Comcast is providing free robust Internet service that will help dozens of vulnerable students participate in distance learning and do their homework, and ensure adults and families are able to access needed online resources as they seek employment and transition into self-sufficiency and long-term personal success.
The COVID-19 crisis has worsened the gap in access to Internet and technology that adults and families living in homelessness and poverty experience. Comcast Lift Zones are uniquely positioned to address this issue by providing robust WiFi technology for free in community centers that lack consistent access to the Internet. Lift Zones at the following shelters will offer Internet connectivity and technology access in a safe and positive place and strengthen the Anacortes Family Center’s efforts to help families transition from homelessness into a more stable situation:
- Anacortes Family Center’s Launch Apartments – 1016 27th Street, Anacortes WA 98221
- Anacortes Family Center’s Transitional Center – 1012 27th Street, Anacortes WA 98221
- Anacortes Family Center’s Emergency Shelter – 1011 27th Street, Anacortes WA 98221
“We are thrilled to partner with Comcast to provide internet access to our families. Internet has become a primary source of connecting to our families during COVID-19, with our life skills program, educational mentoring with kids, counseling sessions, and weekly case management meetings going virtual, this will be a huge aide to those we serve,” shared AFC’s Executive Director, Dustin Johnson.
Through its Lift Zone initiative, Comcast is establishing WiFi-connected safe spaces for those needing Internet access in 80 community centers statewide by the end of 2021. The company has unveiled more than 30 Lift Zones in Island, King, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, and Spokane counties since fall 2020. These locations offer Internet connectivity to students and families that lack broadband access in the home.
“Our work with Anacortes Family Center is focused on addressing digital equity gaps, by providing affordable internet connectivity to local families transitioning out of homeless,” said Rodrigo Lopez, Region Senior Vice President, Comcast Washington. “By opening Lift Zones at these shelters, we can take that work one step further by powering these Anacortes Family Center buildings with robust WiFi connectivity that their families can use while they are onsite.”
Lift Zones complement Comcast’s Internet Essentials program and is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to help connect low-income families to the Internet in and outside of the home. Internet Essentials is Comcast’s signature digital equity initiative and the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program. Since 2011, Internet Essentials has connected 560,000 low-income individuals statewide to broadband internet, including 336,000 people in the Puget Sound area.
This announcement also comes on the heels of Comcast’s recent $1 billion commitment over the next 10 years to help further close the digital divide and give even more low-income students and families the tools and resources they need to succeed in a digital world.