In a city where one in five households don’t have internet service at home, high-speed access was recently installed in a dozen Newark Housing Authority buildings, providing some 1,600 families the connectivity for $20 per month.
City officials said the lack of access to internet in the city has been often pointed to as a barrier preventing low-income households from opportunities in education or jobs.
“This is a game changer because when we were at the height of COVID many of our children were stuck in their house and didn’t have access to broadband or internet,” said Patrick Council, a South Ward Councilman in Newark.
“We noticed the digital divide was not just hurting our young people, but it was hurting our seniors,” he said. “They didn’t have access to tele-health, they didn’t have access to family members and have conversations, to reach out to people who love them and care about them.”
