Until recently, many families living along Southside Road in Hollister, California, including those at the Hollister Migrant Housing Center, Southside Labor Camp, and Southside Mobile Park, lacked reliable broadband access. This absence of internet service made it difficult for children to participate in virtual schooling and for parents to apply for jobs or access health services.
A $1.77 million grant from the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) Line Extension Program (LEP) has changed this situation. The funding enabled 194 households in the Southside community to connect to high-speed fiber internet suitable for education, work, and healthcare needs.
The LEP is part of the California Advanced Services Fund and is designed to help low-income residents cover the costs of connecting their homes to existing internet infrastructure. The program targets communities where extending broadband lines is often too costly for individual families and typically not prioritized by service providers.
“If we learned anything during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said CPUC Analyst Ben Swearingen, “it’s that broadband is no longer a luxury. It’s foundational to economic and educational opportunity.”
Monica Maciel Olvera, a resident of Southside, described how immediate the impact was: “Before we had internet, I couldn’t go back to school. Now I can take online classes and work toward a better future for my kids and myself.”
Without broadband access, families face barriers to participating in the digital economy. With these new connections, they have greater opportunities moving forward.
Programs like the LEP aim to promote fairness and improve quality of life by expanding digital access.
More information about qualifying for broadband assistance can be found on the California Advanced Services Fund webpage.
The project involved collaboration between CPUC staff, South Valley Internet, and Nonprofit Balanced Access.
