‘You have to have it’: Federal grant to fund affordable internet access

CHARLOTTE — A new plan from the Biden Administration is pushing for more families to have access to affordable internet.

The Affordable Connectivity Program would discount rates for high-speed internet by up to $30 for people who qualify.

Tiffany White is one of those folks. She works at Goodwill’s Tech Department in west Charlotte, a job she applied for online.

But White also knows what life is like without internet at home. Before landing the full-time job, she would travel to the Goodwill campus to use its computers.

“You have to have that internet, you have to have it,” White told Channel 9′s Anthony Kustura.

She now has her own home internet access through a federal program for low-income households.

“It helps out, that money goes toward other bills, toward rent and toward going back and forth to work,” she said.

Bruce Clark with the Center for Digital Equity at Queens University said roughly 50,000 families in Mecklenburg County don’t have internet access. Clark said he’s pushed for an initiative like this for years.

“The more barriers we can knock down, the more people who will have an opportunity to participate in our modern society,” Clark said.

The Center for Digital Equity estimates 82% of eligible Mecklenburg County residents have not signed up.

People qualify for the program if they make less than $27,000 a year or already receive assistance from SNAP, Medicaid or federal public housing.

In Mecklenburg County, you can dial 311 to get help from a digital navigator.

One like Tiffany White, whose job now is helping others just like her.

“We’re just now trying to come back, and we don’t know what the future is going to hold,” she said.

Biden administration to release $45B for nationwide internet

The Biden administration is taking the first steps to release $45 billion to ensure that every U.S. resident has access to high-speed internet by roughly 2028, inviting governors and other leaders on Friday to start the application process.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is overseeing the distribution and said that universal access to broadband internet would be akin to the electrification of rural America during the 1930s, a recognition that the internet is a utility needed for U.S. residents to function in today’s economy.

“There’s more than 30 million Americans who don’t have internet,” Raimondo said. “And in this day and age without high-speed internet, you can’t go to school, can’t go to the doctor, can’t do simple things. Think of how many times in a day you Google something or go online.”

The funding is part of the $65 billion for broadband in the $1 trillion infrastructure package that President Joe Biden signed into law last November. That bipartisan package is one of the policy achievements that the Democratic president is trying to sell to voters ahead of the midterm elections, though it’s unclear how much the message will resonate when much of the country is focused on high inflation, cultural differences and political identity.

Former President Donald Trump has dismissed the infrastructure spending as “fake” even though the broadband spending was one of his own priorities. His Agriculture Department said in 2020 that it had invested $744 million on rural internet connectivity, a sum that was meaningful yet insufficient.

Raimondo is traveling to Durham, North Carolina. She’ll announce that governors can send their letters of intent to receive the broadband money, which comes from three programs totaling $45 billion. Each state would then get $5 million to help it consult with residents and write its plan.

The Commerce Department recognizes that internet needs vary by state. The money could be used to lay fiber optic cable, build out Wi-Fi hotspots or even reduce monthly charges in places where price is the main challenge. After the administration’s announcement Monday that it would provide a $30 monthly subsidy to low-income households, Raimondo noted that states could use the additional money from these programs to make the service free to some users.

The allocations would also be influenced by the Federal Communications Commission this fall releasing new maps that detail where people lack internet service or are underserved. Governors and other leaders would then have six months to use this data to shape their final applications. States and eligible areas are guaranteed a minimum of $100 million, though the average payment would be closer to $800 million, according to rough estimates from the Commerce Department.

The goal is to have states lay out a five-year timeline to provide full internet access, while ensuring affordable internet access and promoting competition among providers. The federal government has not defined what qualifies as affordable, since that could be different around the country based on cost of living.

The commerce secretary said she seen the impact that universal internet availability could have on people in her travels.

She said she spoke to a widower in rural South Carolina whose late wife could only see a doctor regularly through telehealth, but they lacked a high-speed connection. Raimondo talked to a college student in Atlanta with a full-time job who had to drive back to campus for the internet to do her homework, leaving the student so exhausted that she fell asleep at the wheel and got into two auto crashes.

“You close the digital divide and close the opportunity divide,” Raimondo said, “and we actually fulfill the American promise of giving everybody a shot at a good job, an education and health care.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(WATCH BELOW: FCC wants to expand program to help low-income families get Internet access)

FCC wants to expand program to help low-income families get Internet access FCC wants to expand program to help low-income families get Internet access

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