The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Study: 57,000 homes with kids lack internet
Before all the free computers and promises of free WiFi brought on by the pandemic, an estimated 57,000 households with children around the state lacked reliable internet access.
The persistent connectivity gap is highlighted in a new report commissioned by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and Dalio Education.
Not surprisingly, the study found the problem is most acute in the state’s poorest cities — Bridgeport, New Haven, Waterbury, New Britain and Hartford — and with children of color.
While four out of five whites had broadband at home statewide, that number drops to 68.8 percent of Blacks and 61.5 percent of Hispanics, according to the report — largely based on pre-pandemic numbers.
Fixing the problem, the report authors say, will take money but also a national resolve.
“While we have known for a while that the digital divide is a real problem in
Connecticut, this report puts a fine point on two key issues that haven’t gotten as much attention,” said Joe DeLong, CCM’s Executive Director, in a statement with the report’s release. “Given the changes the pandemic has made us adapt to, it is not an exaggeration to say that this is a crisis that must be addressed and addressed now in a way that is enduring and statewide.”
In response, Gov. Ned Lamont’s office said Tuesday they are grateful for the help Dalio has given to help close the digital divide in the state.
“Through this report, they shed light on a critical issue facing thousands of Connecticut residents and one which the pandemic has only exacerbated,” the statement reads.
Nick Simmons, director of strategic initiatives for Lamont, goes on to point out that most of the data used is from 2018.
Since the spring, Connecticut has invested in 142,000 total laptops, 60,000 at-home internet connections and 200 public WiFi hotspots, Simmons said.
“We fulfilled the need according to our internal data,” Simmons said.
Even so, DeLong called the connectivity divide a national crisis that will last long after the
pandemic subsides.
DeLong pledged that CCM, which advocates on behalf of cities and towns across the state, would work toward a comprehensive solution to the connectivity problem.
Barbara Dalio, founder of Dalio Education, called the situation heartbreaking, relating scenarios examining the roadblocks the connectivity gap exposes:.
“A single mother working two nursing shifts then coming home at 11 o’clock, piling her children into a car and driving to a McDonald’s parking lot so the kids could access a Wi-Fi hot spot to try and do their homework,” Dalio related. “Other kids alone at home, isolated, because their day care center was shut down; adults unable to go online to search for a job or file for unemployment benefits because their internet connection was inadequate.”
DeLong and Dalio both called on Gov. Ned Lamont to issue an executive order calling for the development of a state broadband plan to close digital gaps and explore ways to improve the state’s digital infrastructure.
They said they also want a task force of public and private stakeholders convened to lay the groundwork for a sustainable effort to enhance digital equity in the state.
“We need to advocate for a statewide solution,” Dalio said.
Last March, as the pandemic forced schools across Connecticut to deliver education remotely, Dalio — part of a since disbanded partnership with the state — contributed more than $19 million that, when paired with state money, purchased 60,000 laptops that districts could distribute to students.
The foundation also provided citywide access to wi-fi in Hartford and Norwalk and is continuing its efforts to close gaps.
But Dalio said the crisis is beyond what any one philanthropic organization can address.
The report, Digital Divide in Connecticut, was written by John B. Horrigan, a senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute It found that as of 2018, as many as 57,000 households with children statewide lacked reliable internet access and 321,000 households were without wireline broadband subscriptions.
Not surprisingly, low income and minority families are impacted the most, according to the study.
In July, the state launched the Everybody Learns Initiative — at a cost of about $43 million — to purchase more laptops, at home internet connections, and public wi-fi hotspots. This fall, libraries with reliable internet access began to reopen.
Problems remain. This week in Bridgeport, Schools Superintendent Michael Testani told his school board that while the district has been successful in getting computer devices into the hands of students who need them, the promise of free internet access is not without restrictions.
In conversations with Altice, Testani said the district has learned that current customers and those who have not paid their bills, don’t qualify for the free program.
So instead, the district is handing out hot spots to those families for those students learning remotely.
According to the report, 82,000 households in poor cities like Bridgeport and New Haven may not have home broadband subscriptions at home. That is nearly three times the number of households without wireline broadband in other parts of the state.
Connectivity feeds into how many students log on to remote classes. In Bridgeport, half of students did not log onto classes last spring compared with 14 percent in Newtown, according to the report.
That impact is not limited to the ability to study, Horrigan noted, but access such things as telehealth sessions or working from home.
With the report, the group issued a public opinion survey of 602 likely 2020 voters. Conducted in September 2020, the survey found that 90 percent found it concerning that a percentage of students stuck home during the pandemic lacked the technical means to keep up with their schoolwork.
That Black and Hispanic students are more likely to lack internet access or a device to access the internet at home was viewed as very concerning among those surveyed.
“The public sees it as a crisis,” DeLong concluded. He praised Dalio for continuing to press for a solution.
“She’s right. This isn’t a problem the philanthropic community can solve,” DeLong said.
“Government needs to step in here and make the kind of investment in our digital infrastructure that will permanently level the playing field — for our students and their parents.”
DeLong said he is hoping for congressional action, treating internet access as a right equivalent to transportation and electricity. Perhaps it can become part of a post-pandemic economic recovery package.
Andrew Ferguson, chief education officer for Dalio Philanthropies, said the price tag on eliminating the problem could range from millions to more than $1 billion.
Dalio said equitable access to connectivity is an issue that will outlast the pandemic.
“It has to be solved,” she said. “There is no way around it.”