One out of every four people living in the U.S. dont have Internet at home.

One in four.

The White House wants to change this through its new ConnectHome initiative.

Its mission:

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

This was the very first initiative I wrote about on this site for being mayor of Akron: Internet is not a luxury. It's a fundamental right.  - Sage Lewis for Mayor of Akron.

Barack Obama said it this way:

I believe this can work through a government and private sector partnership.

Google has gotten involved in the ConnectHome project by offering $0 monthly home Internet service to residents in select public housing authority properties through its Google Fiber project.

Google Fiber Blog

As many as 26% of households earning less than $30,000 per year dont access the Internet, compared to just 3% of adults with annual incomes over $75,000.

I see no reason why we can't work with our local cable operators in Akron to either offer basic Internet access to homes below a certain earning threshold. 

If that doesn't work possibly we can get companies to sponsor blocks to pay for basic Internet access. Maybe there could be a mix. Time Warner could offer a discount and another company could pick up the rest of the expense.

There are currently 28 communities in Obama's ConnectHome initiative (Cleveland is one of them). We need to be number 29.

Here are the national stats of Internet adoption by race:

The Internet today is what books have been for hundreds of years. Those that had books were the elite and had all the advantages.

All kids in Akron need to have access to the Internet in their homes.

(I'm sorry. But this sort of thing just starts to make me angry. Is the Internet adoption rate of families in Akron even on the radar of my opponents? Will they bother to even look into how they can partner with the White House and Google to bring technology to all of Akron?)