The Shauger Group Donates Internet Services to JCHA Households

by Alexandra Gakos

In an effort to help school-aged children during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Shauger Group (TSG) has donated funds for more than 60 families to receive free Internet services through the Jersey City Housing Authority (JCHA). With TSG’s donation, as well as JCHA’s recent partnership with Comcast in Comcast’s new Internet Essentials Partnership Program (IEPP), JCHA can provide up to eight months of Internet services to more than 60 JCHA households, courtesy of TSG.

Allison Strobel, JCHA’s chief of staff, thanked TSG for its donation and for its integral role in helping JCHA’s school-aged residents with remote learning. In a message to Donald Shauger, executive vice president of TSG, Strobel said, “We were able to finalize a contract with Comcast in their new Internet Essentials Partnership Program (IEPP), which will allow JCHA to use your donation to act as a sponsor of internet services for 60+ JCHA households. [We] will be offering promo codes and directly enrolling families for eight months of fully funded Internet services, thanks to your generosity.”

As of Tuesday, March 23, 2021, JCHA had already enrolled about a half a dozen families in the program so far.

“No children should have an educational disadvantage because they don’t have access to Internet services,” said Lisa Shauger, president/CEO of TSG. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, with the prevalence of virtual learning, it is more important than ever that every student can have the services they need to learn from home. Every child deserves to be on equal footing educationally, and it means a lot to us to help close that gap.”

According to Comcast, the mission of the Internet Essentials Partnership Program is to help “close the digital divide” via public-private partnership opportunities: “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. 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.”

“It was truly our pleasure to support Jersey City Housing Authority and the families it serves,” said Donald Shauger. “We hope it will give children the best opportunity possible to succeed in school and beyond. We want to help mold the next generation, and we hope other companies will follow our lead.”

Anyone interested in enrolling in the program through JCHA can contact Devin Monserrate, JCHA's digital inclusion coordinator, at (201) 920-7225 or dmonserrate@jcha.us. JCHA households with school-aged children (pre-K through college) are eligible to enroll—see JCHA’s flyer for additional details.