Excerpt
SUMMARY: There are more than 730,000 homes in New York City without broadband access. And because the Internet today is the gateway to everything from education to the economy, the city is trying to bring those families out of the digital dark. But Internet access requires more than a connection for cash-strapped families. It has to be affordable, too. Hari Sreenivasan reports.
HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour): Two years ago Karen been never had to walk to get someplace. She owned a car. She also had a corporate job in Atlanta and a house with a pool in the backyard. But today this single mother of two boys is unemployed and on the job hunt in New York City. They moved here for a better life but quickly ran out of money. And the one thing she needs right now to get back on her feet is what most of us take for granted.
KAREN BEEN: I feel that the internet will definitely be a catalyst in me getting out of the situation we are in. If you are looking for a job they want me to go online and fill out an application. There is no more hardcopies when it comes to resumes.
HARI SREENIVASAN: But it’s difficult for been to go online and send out her resume. She can’t afford the monthly internet bill, which costs around 60 dollars a month in New York City. So after school, the three make a beeline for the library. Been’s 11 year old son Ishan Siddiqui rushes to finish his homework before the library closes.
ISHAN SIDDIQUI: It was kind of difficult because sometimes in class I didn’t understand something and I wanted to go on the computer but I couldn’t go on it so I couldn’t research what I wanted to.
HARI SREENIVASAN: The Been family is one of 730 thousand households in New York that does not have internet in the home. The city says it’s doing its part to pull New Yorkers out of the digital dark, but it takes more than just having an internet connection. That connection has to be affordable too.
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