The Obama administration announced a program toconnect thousands of public housing residents across the nation to the Internet at low prices or free, part of a broader effort to close the so-called digital divide and help low-income Americans succeed in a technology-driven society.

Appearing at a school in the heart of the Choctaw Nation, in Oklahoma, where 32 percent of children live in poverty, Mr. Obama announced the ConnectHome program and said it was unacceptable for young people not to have access to the same technological resources in their homes that their wealthier counterparts do. “If we don’t get these young people the access to what they need to achieve their potential, then it’s our loss; it’s not just their loss”, he said. “They’ve got big dreams, and we’ve got to have an interest in making sure they can achieve those dreams,” he added.

“While many middle-class U.S. students go home to Internet access, which allows them to do research, write papers and communicate digitally with their teachers and other students, too many lower-income children go unplugged every afternoon when school ends,” a statement about the report said. “This ‘homework gap’ runs the risk of widening the achievement gap, denying hard-working students the benefit of a technology-enriched education.”

The pilot program, ConnectHome, will be carried out in different forms in public housing units in 27 cities and in one Native American tribal area, largely focusing on households with school-age children. The program will involve city officials, Internet providers, universities, and a large retail company, which will offer computer training to residents in some cities. The program will offer some residents a chance to buy tablets with educational software installed for $30 each. Other communities will receive free help with SAT preparation and free technical support.

The program is an offshoot of the president’s ConnectED initiative, which was announced in 2013. It aimed to link 99 percent of the students from kindergarten through 12th grade to high-speed Internet in classrooms and libraries over the next five years.

It is also part of a renewed vigor in the Obama administration’s housing agenda coming late in his final term and recently emboldened by a Supreme Court ruling endorsing a broad interpretation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, a relevant feat for civil rights. That ruling allows for more lawsuits that could help fight housing discrimination.

Dionne Searcey. U.S. program will connect public housing residents to Web. Internet: <www.nytimes.com>.(adapted).

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