NYCHA Connects with Broadband Access

When NYCHA’s Digital Van parked at Mott Haven Houses in the Bronx on July 16, it wasn’t only to provide free Internet access to public housing residents. The visit celebrated the announcement of new initiatives that will significantly expand NYCHA’s pioneering efforts to breach the digital divide for public housing families.

“We are here this morning to announce a program that will transform the lives of thousands of NYCHA residents across New York City,” said Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye, who joined HUD Secretary Julián Castro, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Counsel to the Mayor Maya Wiley, and NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito at the East Side House Mott Haven Community Center for the historic announcements.

The initiative, led by the Office of the Mayor’s Counsel in partnership with the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications and NYCHA, will invest up to $10 million to bring free, high-speed broadband service to over 16,000 public housing residents at five public housing developments.

The program will begin with a demonstration project that will bring wireless access to the 7,000 residents at Queensbridge North and Queensbridge South Houses.

Following Queensbridge, the City will create a second network to serve the 6,500 residents of Red Hook Houses East and West in Brooklyn. A third network will be built at Mott Haven Houses, with more than 2,500 residents.

The announcement comes in conjunction with Connect- Home, a bold new initiative by President Obama to offer broadband access, technical training, digital literacy programs, and devices for residents in HUD-assisted housing units. New York City—one of 27 cities that won HUD’s competition to participate in ConnectHome —has been recognized for its commitment to aggressively expand affordable access to broadband.

“Through ConnectHome, my administration will be able to deepen our private partnerships and leverage our public investment in universal, affordable broadband for New Yorkers who struggle to support their families and desperately need broadband,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Building on Prior Initiatives

The ConnectHome program will bring affordable, residential broadband access within reach of more NYCHA households, complementing the wireless networks the administration is building in Queensbridge, Red Hook and Mott Haven. Both initiatives are part of the City’s broader strategy for getting to universal affordable broadband by 2025.

“No child should worry about whether or not she can finish her homework because her family can’t afford broadband at home,” said Maya Wiley, Counsel to the Mayor.

“Getting high-speed Internet access to low-income New Yorkers is a game changer for families and for the City that needs all our residents to be able to use 21st century technologies to improve their lives and build their communities.”

Using a model similar to the libraries’ “mi-fi” program that launched in New York City last year, Sprint, with support from HUD, will make mobile Wi-Fi devices available to over 15,000 NYCHA households in the Bronx that include K-12 students. The program is expected to benefit 28,000 children in the borough.

“NYCHA’s vision for the families who live in our communities is one that is safe,clean and connected,” said Chair Olatoye. “Our residents, who include more than 100,000 children, have lacked access to the benefits that the wireless broadband Internet provides. Today, thanks to the vision of our president and our mayor and the commitment of our partners to equal opportunity for all New Yorkers, the digital divide between NYCHA and the rest of our City begins to close.”

Recalling NYCHA’s prior efforts to provide digital access and training to residents— recognized by the City and HUD—IT Program Administrator Diane Chehab, who helped spearhead NYCHA’s Digital Van, remarked, “It’s gratifying to see how NYCHA’s early initiatives are now being expanded in the City and now nationally. We have so many stories of residents who gained access to educational or City services or jobs through broadband and assistance provided by our two Digital Vans and staff.“

Prior grants from the City’s NYC Connected Communities Program funded computer labs at 12 community centers, where training and assistance were available to residents in the five boroughs.