Posted on 08/08/2005 1:14:09 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Efforts to close the technological gap between America's haves and have-nots will get a boost this week. Access at Home, a $1 billion initiative that will build more than 15,000 affordable homes with high-speed digital internet connectivity and provide low-income families personal access to computers and technology services. The initiative expects to connect nearly 100,000 people to the vast advantage of the internet.
Three companies, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), its subsidiary the National Equity Fund (NEF), and One Economy will be joined by U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), former Treasury secretary and LISC chairman Robert E. Rubin, and other local and national dignitaries to unveil the initiative for low-income families and communities in New York and across the country on August 8, 2005.
"Today, one of the greatest catalysts for fostering economic opportunity and opening up new markets is the internet, but for too many people, the digital divide is still too wide. All New Yorkers -- from the Bronx to Buffalo and beyond -- need to be wired with next-generation broadband technology in order to succeed in the global marketplace," said Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is working with LISC/NEF and One Economy to help expand broadband access into communities throughout New York State. "With access at home, LISC/NEF and One Economy will help bring the power of technology into thousands of households so that every family can have the tools for success in today's technology-rich economy."
Despite an overall increase in the number of U.S. households with computers and/or internet access, low-income Americans remain significantly less likely to be online than middle- or high- income households. In fact, Americans earning less than $30,000 a year comprise only 18 percent of internet users, despite comprising 28 percent of the population. Low-income youth are especially hard hit, being eight times less likely to use computers at home as children in families earning $75,000 or more.
"Americans today live and work as members of the global economy -- and technology is our connective tissue," noted Robert E. Rubin. "The launch of access at home can play a key role in ensuring that our low-income communities and neighbors are able to participate in this technological revolution."
The US Department of Commerce estimates that 95 percent of new jobs created will require significant computer skills. According to projections from the US Labor Department, eight of the ten fastest-growing jobs in the period 2000-2010 are computer-related. Unfamiliarity with technology can actually bar people from the doors of their would-be workplaces: of the 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies that used corporate websites for active job recruitment in 2003, one-third did not give job seekers the option of applying for jobs offline.
"The digital divide still runs deep in America, leaving far too many families out of the personal and economic opportunities technology provides," stated Michael Rubinger, president and CEO of LISC. "At the same time, a dearth of well-maintained affordable housing severely compromises the strength of families and neighborhoods. For these reasons, LISC/NEF looks for innovative ways to stabilize communities while providing them the tools they need to compete in the 21st century."
Access at home will develop over 15,000 affordable rental homes and apartments in communities across the country, including 3,000 units in New York State, over the next five years. Residents in each of these properties will have high-speed digital access and a package of internet related services from One Economy, including computer purchase vouchers, computer training for residents, and a community-specific "Beehive," a website sponsored by One Economy that provides information about personal finance, health, schools, jobs, childcare, and other services.
The $1 billion financing package for access at home includes both low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) investments from NEF and grants and loans from LISC. Organizations already lending their support to access at home include Citigroup, Washington Mutual, Deutsche Bank, and Cisco Systems, Inc. Approximately $200 million of the $1 billion access at home package will be invested in New York State communities.
"The quintessential American Dream remains strong today, but the means with which we reach it have changed," said Rey Ramsey, president and CEO of One Economy. "Instead of the traditional encyclopedia or classroom, the vehicles for advancement are a computer and high-speed digital internet access. With help from our friends and allies in the housing, financial, and technology fields, access at home will help low-income Americans turn their dreams into reality."
Porn. Don't forget the porn!
A Constitutional Right-to-Cruise.
I am thinking more mis-spellings are coming to the internet.
I wonder if Hillary! can get electricity wired to my house in NY? We use a coleman lantern, because there is no power.
With a Republican congress and president we shouldn't even have to worry about stuff like this.
And your computer done work on kerosene.
Why bother work. Hillary will build us a house, with high speed internet access, free food, free heat, free health care. And like the sap that I am I've been paying for this stuff the whole time.
Well maybe I'm missing it, but I don't see Congress anywhere in this story. It SOUNDS like one huge charitable foundation. If so, then hurrah for Hillary! since this is the way this sort of stuff should work. If this depends on handouts from Congress, however, depend on it to die as Republicans give it the cold shoulder in overwhelming numbers. Bush will never see the bill.
I don't live there - I live in my house in VA. Well, sometimes - usually, I live in a Hilton in NM.
But hey, run broadband to the poor. Just don't make me pay for it.
Nothing new here. Just more ot that It Takes a Village nonsense.
Now I can file for welfare in the comfort of my own taxpayer subsidized home. I'll only have to leave to get booze, crack, and cigs! Yay!
And Hil, while you're at it, can you install cable too? I'll never be able to escape poverty without cable. I'd like a spa and a boflex too, so I can feel good about myself. Maybe I'll feel so good that I'll think about getting a job or an education or something.
/sarcasm
This is a prime example of social marxism
they'll ALL look like the projects in the Bronx when Hillary's 'people' get done with 'em!
Looks like a Government subsidized pornography program to me.
I would prefer to see the government invest in accelerating deployment of EVDO metropolitan wireless networks.
If Hillary had her way, Big Sister would make sure that your internet service not only got taxed, but monitored and sites like Free Republic would be shut down under her administration!
Undoubtedly, but as long as they can keep it from blowing up in their faces until after the election in 2008, they will be more than satisfied.
Whoever came up with this one has probably found a net vote-winner in this project --- unless this somehow occasions a scandal (and that is not unlikely with the Clintons, who have disgraced everything they have been involved in that I can remember), and the MSM are willing to report on it before the election (if memory from a decade ago serves, people in the press knew about Whitewater but didn't bother to report it until after they had Clinton elected.)
$1 Billion pledged to make the internet even dumber, awesome!
Thanks
heeheehee
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