Connect Home LA

 

FOUR YEARS OF INTERNET, FREE!

Sign-up at your Housing Management Office

Eligibility

Must reside in one of the designated public housing communities: Avalon Gardens, Gonzaque, Nickerson Gardens, Pico/Las Casitas, Ramona Gardens, or Rancho San Pedro -AND- have at least one school aged child (grade K-12) in your household. *Eligibility will be confirmed by HACLA.

Steps eligible households must take to receive four years of free Internet

  1. Complete a survey and consent form, and then bring them to the orientation.
  2. Sign up for and attend the digital literacy session, where you will receive a computer and Internet connection device. To register, call 1-888-497-5502 or send an email: connecthome@smarthuman.org
  3. Give us feedback.

Three steps that will lead you toward receiving four years of free Internet

  1. Eligible households complete and return the survey and consent form to the Management Office of your housing community. Copies of the survey can be obtained here: English survey , Spanish survey, and ​​consent form, or go to your Management Office to pick up the forms.
  2. After your survey and consent forms are completed and cleared for eligibility, a ConnectHome staff member will call you to provide the date and time of the Digital Literacy Session, where you will receive a computer and Internet connection device. The session will occur through spring of 2016. You can contact connecthome@smarthuman.org or call 1-888-497-5220.
  3. Give us feedback once you have set up your computer and Internet at home; we will contact you.

ConnectHome LA

For some of us, computers and Internet have become well integrated in our lives. However, that is not the reality for many low-income families and children across Los Angeles. The ConnectHome LA initiative could help change this broadband access. The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) was selected to participate in President Barack Obama and Department of Housing and Urban Development's ConnectHome pilot program. While HACLA has a broader focus to provide affordable Internet access to public housing communities across the city, under ConnectHome, HACLA will work to connect designated public housing households with K-12 students. These households will receive free computers and four years of Internet access.

By July 2016, 45% of current unconnected households in designated public housing communities with K-12 children should be connected.

About the Initiative

Every child should be given the same opportunity to build a brighter future and to achieve their dreams.

That’s why the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Obama Administration are launching ConnectHome – a pilot initiative that will accelerate broadband adoption by children and families living in HUD-assisted housing across the nation.

Our work seeks to:

  1. Make broadband Internet more adoptable by building new models to provide broadband infrastructure and to offer residents free or discounted service.
  2. Make broadband Internet more valuable by giving residents localized, free, and culturally sensitive training in essential digital literacy skills that will allow them to effectively utilize high-speed Internet.
  3. Make broadband Internet adoption sustainable by providing devices and technical support to our residents and by refocusing existing HUD resources to supplement and sustain the work of ConnectHome.

The pilot program is launching in twenty-seven cities and one tribal nation and will initially reach over 275,000 low-income households – and nearly 200,000 children – with the support they need to access the Internet at home.

*Information obtained from ConnectHome