CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Chicago Public Libraries are getting a more than $250,000 shot in the arm to help close the so-called digital divide across the city.
The grant comes from Comcast, which is already funding some efforts to bring broadband service to Chicago families in need. Comcast Executive Vice President Broderick Johnson said they are giving more money to reach more people.
“It’s not a perk,” he said. “It’s not a privilege. It is essential. It is an essential tool for self-empowerment. It’s a pathway to become exceptional and a pathway to achieve unlimited possibilities.”
Comcast will also be donating 1,000 laptops to 10 different community organizations for distribution.
Among those in attendance at Tuesday’s announcement was Mayor Brandon Johnson. He said the money will fund so-called digital navigators at 26 library locations.
Garland Copeland is one of those navigators. He said they’ll help people with the basics of computing, with job searches and he added that they will even help people find programs and services where free or discount broadband service is available for home use.
Officials also addressed the number of hoax bomb threats and other threats that have been made recently against libraries in Illinois — including the Chicago Public Library.
Library Commissioner Chris Brown mentioned the many false bomb scares and other threats libraries have received, often over books or activities dealing with gender, sexual orientation or Race. The mayor took up the theme.
“There are extremists in this country, right-wing extremists, who want to disrupt our form of democracy and our life — so much so that they are working overtime to try to redo the Civil War," Johnson said. "We’re not going to give that to them.”
Johnson added that the city’s “not going to submit to that type of unclean spirit.”
“Our library staff have been dealing with a lot over the course of these last few weeks, and I just want everyone to know that I’m very much committed to keeping our library patrons and all of our workers safe,” he said.
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