“I Am NextGen” Honorees Bridge the Digital Gap for Queensbridge Residents
NYCHA continues to bring outstanding employees, residents and other stakeholders to the attention of the public through its popular “I Am NextGen” campaign. Our latest honorees, Shameya Muniz and April Andrews, are helping their fellow residents at Queensbridge Houses go digital. In the summer of 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $10 million investment to bring free, high-speed broadband service to more than 16,000 NYCHA residents, beginning with Queensbridge Houses, the largest public housing development in the nation. SpotOn Networks, a leading provider of wireless solutions, was chosen as the provider and they chose Shameya and April to bring the good news to their neighbors.
What’s it like to work on a project for your neighborhood?
Shameya: The people out here are tough cookies. You’re not just going to tell them anything. They have a lot of questions about the project and installation, like “What is it? What does it do?” and “Are you going to charge me later?”
“We need to be able to access the Internet. We’re the biggest public housing development in the country. This will create a lot of growth in the community.” —Shameya Muniz
Why is broadband important, especially for Queensbridge?
April: Now students who only have an hour at the library to do homework will have unlimited [internet] access at home. So will people who are looking to apply to jobs. People that may consider going back to school will now have the ability to do so from home at their own pace.
“I’m proud to be able to bring this to my community. I would like to see more women in the IT field. I always see coding for girls, but there are so many areas of IT that are untouched.” —April Andrews
How does it feel to be a member of the SpotOn team to bring free broadband to Queensbridge?
Shameya: I’m a tenant and I’m excited about free broadband and that I get to be part of this project. I’m here to see this project the whole way through.
April: As a woman, I’m proud to be able to bring this to my community. I would like to see more women in the IT field. It’s very important for girls to get involved in IT…Bringing something that is a passion of mine to my community—I can’t even describe the feeling that I get to be part of that movement.
