Our students and educators deserve digital equity and access to internet to be able to learn and teach during this global health pandemic.

Join us for an action demanding that Verizon and Comcast help close the digital divide.  We will hold the action on Wednesday August 19, 2020 with a 4PM arrival and a 5PM caravan start time. The starting location will be at Thomas Pullen School of the Arts ending at the Comcast Largo office 10432 Campus Way S, Largo, MD 20774.

PGCEA is coordinating with students, parents, and community members to Demand Digital Equity for K-12 Students and Educators. We are planning an action to help ensure that everyone has the high speed internet necessary to access an education during the period of distance learning. We will follow up with more specific action details to the participants in the coming week.

Our tentative demands of Comcast and Verizon are:

OUR DEMANDS OF COMCAST and VERIZON:

1. We demand that Comcast permanently increase Internet Essentials’ upload speeds from 3 Mbps to 25 Mbps and download speeds from 25 Mbps to 100 Mbps.
2. We demand that Verizon permanently increase its upload speeds from 2-5 Mbps to 25 Mbps and download speeds from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps.
3. We demand that Comcast and Verizon offer internet access to all students and educators regardless of their current internet plans, and make it free until 60 days after full restoration of school.
4. We demand that all hotspots, including those from leased Comcast and Verizon modems, be free to the public starting now until 60 days after the full restoration of school.

SCHEDULE AND LOGISTICS

Please do not post these on social media or mass emails, it is important to not fully tip off Comcast and Verizon about our exact plan.

• 4:00-4:30: Optional meet up and sign making at Thomas G. Pullen
• 4:30-5:00: Organization and lineup of cars, and vans.
• 5:00 Begin caravan to Comcast’s corporate headquarters at 10432 Campus Way S, Largo, MD 20774.
• 5:30 Upon arriving we will do a couple of loops around the Comcast building to get eyes on the caravan. Then we will stop the caravan in front of Comcast and have a few speakers. Some volunteers will be handing out flyers and placing them on cars in the parking lot.

The route that we will take can be found here. If your schedule only permits a later meetup you can meet us at the destination and participate once the caravan arrives!

Safety First: We’re going to be in a large group of people, so it is essential that folks are wearing masks throughout the event, and maintaining social distancing. If you’re biking please make sure that you bring water and are staying hydrated!

Make signs for yourself and others using the hashtags above.