CNT Testifies to Chicago City Council
CNT testified today at the joint hearing of the Chicago City Council Committee on Finance and Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development. The City was considering–and ended up passing–an ordinance to study the potential of a citywide wireless network similar to the one that will be rolled out in Philadelphia. CNT was lauded by several aldermen and the City’s Chief Information Officer for its work in already developing and operating local wireless community networks that are providing broadband service in four underserved Illinois communities, two of which are in Chicago.
Read CNT’s testimony…
Comments by Nicole Friedman, Wireless Community Network Project Manager
Thank you to the Committees on Finance and on Economic, Capital and Technology Development for the opportunity to address the City’s interest in exploring the development of a comprehensive wireless broadband network.
Despite the revolution of the internet and the near ubiquity of computing, too many low- and moderate-income communities are among the “have nots,” effectively shut-out of the market for broadband because of high costs and de facto redlining. This leaves them behind as our economy transitions to one where the medium is bytes and bits, not textiles and steel. Wireless broadband technologies, however, offer the potential to bridge this digital divide because they are inexpensive to deploy and aren’t bound by the physical environment the way wired networks are.
The Center for Neighborhood Technology CNT, a 28-year-old Chicago-based non-profit, has realized this opportunity and for the past year has been connecting people to wireless networks right here in Chicago. For residents in Pilsen and North Lawndale, the project is bringing broadband access home. Using low-cost, off-the-shelf Wi-Fi equipment—the same found in any computer retailer—in conjunction with leading edge, open source mesh networking software developed right here in Illinois by the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network, CNT has deployed pilot networks in these communities with high speeds and at a low cost. Through donations, CNT is also able to provide personal computers to families if they don’t already own one.
The technology and household savings are meaningless, however, without the knowledge to use it effectively. This is why CNT has partnered with community organizations—the Gads Hill Center in Pilsen and Homan Square Community Center Foundation and Neighborhood Technology Resource Center in North Lawndale—to provide training and support for participants through extensions of computer education programs already offered by these organizations.
A community wireless network is a reflection of the social networks inherent in every neighborhood. The nature of a community wireless network is one of community ownership, where the infrastructure resides in homes, schools, churches and businesses. Community residents participate in the maintenance and operations of the network and reach out to each other to provide help and seek advice. In North Lawndale and Pilsen, community residents have become engaged in the actual building and deployment of wireless networks. CNT’s community partners have hosted node building parties where, at different events, ex-offenders and youth respectively learned about crimping cable and installing radios in weatherproof boxes that run the network and help to repeat the signal. There are so many benefits related to starting and running community-based networks.
A community wireless network is a tool for economic development. Participants have access to employment training, job postings, education and literacy resources. Our very first participant in Lawndale, Danielle Riley, is a nineteen-year-old student at Loyola University. Her family had a computer, but prior to our project, could afford only an unreliable and slow dial-up connection. Now she regularly accesses the web-only resources that her university provides, and has learned to more effectively use the internet for relevant academic material.
Community wireless networks do not exist in a political vacuum. Urban and rural communities alike are realizing that the market has failed to ensure that all citizens have access to the essential information and infrastructure that broadband provides. CNT’s project also operates pilot networks in Elgin and West Frankfort for this reason—to highlight the fact that access is not limited to a specific geographic location.
Our community wireless networks are small. They are an experiment, limited by resources and time. We ask the City, as it examines its own options, to support efforts such as the community wireless networks in North Lawndale and Pilsen, where they are most urgently needed.
