Internet Essentials Partnership Program

A public-private partnership to close the digital divide

The Internet Essentials Partnership Program (IEPP) is designed to help accelerate Internet adoption at a critical time. The program provides the opportunity for school districts and other organizations to fund and quickly connect large numbers of students and families to broadband access at home.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, IEPP has already collaborated with hundreds of schools, school districts, and other organizations across the country. The program, which relies on public-private partnerships, enables entire communities to work together to coordinate funding to help connect K-12 students.

Through IEPP, sponsored families have access to all the benefits Internet Essentials has to offer – a high-speed Internet connection at home, the option to purchase a low-cost computer, and access to free digital skills training in person (if safe), online, and in print.

The Internet Essentials Partnership Program not only enables more families to connect to the Internet at home, it also allows community-based partners to bring their expertise to empower families to take on the challenges of today while preparing for the future.

Hundreds of partnership agreements have been announced including in the following cities:

Connecting America: Stories from Our Partners

How IEPP works

IEPP works through an agreement between a sponsoring organization and Comcast to pay for or sponsor Internet Essentials service for eligible low-income families.

Partnering organizations may use funding from a variety of sources to cover the cost of the service for families. In some cases, this might be through a nonprofit or school district funds, private or corporate donations, CARES Act stimulus funding, or other funding sources. Once an agreement is in place, “promo codes” are generated by Comcast, which the sponsor can then distribute to eligible families and individuals at their discretion. Promo codes are used by Comcast to bill the sponsor directly for the customer’s Internet Essentials Internet service.

Become a Sponsor

Organizations interested in becoming IEPP partners can fill out this form to receive more information and begin the sponsorship process.

Internet Essentials is Comcast’s signature digital equity initiative and the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program. Since 2011, Internet Essentials has helped connect a cumulative total of 10 million low-income Americans to broadband Internet at home, most for the very first time.

In 10 years, Comcast has connected over 10 million people from low-income families to low-cost, high-speed Internet at home.

Beyond connectivity, we have worked with tens of thousands of partners across the country for 10 years, to provide digital skills training to low-income Americans.