When you sit down to chat with Charisse R. Lillie, vice president of community investment of Comcast Corporation and president of the Comcast Foundation, she gets down to the nuts and bolts of why she’s committed to closing the technology gap.
“We are really excited about this. People ask us all the time, what is your goal? Our goal is to reach all those families who are impacted by the digital divide,” she says. She’s speaking of Comcast’s Internet Essentials, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program.
“Over 130,000 families have enrolled for the program. There are 2.6 million Americans who are potentially eligible for the program. We’ve signed up over 1.4 million Americans,” Lillie says.
Lillie, who joined Comcast in 2005 as vice president, human resources-Comcast Corporation, and senior vice president, human resources-Comcast Cable, points out most schools are now beginning to use the Internet in terms of homework and it’s very difficult for a child to type a research paper on a smartphone. Many families are over-indexing on the use of smartphones, but they aren’t sufficient to achieve educational goals.
She poses this question: “What is the value of the Internet and how can it make your life better?”
“Our children are riding the bus and having to walk to the library. They are waiting in lines to get on a computer. Some places have 30-minutes on and 30-minutes off [time limits] on computers,” she says. “It’s a difficult way for our children to be approaching their education.
“Another goal we have is teaching families the value of going on the Internet. These families are learning about health care, applying for jobs, learning about educational opportunities.
“The kids are learning about scholarship programs and internships. Having computers at home is the next step to getting people connected and closing that digital divide.”
Comcast has a multimillion dollar partnership with Khan Academy, which offers a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere, in subjects from math to biology to art history.
“We feel it is the ultimate value proposition for why having broadband at home matters,” she avers. “We’re expanding Khan Academy’s unique educational resources [to] low-income Americans. Khan Academy‘s theory is anyone can learn anything. Comcast has also committed to airing PSAs and providing digital promotions. When you go into the Internet Essentials portal, you can access the amazing courses that Khan Academy offers. It’s a treasure trove of information on almost any subject that you can imagine.” The courses are available in English and Spanish.
Comcast also has a partnership with Get Schooled, a nonprofit organization that directly engages and motivates students to graduate from both high school and college.
“We know in many of our diverse communities, you have almost 50 percent of students [who] aren’t graduating from high school. This program touches more than two million students across 1,500 high schools. Comcast is partnering with GS to launch IWant as my Internet campaign.
“We are trying to encourage students and families to bring all the benefits of broadband into their homes. Comcast and Get Schooled will bring this campaign into schools in Atlanta, Baltimore and Chicago during this back to school season,” Lillie says.
Visit Comcast Internet Essentials to find out about free training at www.InternetEssentials.com.
