Jan 29, 2021 | STATESCOOP
Roughly 5% of North Carolina households surveyed last year lack access to the internet, according to a pair of new dashboards published Thursday by the state’s technology agency.
The new dashboards reflect data about broadband adoption, coverage and quality on a county-by-county and address-by-address basis, informed largely by a state broadband survey created last July in partnership with the Friday Institute at North Carolina State University. The survey asks residents to submit information about the internet connections from their homes, farms or businesses, and includes an optional broadband speed-testing tool that residents can use to test whether their internet speeds are as fast as advertised by their internet providers.
Imagine virtually teaching elementary school without reliable Wi-Fi in your home. Imagine having to work-from-home in your car in parking lots of nearby businesses or schools in order to get better a internet connection.
This is what life has been like for teachers like Rebecca “Becky” Ham in Columbus County. A veteran teacher of 18 years, COVID-19 brought about some unique challenges for her as a schoolteacher in rural North Carolina.
“All the teachers agree that virtual learning was just not best for our kids because of internet in this area, but it is the safest right now,” said Ham, an instructional coach for Acme-Delco Elementary School in Riegelwood. “So, what do you do with that? That’s the dilemma that we face.”
By Travis Fain, WRAL statehouse reporter
Enfield, N.C. The grandmother looked at a borrowed tablet and cried.
The local school system provides free internet now, so that wasn t the problem. The problem, Evelyn Parker said, was she didn t have the first idea how to help her 9-year-old grandson or the 16-year old she serves as guardian to log on for online school.
Thank God, she said, for the learning pod at First Baptist Church.
Like churches, libraries and community centers across North Carolina, First Baptist partnered with the local school system, giving students a place to come during school hours. Halifax County calls them learning pods, where teachers go from folding table to folding table, helping small groups of students, elementary through high school.
Nearly $30 million will go to fund 18 broadband infrastructure projects with a goal of connecting 15,965 households and 703 businesses in rural North Carolina to high-speed internet, Governor Cooper announced Thursday. The grants are part of the 2020 Special Supplementary Round of the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant program and will be distributed through the N.C. Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) Broadband Infrastructure Office (BIO). This pandemic is shining a light on the need for better high speed internet access in rural communities,” Governor Cooper said. “These projects will the make sure the internet can connect people to the education, health care and jobs they need.”