We will bring Free WiFi to Lincoln Park & Ruby Dee Park at Library Green in New Rochelle
Free WiFi in the Parks
Building a Network to Bridge the Digital Divide
Thursday, September 15th at 6:30 pm
The Salvation Army
22 Church Street, New Rochelle, NY 10801
(l. to r.) Clayton Banks, President Samsung Global Innovation Center David Eun, Congressman Charles Rangel, and Silicon Harlem Co-founder Bruce Lincoln. Click image to visit Silicon Harlem website
Clayton Banks is the Founder, President and Executive Producer of Ember Media Corporation. He has been a pioneer in the cable and communications industry for over two decades. He leads the vision for Ember Media, a development group that builds digital solutions and interactive applications for top brands and non-profit organizations, across multiple platforms.
Banks is also the Founder and Co-Executive Producer of Silicon Harlem. The mission of Silicon Harlem is to transform Harlem into a Innovation and Technology Hub. Silicon Harlem is designed to galvanize the community, collaborate with anchor institutions, and work with the political infrastructure of Harlem to attract investment, co-working spaces, incubators, startups, and technology companies.
Terrance Jackson with singer and actor Rob Murat
Terrance Jackson is the publisher of New Ro Magazine and the founder of StartUpTown. In the past he founded EmailQpons.com (an email marketing company) and DealsVA.com (a local deal-of-the-day website). Terrance is also a former New York City public high school teacher who taught at Morris High School in the South Bronx and at George Washington High School in Washington Heights. He was the head coach of the Track and Field team and Cross Country team at Spring Valley High School in Rockland County.
In addition, he was a computer programmer and analyst at IBM, where he supported the Air Force Satellite Control Network at Schriever Air Force Base. He is the author of Putting It All Together and the creator and producer of Live From VA that interviewed such guests as: Academy Award winner Mo’Nique, Russell Simmons & Rev Run, Kanye West, Pharell Willams & Chad Hugo (the Neptunes), and Katt Williams.
Connecting for Good partnered with the Kansas City Kansas Housing Authority to bring free Wi-Fi to their largest low income housing project – Juniper Gardens. The project brought a free broadband Internet connection into all 390 units where nearly 1,000 people live. The Northeast neighborhood where Juniper Gardens is located is the largest concentration of poverty in the entire KC Metro area.
They also developed a computer learning lab in the community center at the complex. They provide digital life skills training and inexpensive refurbished PC systems to residents at Juniper Gardens. There is also an eight-acre urban farming training project for residents and people in the surrounding neighborhood.
The “digital divide” is the inequality between those who can reliably connect to the Internet and computers and those who cannot. At one Newark public high school, accessible Wi-Fi can be more valuable than a bus ride home.
In Newark, a city with one of the highest poverty rates in the U.S., many Newark Leadership Academy students can’t afford home Internet access. At the school, like all public schools in the city, Wi-Fi isn’t available to teachers or students. In fact, only 39 percent of public schools have wireless network access for the whole school. Instead, teens hungry for an online connection seek alternatives in order to fill out job and college applications, complete homework assignments and stay connected to the outside world.
Many of students would prefer a two-mile walk home over a missed Wi-Fi opportunity.
According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, only 54 percent of households with incomes of less than $30,000 have a high-speed broadband connection at home. As a result, in order to complete digital assignments, many students are forced to find sources of free Internet access outside of school. While the library is often an option, hours can be limited, particularly in the evening. Many of these students are increasingly turning to free WiFi at places like McDonald’s to complete their homework.
Although the problem is not as severe in New Rochelle, NY, the digital divide does exist in this suburban city in Westchester County. 32 percent of New Rochelle High School students qualify for free lunch. This is despite the fact that, out of 3,144 counties and county equivalents, Westchester County has the 16th highest per capita income in the United States.
StartUpTown 