More Wireless Lifeline Connections Necessary for Hispanics for Work, Health, LULAC Says
With half of all Hispanics who qualify for the wireless Lifeline program using the service, the League of United Latin American Citizens is concerned that Congress could cut the program that helps low-income Americans with work, health and safety, said LULAC Executive Director Brent Wilkes on a conference call Wednesday. “LULAC strongly believes that the program must be preserved with all the necessary regulations, particularly in light of the fact that eligible low-income Hispanics are under enrolled in the federal program,” he said. “Allowing a greater number of Hispanics access to wireless Lifeline services could bolster employment rates among those communities."
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The wireless Lifeline program provides low-income households with free cellphones in the hope that families will see value in the service and decide to pay for it, Wilkes said. Subsidized cellphones have become an important economic tool, generating an average of $259 per year for each household, said Tufts University fellow Nicholas Sullivan, who researches the Lifeline program. “If all 28.5 million adults eligible for the Lifeline Assistance were to take advantage of the program and earn at the same rate and level as our sample, it would result in $3.7 billion in fresh income for the poor and near poor,” Sullivan wrote in a report (http://bit.ly/15hb9Cw). Sullivan estimated that the program could “effectively pay for itself."
Forty-two percent of households with a subsidized phone would be willing to pay more to get more cellphones in their households, Sullivan said. New York City had the highest number of Hispanic Lifeline users with 140,472 subscribers, followed by Houston (96,070) and Miami/Fort Lauderdale (85,487), according to Sullivan’s research (http://yhoo.it/17kicYZ). Eleven states haven’t adopted the program, and “we need to get all states to participate,” said Sullivan. With the unemployment rate for Hispanics at 11.3 percent, it’s important for Hispanics to have access to a wireless phone to seek and maintain employment, Wilkes said. “Access to a wireless Lifeline phone has proven that job seekers are able to connect with potential employers and maintain employment once a job is secured."
New initiatives are needed to get word out to the Latino community, said Wilkes. The community doesn’t get its news from traditional sources, so more Spanish materials need to be released, he said. “This program helps families get access to a system that works, and people getting new job opportunities,” said Wilkes. “We should not let politics get into this program because wireless providers are the ones footing the bill.” (sfriedman@warren-news.com)