Affordable Broadband Door Opened

Today the Federal Communications Commission voted to modernize the Lifeline program today.  The Lifeline program subsidy for low-income consumers will now apply to broadband Internet access. 

The United Church of Christ has a long-standing commitment to economic justice and communications rights.   We envision a world where education and economic opportunity is open to everyone.The vote to modernize Lifeline and to provide the first nationwide subsidy for low-income household access to broadband service will make a huge difference in the lives of tens of millions of families. United Church of Christ's media justice ministry and its partners in the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights have been asking for the Lifeline program to subsidize broadband access since 2010. Commerce Department data from 2010 shows at the time, 42.9 percent of households earning $25,000 or less subscribed to broadband at home and that number has only inched up to about 46 or 47 percent today.

The Internet is the tool that unlocks the doors to information, jobs, education--and for too many low income people that door has remained locked. The Internet has been out of reach, glimpsed from afar courtesy of kind neighbors, 30 minute slots at the library, or by kids huddling outside school to catch a wi-fi signal to do their homework. Millions of households are waiting to unlock the door to economic equity and opportunity. Thursday's vote is a critical step toward that open door. 

 

Commissioner Clyburn has been dedicated to the needs of the "least of these" from the minute she was sworn in at the FCC. We thank Chairman Wheeler and Commissioner Clyburn for their steadfast support for low-income people.

Affordable Broadband Door Opened

Today the Federal Communications Commission voted to modernize the Lifeline program today.  The Lifeline program subsidy for low-income consumers will now apply to broadband Internet access. 

The United Church of Christ has a long-standing commitment to economic justice and communications rights.   We envision a world where education and economic opportunity is open to everyone.The vote to modernize Lifeline and to provide the first nationwide subsidy for low-income household access to broadband service will make a huge difference in the lives of tens of millions of families. United Church of Christ's media justice ministry and its partners in the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights have been asking for the Lifeline program to subsidize broadband access since 2010. Commerce Department data from 2010 shows at the time, 42.9 percent of households earning $25,000 or less subscribed to broadband at home and that number has only inched up to about 46 or 47 percent today.

The Internet is the tool that unlocks the doors to information, jobs, education--and for too many low income people that door has remained locked. The Internet has been out of reach, glimpsed from afar courtesy of kind neighbors, 30 minute slots at the library, or by kids huddling outside school to catch a wi-fi signal to do their homework. Millions of households are waiting to unlock the door to economic equity and opportunity. Thursday's vote is a critical step toward that open door. 

 

Commissioner Clyburn has been dedicated to the needs of the "least of these" from the minute she was sworn in at the FCC. We thank Chairman Wheeler and Commissioner Clyburn for their steadfast support for low-income people.