Connecting for Good – a Midtown group trying to bridge the Internet digital divide – has turned to the Kansas City crowd funding site Neighbor.ly for help.
Connecting for Good is looking for public contributions to finish installing a four-block-wide free broadband network to the Juniper Gardens public housing complex in Kansas City, Kansas.
The organization needs to raise a final $7000 to give broadband to nearly 400 low income families.
The apartment complex has a median family income in the area is half that of the rest of the state and the crime rate is four times the national average.
“Our core value at Connecting for Good is that Internet connectivity equals opportunity,” said Michael Liimatta, president and co-founder of Connecting for Good in a press release. “To be a full participant in our digital society you have to be able to get online,” he said. According to Liimatta, the digital “have nots” are severely hampered in their ability to search for employment, continue their education, stay in touch with their children’s schools, access social services and find safe, affordable housing.
Liimatta also said, “the KCK School District has issued 5,000 laptop computers to every high school student, yet every evening, nearly half of them go to homes without access to the Internet. That won’t be the case anymore for the kids who live at Juniper Gardens.”
A program called Northeast Wyandotte County Healthy Kids is working with a local Hyvee grocery store to try online shopping and delivery of groceries to the Juniper Gardens residents.
Last fall, the Social Media Club of Kansas City raised $11,000 on the KC-based crowdfunding site, Neighbor.ly to preregister households in “fiberhoods” that lay mostly East Troost Avenue for Google Fiber.
Details
- website
- Neighbor.ly
- How the money will be used according to Connecting for Good: Using primarily grant funding, Connecting for Good has nearly completed a large wireless mesh network by attaching 70 radio transmitters to nearly forty buildings at Juniper Gardens. To bring free Internet service to the nearly 1,000 people living at the housing complex, they have created a Wi-Fi “hotspot” covering an area equivalent of four city blocks. The funds raised through the Neighbor.ly campaign will be used to purchase high powered antennas that will ensure total coverage to every apartment. The group is paying for the first year of bandwidth to power the network and the expense will be picked up by the Housing Authority thereafter. Connecting for Good is providing classes at the complex to teach residents how to become productive users of the Internet. They will also offer them an opportunity to purchase a refurbished laptop computer for just $50.00.
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