But Tom Alexander, a spokesman for Emanuel, said the deal is between Comcast and the families and that the city, besides facilitating the program, is not obligated pay any of the bills.

He added that Comcast has agreed to continue to offer the deal for students who enroll within the next three years until they finish high school, as long as they continue taking part in the free lunch program.