Sprint
In its mission to eliminate the "digital divide", Sprint is offering one million service-connected devices with free mobile accounts to disadvantaged high school students. The 1Million Project sets out to address the “Home Gap” faced by disadvantaged students who don’t have access to the internet to do homework, apply for job and college applications, and scholarships.
The Pew Research found that there are five million low-income households that don’t have access to the Internet at home, hindering kids’ ability to do homework and access educational tools and resources. The 1Million Project is making a stand against this obstacle by promising to expand digital learning beyond the classroom and “provide equal access to educational opportunity for all students.”
Sprint will work nonprofit organization EveryoneOn and the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance to identify the recipients of the free phone, tablet, laptop, or hotspot- over five years. Program members will deliver devices locally to help students set up devices and activation procedure. Not only that, they will also receive a three-gigabyte data plan. The pilot program will officially launch in January 2017, and continue to provide internet access for up to four years of high school.
Sprint
The pilot program is set to launch in 7-10 markets across multiple communities to gather general scope of what each community needs and what resources are necessary for the program to be successful. The program will be refined based on pilot's progress and a nationwide rollout is on the agenda to begin 2017-18 school year.
The 1Million Project will connect approximately 200,000 students per year for 5 years. We're happy to hear about Sprints educational initiative and excited to see the results from the initial pilot program. The nationwide rollout will prove essential in providing students the necessary digital tools they need in the modern society. The ability to access educational resources and free online tools plays a critical role in every student's success. The skill set and potential they will develop as a result of the program will hopefully encourage more major companies to take a stand and contribute to more educational programs.
