HTTP Joins Civil Rights Leaders to Urge Congress to Establish an Emergency Broadband Benefit as a Part of Stimulus Package
As Congressional leaders continue to deliberate on the best response to provide critical relief to the American People. HTTP lead a collaborative effort with 16 of the nation’s leading civil rights organizations to call on congress to include an Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) to help close the digital divide during the pandemic by providing low-income Americans with a temporary, $50-a-month benefit for residential broadband service. We believe this smart investment will help address many urgent COVID-related needs for Americans experiencing economic hardship and many communities of color who find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide.
The Collaborative effort included:
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC),
African American Mayors Association (AAMA),
Japanese American Citizens League (JACL),
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies,
Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC),
NAACP, National Action Network (NAN),
Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce & Entrepreneurship,
The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA),
The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation,
The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW),
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA),
National Urban League (NUL ),
Asian Pacific American Advocates (OCA),
Rainbow PUSH
“Broadband is a critical building block to making distance education succeed. Getting everyone connected to broadband internet service is urgently critical as schools across the country grapple with decisions over whether to reopen in-person or remotely this fall. To be sure, there are many complex reasons for these struggles, but the EBB can at least help make sure that more students have a broadband connection this fall and that families are equipped with the necessary tools to make important decisions about how to best keep their students and family safe.”