U-M leading effort to link low-income families to Internet

U-M center leads effort to deliver inexpensive Internet service to low-income families.

Low-income families could receive broadband wireless fidelity (WiFi) Internet service for $100 per year—an annual savings of at least $380 compared with DSL rates—through a new University of Michigan project.

The Center for Urban Innovation, which is part of U-M's School of Social Work, is spearheading a partnership with Detroit-area faith-based and secular non-profit neighborhood facilities to deliver Internet service and low-cost recycled computers.

WiFi's low cost of deployment and high bandwidth capability, in conjunction with existing neighborhood facilities and staff, will make it possible for DetroitCONNECTED—a coalition of Detroit-area non-profits—to provide Internet service to low-income families for $100 per year. The service compares with digital subscriber lines (DSL), which typically costs $40 to $50 per month.

"Without a very low cost way for lower income families to get a computer and get connected to always-on broadband, the digital divide continues to broaden," said Larry Gant, a U-M School of Social Work associate professor and project coordinator.

"We've been watching the divide widen and create social and economic division for years. We've initiated numerous community and faith-based initiatives, but until WiFi came along, we just didn't have an economically viable way to get low-income neighborhoods online," he said.

The Internet has become so integral with work, school and social lives that those who aren't online regularly become challenged to get a competitive education, employment and access to health information, social services, news and information. Students living in low-income households participating in the program can learn more about topics discussed in class or current events by using the service.

The University's Center for Urban Innovation will secure donors for the project, distribute components and provide staff for training.

This model project, which was introduced last month at the Wireless Internet and Municipal Government Summit in Atlanta, could be expanded nationwide. In many older cities, the cost of providing high-speed Internet service requires massive hard wiring of homes to a base station. The costs are high. For instance, wiring a 100-unit housing development for high speed broadband costs about $100,000, Gant said. Deploying a WiFi network costs less than $20,000.

The current proposal has a single antenna providing WiFi access within a 1.5-mile radius, providing theoretical connectivity to 2,000 households.

Alumnus Todd Shurn ’83, ’84 MSE, professor of computer engineering at Howard University, has researched the so-called “Digital Divide,” a term used to describe the disparity in computer use between majority and minority-group communities.

“DetroitConnected sounds good to me,” Shurn says.”What it needs next is a Web site that provides low income subscribers with information valuable to their daily lives. Internet access, in and of itself, is just potential. It is the Web sites people visit that can improve the quality of their lives.”

Shurn says that it is inaccurate and ineffective to treat the Digital Divide as an isolated high-tech issue. “The ‘Divide’ is just another manifestation of economic gaps between Blacks and Whites,” he says. “The same folks who don’t have Internet access probably don’t have health insurance either. With their few pennies they have to decide whether to buy health care, prescription medications, Internet access, narcotics or other material items. Web sites are needed to help them make the best choices.”

For more information, contact Gant at (734) 763-5990 or lmgant@umich.edu; Aghion at (617) 439-5400 or daghion@w2i.org; and Myers at (313) 882-2249 or GMyers@clearlink.org.

Related Links:
Gant: http://ipumich.temppublish.com/public/experts/ExpDisplay.php?ExpID=281
CLEARlink.org: http://www.clearlink.org/
Wireless Internet Institute: http://www.w2i.org/

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