Expanding Digital Access: How SBX Youth & Family Services Is Helping Families Get Connected To Low-cost Internet

In today’s world, affordable internet access is essential — not optional. From school assignments to job applications, healthcare portals to virtual meetings, the internet is the backbone of opportunity. Yet for many families in our community, getting connected remains out of reach due to cost, confusing enrollment processes, and barriers put in place by internet service providers.

That’s why SBX Youth & Family Services, in partnership with the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) and the Get Connected! California Initiative, is working to ensure that every family has the information, support, and advocacy they need to access low-cost home internet.

Why Low-Cost Internet Matters

Affordable connectivity is more than convenience — it is a pathway to economic mobility, education, and stability. But through our work with families, SBX has seen that accessing low-cost plans is not always simple. Many households face:

• Aggressive upselling when calling providers

• Language barriers or confusing instructions

• Digital literacy challenges that make online enrollment difficult

• Customer service reps who downplay low-cost plans

• Restrictions for families sharing housing or living in multi-unit homes

These challenges are why outreach and education matter just as much as affordability. When families know their options and have support through the enrollment process, they are empowered to claim the benefits designed for them.

Who Qualifies for Low-Cost Internet?

According to the flyer, families may qualify if anyone in the household participates in at least one of these programs:

✔ CalFresh

✔ Lifeline

✔ Medi-Cal or SSI

✔ NSLP (Free or Reduced-Price School Lunch Program)

✔ Pell Grant

These programs are lifelines for many households — and they also unlock access to discounted broadband that can transform a child’s learning environment or help a parent secure employment.

How Families Can Get Connected

The flyer directs families to:

🔗 Search for providers: InternetForAllNow.org📞 Call for enrollment help: 844-391-1572💻 Take digital literacy classes: getconnected.digitallearn.org

These resources make it easier for families to take the next step, and SBX is committed to walking alongside them each step of the way.

SBX’s Role: Advocacy, Education, and Equity

Our mission is clear: remove barriers and create pathways to opportunity.

By providing outreach, supporting families with low digital literacy, and lifting up the real challenges they face with internet providers, SBX helps ensure that low-cost internet programs fulfill their purpose — connecting families, not confusing them.

Digital equity is a cornerstone of poverty reduction. When households have reliable internet, they gain access to:

• Online education

• Job opportunities

• Telehealth

• Financial tools

• Community resources

Connectivity builds dignity, stability, and agency — three essentials for breaking cycles of poverty.

Together, We Close the Digital Divide

This flyer isn't just a document — it represents a promise. A promise that no family should be left offline due to cost or confusion, and a promise that SBX will continue advocating, educating, and supporting our community until digital access is a reality for everyone.

If you or someone you know could benefit from low-cost internet, share this information. Empower a family. Change a future.

SBX Youth & Family Services is here to help our community get connected — today.