LinkNYC, in partnership with New York’s Workplace of Know-how and Innovation (OTI), ZenFi Networks, and group leaders, launched the Queens Gigabit Middle on the Allen Group Senior Residents Middle in Jamaica on Friday, December 2.
New York Metropolis Chief Know-how Officer Matthew Fraser joined LinkNYC CEO Nick Colvin and NYC Division for Getting older Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez to announce the Queens Gigabit Middle at a convention press convention held on the senior middle, situated at 166-01 Linden Blvd.
The Gigabit Middle — the primary of its sort in Queens — presents free high-speed Web entry for all Queens residents, powered by LinkNYC’s public Wi-Fi community. The Gigabit Middle will even present digital literacy coaching and free entry to laptops, tablets, laptop workstations and different providers to assist bridge the digital divide.
LinkNYC opened comparable Gigabit facilities in Manhattan and the Bronx earlier this yr, and extra facilities are deliberate for Brooklyn and Staten Island within the coming months. These efforts come as 2 in 5 households in New York Metropolis have neither house broadband nor cellular broadband by means of mobile service and 22% of households in Queens do not need house broadband. Amongst NYC seniors, 42% do not need broadband web entry house entry.
“In Queens and throughout the town, thousands and thousands of New Yorkers nonetheless discover it too tough or too costly to get on-line, which is solely unacceptable in 2022,” Colvin mentioned. “Our Gigabit Facilities throughout New York Metropolis will play a significant position in connecting New Yorkers to the high-speed connectivity and digital literacy they should thrive in our on-line society. The opening of the Queens Gigabit Middle marks one other milestone in our efforts to deliver digital connectivity to New Yorkers in all 5 boroughs, and we’re excited to deliver this vital useful resource to residents of Queens.
Earlier this yr, OTI, in partnership with LinkNYC, started to deploy 2,000 next-generation Link5G hotspots that deliver New Yorkers in additional neighborhoods free high-speed Wi-Fi and even quicker, extra dependable 5G cellular broadband service. Moreover, the set up of fiber optic “spine” infrastructure wherever LinkNYC kiosks are deployed makes it simpler and cheaper for New Yorkers to acquire high-speed broadband Web entry at house.
Based on Fraser, older New Yorkers have suffered avoidable social, well being and financial hardship through the pandemic as a result of metropolis’s digital divide.
“With one-fifth of our metropolis’s residents over the age of 60, this administration’s digital fairness efforts essentially give attention to bettering the lives of this vital inhabitants,” Fraser mentioned. “This new Gigabit Middle will function a significant hub for rising entry to free high-speed Web, computer systems and digital literacy coaching. I thank Mayor Adams for his unprecedented dedication to leveraging expertise to “get issues achieved” for New Yorkers and our companions at CityBridge and the Allen Group Senior Residents Middle for his or her tireless efforts to offer alternatives for empowerment in Queens. »
Based on Cortés-Vázquez, with the enlargement of on-line methods and the quickly rising inhabitants of older New Yorkers, older adults more and more must be adept at navigating the digital world.
“The Queens Gigabit Middle, situated within the Allen Group Older Grownup Middle, is one other main step in bridging the digital divide amongst residents of southeast Queens,” Cortés-Vázquez mentioned. “I commend our metropolis’s Chief Know-how Officer, Matt Fraser, Queens Borough President, Donovan Richards, and different key companions for his or her mutual dedication to bridging the digital divide and creating an much more inclusive metropolis. “
Throughout the occasion, Hugh O’Kane Electrical Firm additionally introduced a $5,000 donation in direction of the acquisition of tablets for seniors on the Allen Senior Middle, guaranteeing their means to remain linked to seniors applications and providers. . The Listening to and Communication Middle additionally provided free listening to screenings to seniors.
“Hugh O’Kane Electrical is proud to have partnered with ZenFi since initiating the LinkNYC undertaking to deliver broadband telecommunications providers to each neighborhood and space in New York Metropolis as we proceed to assist bridge the divide. digital,” mentioned Hugh R. O. ‘Kane, President, Hugh O’Kane Electrical Co. Inc. “We’re notably happy with our involvement within the building of the Queens Gig Middle.”
Donna Atmore-Dolly, govt director of the Allen Group Senior Residents Middle, mentioned she was thrilled to be chosen because the CityBridge Gigabit Middle in collaboration with LinkNYC and ZenFi to deliver high-speed web providers to the Southeast’s aged inhabitants. of Queens.
“The COVID pandemic has prompted a lot of our seniors to show to digital actions to remain lively and social. A particular thanks to Hugh O’Kane Electrical Firm for his or her beneficiant donation of $5,000 to buy tablets for our seniors to allow them to keep linked to our seniors applications and providers,” mentioned Atmore-Dolly.
Lawmakers in Southeast Queens thanked companions at LinkNYC, OTI, the Allen Senior Middle and everybody who made the brand new group useful resource a actuality.
“On this period stuffed with developments in connectivity and expertise, the digital divide nonetheless leaves far too many households behind, whereas deepening inequalities throughout society,” mentioned Queens Borough Chairman Donovan Richards Jr. “Bridging such a divide means connecting all of our households to numerous financial, instructional and group alternatives, and I sit up for all the great the Queens Gigabit Middle will do for our borough.
Older individuals are among the many most digitally disconnected populations, based on MP Vivian Cook dinner, an isolation that has solely been exacerbated by the pandemic.
“Know-how shouldn’t be a luxurious, it’s a necessity. The Queens Gigabit Middle will go a good distance in bridging this digital divide and offering 1000’s of seniors throughout Queens with the entry, coaching and providers they want,” Cook dinner mentioned.
Senator Leroy Comrie mentioned high-speed broadband offers a gateway to info, assets and connectivity, all important to collective civic life.
“The Queens Gigabit Middle on the Allen Senior Middle will play a significant position in bettering expertise literacy and serving to seniors take full benefit of on-line assets. I salute this funding and the partnerships cast that can serve seniors and our shared communities in Queens properly,” Comrie mentioned.
Councilor Nantasha Williams mentioned the middle will present a welcoming setting for senior members of the group to discover present technological developments and supply them with entry to computer systems, high-speed web and digital literacy lessons.
“Whether or not you are a newbie or an professional, this will probably be a protected area for our group members to create, study and share,” Williams mentioned. “In a metropolis the place thousands and thousands of New Yorkers wrestle to navigate the technological world, this area is on a mission to foster a group the place New Yorkers, particularly seniors, have simpler and cheaper methods to get high-speed broadband entry, even at house. I’m extraordinarily excited to have this middle in the neighborhood and sit up for persevering with this partnership. »
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