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Broadband Opportunities Reach Philadelphia

Freedom Rings Partnership Helps to Close Digital Divide

Guest post by Arun Prabhakaran and Mary-Anne Smith Harris of the Urban Affairs Coalition

The Freedom Rings Partnership officially kicked off on January 17th, by sponsoring the signature project of the Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service – volunteers refurbished used computers to be distributed to the community, assembled digital literacy kits, and participated in a high-tech scavenger hunt called “Race to Connect.” Tom Power, NTIA Chief of Staff, joined Sharmain Matlock-Turner, President and CEO of the Urban Affairs Coalition (UAC); John Fry, President of Drexel University; and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter for this exciting event hosted at Girard College.

The Freedom Rings Partnership, led by UAC and the City of Philadelphia, with Drexel University as a major partner, is made up of grassroots organizations, government, and universities that are working to bring Internet access, jobs-training, and technology to Philadelphia residents in low-income communities. This initiative is a synergy between two BTOP Round 2 grants: UAC’s $11.8 million Sustainable Broadband Adoption project and the City of Philadelphia’s $6.4 million Public Computer Center project. Together, these two initiatives are known as the Freedom Rings Partnership, bringing over $25 million in federal and matching dollars to bridge the digital divide in Philadelphia.

Tom Power with youth

NTIA Chief of Staff Tom Power refurbishes a computer for the Freedom Rings project with the help of Philadelphia youths

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Report from the Field: Digital Summer Jobs for Chicago Youth

Guest post by Matthew Guilford of the City of Chicago

The SmartChicago Sustainable Broadband Adoption project is developing innovative approaches to drive broadband adoption in Chicago. The project is funded by BTOP, managed by Local Initiatives Support Corporation/Chicago, and is a part of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Digital Excellence Initiative.

A major component of this sustainable broadband adoption project is to engage youth, not only as the next generation of broadband subscribers, but also as drivers of broadband adoption for their families. The Digital Youth Summer Jobs (DYSJ), a program made possible by the SmartChicago project, is providing technology-oriented employment and training to 120 underserved youth as well as outreach activities to 120 parents or caregivers.

DYSJ is already having an impact on Chicago’s future innovators. This summer, 60 youth from the Smart Communities program were placed in technology-oriented jobs at over 30 work sites. I connected with Raven, a rising high school senior who worked this summer at Columbia College in Chicago, to understand how the DYSJ program has impacted her engagement with technology and her career goals.

Chicago youth
Digital Youth Summer Jobs student participants learning about technology and digital media during their summer internship at Columbia College in Chicago.
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Celebrating Collaboration in the Great Lakes State

Guest post by Greg Monroe, Grants, Development and Communications Specialist, Merit Network

Recently, Merit Network had the pleasure of welcoming state and federal officials to our headquarters. They joined us to celebrate the culmination of multiple BTOP awards that together will deliver the transformative power of broadband to communities throughout Michigan. The excitement we shared with the many stakeholders who participated in our grant announcement event in August is as strong today as it was when we first learned of our award. During the event, I could not help but think how incredibly gratifying it is to know that all the hard work put into the planning and application will soon become a reality.

For over 40 years, our organization has worked together with others to achieve the most for our members. It is this same spirit of collaboration that underscored the vision and efforts of so many that were the focus of Merit’s broadband grant announcement and this project going forward.

Our project, REACH-3MC will create over 2,000 miles of fiber-optic infrastructure that will serve all sectors of society. This will be accomplished through a unique public-private partnership that engages Merit, a non-profit, and eight commercial providers who will own strands of fiber over various segments of the network.

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Report from the field: Clearing the way for construction in Maine

Guest post by Joshua Broder, President, Maine Fiber Company, Inc.

Since the Three Ring Binder project received BTOP funding in December 2009, we have been hard at work moving forward to make this project a reality for Maine. One of the first steps we took was working with state legislators and telecom, business, and community stakeholders to pass a state law (as reported in the Bangor Daily News) establishing a new class of utility called a Dark Fiber Provider (DFP). This law will allow the Maine Fiber Company (MFC) to use utility poles to provide leased fiber on an open access, non-discriminatory basis to other telecom carriers and institutional users, thereby meeting BTOP’s open network requirements.

We’ve also recently submitted the Environmental Assessment required for the installation of fiber-optic cable along an estimated 36,000 telephone poles. The assessment included detailed consultations with the US Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife Administration, Maine State Historic Preservation Office, Maine State Planning Office, Native American Tribes, and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. By completing this assessment, we’ve cleared the way to begin construction across 1,100 miles of rural Maine.

Meanwhile, community anchor institutions are signing up for service along the BTOP funded route. MFC is in talks with the University of Maine system to connect campuses all over the State with a dark fiber network capable of supporting an ultra-modern 10-gigabit research network that will eventually link University of Maine Campuses with the University of New Hampshire.

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