RALEIGH -- For three years, nearly 300 families at two Raleigh public housing complexes will receive free broadband Internet service, part of a nationwide effort to bring lower-income families into the high-tech world.
The program also trains teens in Southeast Raleigh as "digital connectors," teaching them computer skills they can then spread to adult neighbors. AT&T provides the free service as part of a plan to bring broadband access to 50,000 low-income families nationwide, while the city, Raleigh Housing Authority and the nonprofit One Economy provide training and affordable computers. Together, connecting the 290 families costs an estimated $217,500.
"It's going to provide a whole new world to folks that have been excluded," said Allison Hapgood with Raleigh Housing Authority, which manages both the Chavis Heights and Heritage Park complexes. "I don't know if you've been looking for a job right now, but if you don't have computers, it's real inconvenient."
Chavis already has started offering wireless Internet to its 168 units, where 58 percent of residents earn less than 30 percent of the median household income: roughly $53,000. Volunteers recently surveyed 42 residents and found that 21 lacked computers and 19 had never used the Internet.
This mirrors a nationwide digital divide. Across the country, nearly a quarter of adults have no online access. That number rises to 40 percent when household income sinks below $30,000.
In Southeast Raleigh, residents often park outside the Richard B. Harrison Library on New Bern Avenue to pick up a wireless signal.
"You will see people sitting in their cars when it's closed," said Octavia Rainey, Southeast Raleigh activist. "They're really on their laptops. People do that all the time. We can't have a digital divide."
Mayor Charles Meeker and several congressmen will speak at Chavis' kickoff at 11 a.m. today, where several computers will be given away. Heritage Park, which houses 122 families off South Saunders Street, will get connected in about three months.
After the three years lapse, Hapgood said, access will be available in the units for about $10 a month.
"Improving access and computer literacy empowers those in underserved communities by opening the doors to a multitude of job training, job access and educational opportunities," U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said in a news release. "All of our citizens should have access to these tools."
Complex renovated
Chavis Heights, off East Lenoir Street, is fresh from a $40million remake. In its worst days, the complex had sunk to a row of sagging brick barracks-style apartments. Nobody had air conditioning. The heating system leaked. Crime was so bad that police set up a special substation.
Now, Chavis Heights features bright yellow villas, quiet streets with a view of downtown and market-rate apartments mixed in with the subsidized housing. Some in Southeast Raleigh criticize the complex for having fewer low-income units by comparison to the old Chavis, and for the black metal fence surrounding the property for security reasons. But still, residents praise the calm and quiet.
Now, they can surf, too.
