As Virtual Learning Resumes In Pandemic, Chicago Groups Plead For Internet For All

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Concerned parents and activists gathered in front of Chicago's Englewood neighborhood Comcast branch demanding that the federal government ensure internet access for all children as classrooms nationwide prepare to go virtual. Activists in several cities, including Chicago, Washington D.C., and Oakland participated in #InternetForAll’s national call for action, calling on the Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Education to address the estimated 15 million students “logged out” across the country. While Comcast has rolled out a program to bridge the digital divide for low-income Chicago Public School students, families with delinquent Comcast accounts are ineligible, a restriction activists Tanesha Peeples and Nailah Stevenson find deplorable. “It’s like punishing the children for whatever was going on with the parents,” said Stevenson, a CPS parent whose son is starting second grade next month. “The kids have nothing to do with the account the parents may have had. They need the internet.” “We’re focusing on the federal level because the FCC has control over all of the services. We want to cut out the middle man and get to the boss,” said Peeples, herself a CPS alum. “Fifteen million students don’t have internet access, and that’s a violation of their right to a public education.”


As Virtual Learning Resumes In Pandemic, Groups Plead For Internet For All