Capitalizing on his huge expansion of the Obamaphone program that gave millions of low-income Americans a free cell phone, President Obama is now angling to give millions of Americans free Internet access.
On Wednesday, Obama announced plans to provide free Internet to some 275,000 low-income families in 28 communities across the country.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program is to work in cooperation with local governments, a group of telecommunications companies, and nonprofits.
“While many middle-class U.S. students go home to Internet access, allowing them to do research, write papers, and communicate digitally with their teachers and other students, too many lower-income children go unplugged every afternoon when school ends,” the White House said in a statement.
“This ‘homework gap’ runs the risk of widening the achievement gap, denying hardworking students the benefit of a technology-enriched education,” the White House added.
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