Broadband is not only critical for education, but for all aspects of life these days; from finding a job to filing taxes.  The FCC push to create affordable broadband for families with children in school lunch programs is another step towards increasing broadband penetration from its near 70% rate today.

Led by the non-profit One Economy and backed by cable operators, such as Charter, Comcast, Time-Warner, the Connect-to-Compete program will offer $9.95 per month, 1 Mbps broadband to what NTCA estimates are 5.5  million homes consisting of 10 million children who don’t have broadband and are part of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).   NTCA estimates that, “Broadband adoption in eligible C2C households is roughly half that of other households with K-12 students.”    The launch of this program is set for the beginning of the 2012 school year.

Notably absent from the operators providing this package are One Economy partners, AT&T and Verizon.  Microsoft, with $250 computers, and Best Buy’s Geek Squad, with digital literacy training classes, are among other entities who are supporting the effort within the home.

Kelly Dunne, president and CEO of One Economy, talks about their efforts to bring broadband to low-income communities, both here and in other countries.  He explains that One Economy takes a comprehensive approach to helping drive demand for broadband among these groups.  He says that it is important to bridge the gap, before it gets wider, between those who can afford and those who can’t afford broadband.  He explains how One Economy’s ARRA stimulus grant, combined with their corporate sponsorships, will enable some 27,000 households to have broadband.