Comcast Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Comcast Philadelphia & New Jersey

  • About
  • Contact
  • Careers

Internet Essentials Reaches New Philadelphia Milestones

March 25, 2016

Yesterday, Comcast made new announcements about our expansion of Internet Essentials, the largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program in the country. Along with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) ConnectHome initiative, we introduced a pilot program to attack the digital divide for public housing residents. Through the pilot, eligibility for Internet Essentials was immediately extended to public housing residents – about 5,000 in Philadelphia – as well as three other metropolitan centers.

The advances of Internet Essentials has been notable. In less than five years since its launch, the program has connected nearly 600,000 low-income families, benefiting more than 2.4 million Americans, to the Internet at home. 2015 was the program’s single most successful year ever, with a 30 percent increase in enrollments over 2014. To date, we have connected more than 24,000 eligible families in greater Philadelphia, an increase over the 15,000 we announced last year.

What are some keys to this success?

The enhancements we’ve made to Internet Essentials have played a major role. The just-announced public housing pilot marks the eighth time in five years Comcast has expanded eligibility for the program, a track record of expansion that began with families with children eligible to receive a free school lunch from the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Since then, we broadened Internet Essential to include:

  • Families with children also eligible for the reduced price school lunch program;
  • Families with children in parochial, private, charter, and cyber schools, as well as students who are home schooled;
  • Pilot programs offered to low-income seniors and low-income community college students.

In addition, Comcast has expanded the number of schools where every student in the school will be deemed eligible for the program so long as a certain percentage of the kids in that school are NSLP eligible – from 70 percent, to 50 percent, and now to 40 percent.  As a result, the company estimates auto-enrollment now applies to about half of the 48,000 schools across our service area.

Additionally, last summer, we announced we were offering Internet Essentials on a pilot basis to low-income senior citizens in Philadelphia as well as Boston, Palm Beach County and San Francisco.

Considering the strides we’ve made right here in our hometown, we cannot say enough about the tireless and enthusiastic support from our community partners. We sing their praises as often as we can but now is as good a time as any to once again acknowledge the organizations that stand by our side to lead efforts to bridge Philadelphia’s digital gap.

Our training partners’ dedication to broadening the reach of Internet Essentials is unwavering. Organizations like People’s Emergency Center and Philadelphia OIC, rooted deeply in Philly’s community, help facilitate, organize and execute hundreds of training sessions providing digital literacy/fluency, and underscore the vital power of online connectivity for area residents. These efforts are a cornerstone to the increase of digital access in our city.

So too is the advocacy of the Technology Learning Collaborative, with whom we’ll further collaborate in the coming months to speed the expansion of digital relevance. Also laudable are the advances of the My.Future program through the Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia, the Mayor’s Commission on Literacy and groups like Congreso and Consilio, whose computing labs and efforts to amplify the message of Internet Essentials are significant.

We thank all of these wonderful groups for their dedication and assistance – all of which lift and inspire, allowing us to report on these great gains.

 

 

Filed Under: Community Relations, Featured, home page, News, Uncategorized
Tagged With: #ComcastPhilly, Big Brothers Big Sister, Boys & Girls Club, Career Wardrobe, comcast, Comcast Innovation, digital literacy, internet essentials

Community Investment

HomeWorks Trenton Scholars visit Comcast Technology Center

Girl Power: Trenton teens meet with female technologists, engineers at Comcast

February 3, 2023

A group of ten young women from HomeWorks in Trenton recently traveled to Philadelphia to tour the Comcast Technology Center and meet with members of Comcast’s … Read More...

Customer Experience

Upper Dublin Xfinity Store team.

Comcast Unveils Interactive Xfinity Store in Upper Dublin

March 27, 2023

Comcast today announced the opening of an Xfinity Store in Upper Dublin. With this new store, which replaces its original location in nearby Willow Grove, there … Read More...

Comcast Business

Comcast Business Completes $2 Million Fiber Broadband Expansion to Philadelphia’s Food Distribution Center

September 15, 2022

Comcast Business today announced the completion of a $2 million fiber network expansion to serve Philadelphia's Food Distribution Center. Located around Packer … Read More...

Events

A member of the armed forces holds an American flag.

A Veterans Day Special Salute – 200 American Flags Retired

November 19, 2019

Comcast is committed to supporting veterans and the broader military community – both inside the company and out. One example is our Veterans Network Employee … Read More...

Terms of Service. Privacy Policy. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Copyright © 2023 Comcast Corporation. All rights reserved.

Comcast Logo

This site uses cookies to enable your digital experience. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the use of cookies as described in our Privacy Policy.

I agree
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo