Connect-to-Compete Program Offers 24-7 Internet Access for Low Income Families

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – If you live in Bibb County, and you don’t have the Internet or a computer–there’s a way you may be able to get both at a great price.

There’s a pilot program running in Bibb County Schools called Connect to Compete. It offers Internet service at $9.95 a month, refurbished computers for $150, and free computer training for families in Bibb County whose kids are in the free-lunch program.

The program is a partnership between the Knight Foundation, Cox Communication, and the Superintendent of Bibb County Schools.

The program is for families in the free lunch program at the following Bibb schools: Appling, Ballard-Hudson, Barden, Bernd, Bloomfield Middle, Brookdale, Bruce, Burdell-Hunt, Burghard, Hartley, Ingram Pye, Jones, King- Danforth, Morgan, Northeast HS, Rice, Riley, Southwest HS, Union, Weaver, Williams.

The goal is to provide 24-7 access to the world for kids and families.

“Having that resource in their hands will only give us a more productive, intelligent society, and that’s the bottom line,” says Connect to Compete’s Mary Robinson.

The full Connect-to-Compete campaign will launch in more schools this spring, but there’s still time to register for the pilot. The cut off is this Saturday, December 15th. You can sign up at the Bibb County Welcome Center. It’s open from 10am to 5pm.