Comcast and Mary’s Place have continued a commitment to helping advance digital equity for women and families. As a part of an ongoing partnership, Comcast is providing free WiFi access through the company’s Lift Zones initiative. With five Lift Zones installed inside Mary’s Place shelters in King County, women, children, and families will now be able to get online while receiving safe, inclusive shelter services on their journey out of homelessness.
Comcast Lift Zones are located at five Mary’s Place shelters in Bellevue, Kenmore, Burien, and Seattle. With the addition of free WiFi access from Comcast, Mary’s Place can make online resources and technology available to help guests attain life and job skills through training, education, computer classes, internships, job placement, housing search, doing homework, and more.
“Comcast is helping families find stability and journey out of homelessness by providing free high-speed Internet at our shelters,” said Marty Hartman, Executive Director, Mary’s Place. “We are incredibly grateful for Comcast’s generous donation and believe it will help increase digital equity for our community at a time when access to tools and services online continues to get more and more important.”
Between 2019 and 2020 alone, Washington saw a more than 6% increase in people experiencing homelessness – the third-largest increase among all U.S. states. Comcast’s Lift Zones will help families experiencing homelessness at Mary’s Place access technology integral for career advancement and social connection.
“We believe our partnership with Mary’s Place will help them make a significant positive impact for families who are experiencing homelessness in Seattle,” said Rodrigo Lopez, Region Senior Vice President, Comcast Washington. “March being Women’s History Month also shines a light on the issue of families experiencing homelessness and we are proud to be supporting an organization like Mary’s Place, which does such great work with families to help them find permanent, stable housing.”
Comcast has partnered with Mary’s Place for several years and has supported the organization through grants, in-kind contributions, and educational workshops.
Through its Lift Zone initiative, Comcast is installing free WiFi for those needing Internet access in local community centers across the nation. In collaboration with cities, community organizations, and local nonprofit partners, Comcast has now installed free WiFi in more than 90 community centers statewide.
Lift Zones complement Comcast’s Internet Essentials program and are part of the company’s ongoing commitment to help connect low-income households to the Internet in and outside of the home. Internet Essentials is Comcast’s signature digital equity initiative and the nation’s largest and most comprehensive private-sector broadband adoption program. Since 2011, Internet Essentials has connected 560,000 low-income individuals statewide to broadband Internet, including 336,000 people in the Puget Sound area.
This effort is part of Project UP, Comcast’s $1 billion commitment to reach tens of millions of people over the next 10 years with the tools, resources, and skills needed to succeed in a digital world. Project UP is Comcast’s company-wide initiative to advance digital equity, which includes Internet Essentials, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program.