At that time U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department Secretary Julián Castro visited the Bull City and said the ConnectHome initiative would provide about 2,000 households in the city with access to Google Fiber.
Specifically, the initiative works to provide Internet and tools to families living in homes through assistance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In total the initiative is set to impact 275,000 households nationwide.
Community stakeholders and partners recently gathered at the Durham Housing Authority for a “summit” to learn about what has been done and what the next steps are moving forward.
Dallas Parks, chief executive officer of the Durham Housing Authority said all public housing sites in Durham would benefit from the partnership.
Wanda Page, deputy city manager for the City of Durham, said it was no accident that Durham was selected to be a demonstration community — there was already a framework for it.
Durham was selected through a competitive application process that evaluated the programs that were already present in the city and how those could potentially be expanded and used to further the initiative.
“This commitment and groundwork that was set by governmental entities, by the local universities here, corporations, private businesses, non-profits ...,” Page said, “we can be proud that this commitment to expand broadband services in communities and bridge the digital divide in our community was seen and valued by HUD.”
The initiative would also help students be able to communicate with their peers and teachers digitally while helping shrink the “homework divide” experienced when students without Internet access or access to digital devices fall behind peers with it.
Community stakeholders heard from those helping move the initiative forward — including representatives from Google Fiber and the Kramden Institute.
J. Erik Garr, head of operations in Raleigh and Durham for Google Fiber, said Google would not only offer Durham high-speed Internet, but also opportunities for a basic Internet package and a product for small businesses.
“(Durham) frankly is a city of small businesses,” Garr said.
In Durham, however, Garr said, a commitment has been made to supply Google Fiber to low-income residents.
“In markets where fiber will be available,” Garr said. “We will make zero-dollar-a-month home Internet service available to residents in select public housing authority properties.”
Google Fiber is also planning to create computer labs and partner with organizations on digital literacy classes.
While Garr couldn’t give any specifics into when fiber would be coming to the area, he did say it’s moving “full steam ahead.”
Speakers addressed the need not only to reach young residents of Durham, but also the adults in their lives, especially in terms of communicating with teachers online and ensuring a form of cyber security while they’re online.
Speakers included representatives from Durham Public Schools and N.C. Central University who discussed what their institutions are doing to help assure residents of Durham have the means and access to technology devices — not just the Internet.
ConnectHome is part of the President Obama’s ConnectED initiative, that has a goal of connecting 99 percent of K-12 students to high-speed Internet in classrooms and libraries over the next five years.
A progress update for ConnectHome is slated for release in December.
©2015 The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
