What you should know
- New York City on Tuesday opened a technology education center in Staten Island that will provide free internet access and is focused on bridging the digital divide for the immigrant community residing in that county.
- The new place bears the name Staten Island Gigabit Center and is located in the La Colmena Community Employment Center in the neighborhood of Stapleton Heights.
- The Center provides day laborers, domestic workers and other low-wage immigrant workers with free access to high-speed Internet (Wi-Fi) needed to seek employment opportunities, participate in training workshops and courses. English as a Second Language (ESL) . As well as keeping them in touch with their friends and family.
NEW YORK – New York City on Tuesday opened a technology education center in Staten Island focused on bridging the digital divide for the immigrant community residing in that county, Mayor Eric Adams, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Matthew Fraser, Mayor’s Office of Immigration Affairs (MOIA) Commissioner Manuel Castro and LinkNYC CEO Nick Colvin
The new place bears the name Staten Island Gigabit Center and is located in the La Colmena Community Employment Center in the neighborhood of Stapleton Heights.
The Center provides day laborers, domestic workers and other low-wage immigrant workers with free access to high-speed Internet (Wi-Fi) needed to seek employment opportunities, participate in training workshops and courses. English as a Second Language (ESL) . As well as keeping them in touch with their friends and family.
The center is the result of a partnership between the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI), LinkNYC and La Colmena.
LinkNYC’s public broadband network will boost internet access in the Gigabit Center. The Staten Island Gigabit Center will also provide free continuing digital education.
“For centuries, the hard work of immigrants has been the backbone of our city, and providing them with necessary services like broadband is the least we can do to pay,” said Mayor Adams. “In today’s digital age, reliable high-speed internet is as essential as hot water and heat, and as a city of immigrants, it’s crucial that workers and families new to our city and our country have this access to help them pursue your American dream. Thank you The Hive for being an outstanding partner to our administration in efforts to serve immigrant workers and families on Staten Island.”
The Staten Island Gigabit Center is part of the city’s broader efforts to bridge the digital divide, including the citywide LinkNYC kiosk network, which has provided free high-speed Wi-Fi to more than 12 million New Yorkers and visitors since 2016.
Currently, two in five households in New York City have neither home broadband nor mobile broadband through cellular service, and 1.8 million households lack both.
About 28% of immigrant households in the city do not have Internet access. In Staten Island alone, 18% of homes do not have immediate access to reliable Wi-Fi, and 12% of public school students do not have access to adequate broadband outside of school.
Other centers of this type in New York
In 2022, similar Gigabit Centers opened in Silicon Harlem in Manhattan, the Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx, and the Allen Community Senior Citizens Center in Queens. The Brooklyn Gigabit Center launched in March 2023.
If not, how can I find free WiFi?
In July 2022, OTI, in partnership with LinkNYC, began rolling out 2,000 next-generation Link5G kiosks providing New Yorkers in more neighborhoods with free high-speed Wi-Fi and even faster, more mobile 5G broadband service. reliable. Additionally, the installation of fiber optic “backbone” infrastructure at all locations where LinkNYC kiosks are deployed makes it easier and cheaper for New Yorkers to obtain high-speed broadband Internet access at home. .