Comcast opens veterans up to the web

A couple of weeks ago 59-year-old Air Force veteran Perry Griner was living on the streets, where he found himself after job and family losses.

Then he found a temporary home at Five Star Veterans Center in Jacksonville, a transitional facility for low-income, displaced and homeless veterans in Northeast Florida. It was just in time to benefit from the center's $25,000 new computer lab recently funded by Comcast. So one recent morning he sat in the lab at a new computer with high-speed internet access, checking the status of 15 employment applications he had filed online.

Such free online access will be invaluable for him and other veterans who live at or visit the center, he said.

"This is everything," Griner said. "This is excellent."

On Sept. 5 a Comcast team descended on the center to not only officially announce the lab's completion but make a surprise donation of 20 laptops for residents' use. Included was a $10,000 grant to hire a part-time instructor for digital-skills training classes, with a special focus on workforce readiness and development, including building resumes and LinkedIn profiles.

The gifts were part of Comcast's announcement that its nationwide Internet Essentials program, which since 2011 has connected about 6 million low-income Americans to high-speed internet service at home for $9.95 a month, was expanding to the veteran community.

"You have stood up for our country. We believe it's time for the rest of us to stand up for you," said David L. Cohen, Comcast senior executive vice president and chief diversity officer, who noted that the company was founded by a World War II Navy veteran.

Comcast estimated there are at least 150,000 low-income veterans in Florida — the most in the country — and more than 1 million in the company's national service area. About a third of low-income veterans do not have internet service at home and only about 60 percent own a computer, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 American Community Survey.

The Internet Essentials program will not only give veterans low-cost access to online job hunting, but to educational and health programs, family and friends and the "bureaucratic maze" of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Cohen said.

"We have put enough pressure on veterans. We don't want to put a barrier … to their smooth transition to civilian life," Cohen said.

Retired Col. Len Loving, CEO of Five Star, said the new lab, laptops and training are collectively a "fantastic opportunity" for its current and future residents, he said.

"It's extremely important to allow veterans … to connect with the outside world," he said. He commended Comcast for tangibly supporting the veteran community: "You talk the talk but you walk the walk," he said.

About 150 or so veterans have come through the center since its 2012 opening. But prior to Comcast's gift, they had minimal online access.

"At one time we had a small room with four reconditioned laptops for them. … When they were no longer effective, we didn’t have anything for a while," said Administrative Director Suzie Loving. Last year a kiosk computer with printer was installed at the front desk for them to share, she said.

Mike Durden installed that kiosk and the Comcast lab.

A 12-year Army veteran with decades of experience in information technology, he is living at Five Star to save money while he finishes his bachelor's degree in computer systems networking and telecommunications at Florida State College at Jacksonville. He said he took pride in getting the lab up and running and showing veterans how to use it.

The center, he said, "didn't have that kind of budget. For Comcast to step up and allow us to do this, just having this system here … This is absolutely amazing."

"This is going to have a huge impact," he said.

Beth Reese Cravey: (904) 359-4109

• Five Star Veterans Center

40 Acme St., Jacksonville, FL 32211

(904) 723-5950; 5starveteranscenter.org

• Comcast Internet Essentials

internetessentials.com

For more information