Families with school-aged children who live in public housing in Springfield, Massachusetts will get free broadband Internet access at home under a just announced federal program.
Sprint has agreed to provide free wireless internet access in Springfield Housing Authority apartments for kindergarten through 12th grade students, according to a federal official.
Springfield and Boston were picked to participate in a nationwide pilot program to expand at-home Internet access to low income families, according to US Housing and Urban Development Deputy Assistant Sec. Harriet Tregoning.
"This is about bridging the digital divide and about ensuring we have economic mobility for all our citizens and particularly the next generation," she said.
75 percent of the families in Springfield public housing do not have high speed internet access, according to the SHA.
