If you have been struggling to afford internet service during the pandemic, help is here. In an effort to connect households to jobs, healthcare services, and virtual classrooms, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently announced a new $3.2 billion program that will provide financial assistance to those in need. The Emergency
Broadband Benefit (EBB) provides a subsidy of up to $50 per month towards broadband service for eligible house- holds and up to $75 per month for households on Native American Tribal land. Eligible households can also receive a one-time subsidy of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers. The benefit is limited to one monthly internet subsidy and one device subsidy per household.
In order to be eligible, at least one member of the household must meet one of these criteria:
• Has an income at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or receives assistance from programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, or Lifeline.
• Experienced loss of income due to job loss or furlough since February 29, 2020, and the household had a total income in 2020 at or below $99,000 for single filers and $198,000 for joint filers.
• Receive benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, in- cluding through the USDA Community Eligibility Provi- sion in the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 school year.
• Received a Federal Pell Grant during the current award year.
• Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider’s existing low-income or COVID-19 program.
There are several ways to apply. You can contact your preferred broadband provider directly to learn about their application process. According to the FCC, there are 825 broadband providers, including Comcast Xfinity, participating in the program. Visit https://getemergencybroad-band.org/ to apply online and find participating providers near you. You can also call 833-511-0311 for a mail-in application.
The FCC also is looking for organizations to help share information about EBB. To participate as an outreach partner contact the FCC at broadbandbenefit@fcc.gov.
Applications for the program opened on May 12. Nearly all of us are eligible for this opportunity. Jump on it NOW! For more details on EBB, visit https://www.fcc.gov/consumer-faq-emergency-broadband-benefit.
Black Wall Street app launched
In remembrance of the Tulsa Massacre in Oklahoma’s Greenwood district on May 31, 1921, actor Hill Harper recently announced the launch of The Black Wall Street (TBWS). TBWS is the first Black-owned digital wallet and cryptocurrency exchange platform in the nation. Harper spent the past year working with Black developers to create TBWS into a groundbreaking fintech app for Black communities.
“Our technology seeks to replicate the brick-and-mortar Black Wall Street as a digital ecosystem that will galvanize the financially excluded and directly stimulate the economic growth and spending in marginalized communities everywhere,” Harper explained. “With the Black Wall Street technology, we seek to make obsolete payday lenders and other financial predators plaguing our communities, while simultaneously creating cross-generational wealth transfer for people who have historically been taught to work for our wages instead of making our wages work for us because Black Cash Matters.”
A new study by the Pew Research Center found that Black people use their smartphones to do banking more than any other ethnicity and make up a “disproportionately high rate” of mobile-banking users. According to the study, 41 % of nonwhite respondents said they use their smartphones to check their balances and make other transactions, including 39 % of Black respondents. Only 32 % of whites said they bank on their cell phones, which is below the overall national average of 35 %. Although banking on traditional desktops/laptops is on the rise, only 48 % of Black respondents reported using standard internet con- nections to do their banking versus 63% of whites and 62 % of Latinx.
A TBWS campaign, “Crypto-curriculum and Digital-Wallet,” is being led by Harper in partnership with Najah Roberts, a world-leading cryptocurrency exchange expert. Together they have initiated “The Digital Financial Revolution” national bus tour, an information and empowerment initiative in honor of the victims of the Tulsa Massacre. The tour began in Los Angeles and will culminate on Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma the evening of May 31st through June 1st, during the very hours the massacre occurred 100 years ago. The tour is the first of its kind and focuses on Bitcoin education and adoption within Black communities. Harper’s bus tour stopped in Philly last week at Uncle Bobbie’s Bookstore in Germantown.
