Nearly 300 families in southeast Raleigh are now enjoying free, high speed internet access.

Fourth-grader Ayatollah Hannibal Jr. won his first computer on Saturday.

"It will help me with science projects and my homework," Hannibal said.

For his dad, Ayatollah Hannibal Sr., it meant one thing: opportunity.

"I didn't have a chance to go to school," he said. "I went as high as the sixth grade, but I had to help my mother and sister."

For many underprivileged families, a lack of internet access could be a barrier to furthering education.

Now a partnership with the City of Raleigh, AT&T and other non-profit agencies is bringing the barrier down for Chavis Heights residents by offering free broadband access for three years.

"My mother always said it's not where you live, but how you live," said AT&T North Carolina President Cynthia Marshall. "The how these days is broadband access. No one should be without it. It is a necessity, not a luxury," In an area with companies like IBM, SAS and Red Hat, knowledge of new technology will be crucial for the workforce of the future.

"The workplace of tomorrow, simply a threshold condition is going to be familiarity with computer and with the internet," Democratic Congressman David Price said.

Hannibal Sr. hopes the new laptop will give Hannibal Jr. a chance he never got.

"I did what I could do to get them where they are at now," he said. "They are going further. I know this."