From the Chicago Tribune:
Hundreds of school-age children in suburban Cook County public housing will get free laptops paid for by federal coronavirus stimulus money starting Wednesday, as part of an ongoing effort to ensure digital access after the COVID-19 pandemic upended in-person learning.
About $270,000 of CARES Act money allocated to the Housing Authority of Cook County will be used to purchase laptops for 900 students who live in the public housing complexes to keep and otherwise would struggle to complete remote learning. The giveaway is part of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s efforts to address long-standing racial inequities that have intensified under the grip of the coronavirus.
“A majority of those who do not have access are members of our Black and brown communities,” Preckwinkle said at the Richard Flowers Apartments in south suburban Robbins. “This is inequity, needless to say, and this doesn’t give our residents, especially our children, the tools they need to learn, grow and succeed. It relegates them to second-class citizenship. And that to me is not acceptable.”
Read the Chicago Tribune's article "900 children in suburban Cook County public housing to get free laptops as remote learning continues to present digital barriers," featuring the Housing Authority of Cook County.