The Hill: How Detroit residents are building their own internet

Screen capture of article headline and video

The areas that the Equitable Internet Initiative serves are predominantly communities of color, and the digital stewards that EII train and employ come from these communities. “It’s easier to make a community member a technician than a technician a community member,” according to digital steward Shiva Shahmir.

Kalischer-Coggins, Aaron. “How Detroit residents are building their own internet.” The Hill: Changing America. 28 May 2021

https://thehill.com/changing-america/video/555961-how-detroit-residents-are-building-their-own-internet

Equitable Internet Initiative (EII) is a partnership between Detroit Community Technology Project (DCTP) and community organizations, including these three anchors: North End Woodward Community Coalition, Grace in Action, and Church of the Messiah, serving the Detroit and Highland Park, Michigan neighborhoods. Together, DCTP and Community Tech New York founded the Community Tech Collective.

The Changing America video above features a Portable Network Kit (PNK) built in October 2019. DCTP contracted CTNY members to design and build this PNK and others for the purpose of training the Detroit Digital Stewards and network managers and to be deployed as needed. Since then, the PNK has been incorporated into the EII resiliency plan, as discussed in the video and respective article.

White House: Vice President Holds Listening Session on High Speed Internet Featuring Digital Stewardship and Community Ownership

Screen capture of C-SPAN video featuring Reverend Joan Ross speaking on screen to Vice President Harris, who is sitting at a table

We also work to increase internet adoption through a digital stewardship program which prepares residents in our neighborhoods [of Detroit and Highland Park] to operate, manage, and own their own internet. All of our 18 employees come from the communities they serve and are trained in community organizing and the technology necessary to maintain a network.

Reverend Joan Ross, Operating Director, North End Woodward Community Coalition (She is featured from 9:00 – 17:37 time marks)

https://www.c-span.org/video/?512045-1/vice-president-holds-listening-session-high-speed-internet

For more on Reverend Ross, Detroit’s North End, and the Equitable Internet Initiative, please see the Digital Equity Lab’s report “Growing Digital Equity: The Origins and Promise of Community Internet in Detroit.”

Through the Equitable Internet Initiative (EII), the Detroit Community Technology Project (DCTP) supports North End Woodward Community Coalition (NEWCC). CTNY co-director Monique Tate led the North End EII network in Detroit from ~2016-2021.

CTNY and DCTP are in partnership through the Community Technology Collective. Visit the Community Technology Collective site for more on Digital Stewardship.

CTNY is Hiring!

Community Tech NY (CTNY) is looking to hire 1-2 project managers to support our growing portfolio of digital equity and justice, Community Technology, coalition-building projects. We are looking for people who have:

  • Outstanding organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to creatively problem solve.
  • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.  
  • Desire and ability to work collaboratively.
  • Passion for digital equity and justice. Technical skills are not a requirement for this position but a willingness to learn is!

You can view/download the full job description below, but please note that we will work with the selected candidate to more fully hone this job description to your expertise and experience.

CTNY Project Manager_2021Download

Gothamist: What It Will Take To Bring Strong Internet Service To Every NYC Student

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“It is a transformative moment in digital equity because there’s an awareness and a visibility of this issue that there’s never been before,” said Greta Byrum, Director of Policy at the nonprofit Community Tech NY and co-director of the Digital Equity Laboratory at the New School. “We’re seeing incredible creativity and innovation.” Byrum said that each of the initiatives underway are imperfect but contain seeds of solutions. “Think of it like a garden, you have to weed over here, plant over here, water over here,” she said. “This is a structural problem like climate or racism… It can feel really daunting, like any structural issue, if you want a simple solution. But this is the work of our lifetime. And New Yorkers love a challenge.”

Gould, Jessica. “What It Will Take To Bring Strong Internet Service To Every NYC Student.” Gothamist. 13 May 2021.

https://gothamist.com/news/what-it-will-take-bring-strong-internet-service-every-nyc-student

Protocol: In Biden’s broadband plan, cable is in for the fight of its life

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Across the country, advocates for locally-owned broadband — a loosely affiliated network of fiber providers, digital equity nonprofits, labor unions, churches, educators and municipalities — are girding for battle. Enabling municipalities and local communities to build their own networks, they argue, removes the profit incentives that cable giants have, driving down costs and leading to reinvestment in the community. The Biden plan, they say, is an opportunity unlike any they’ve seen before to put that idea into practice nationwide. “This is a moment where we just have to get more active than we’ve ever been,” said Greta Byrum, director of nonprofit Community Tech NY.

Lapowsky, Issy. “In Biden’s broadband plan, cable is in for the fight of its life.” protocol. 11 May 2021.

https://www.protocol.com/policy/biden-broadband-plan

Chicago Tribune: Broadband industry behind millions of fake comments to FCC pushing net neutrality repeal, New York attorney general says

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The proceeding generated a record-breaking number of comments — more than 22 million. The attorney general’s report found that nearly 18 million of those were fake comments, and the broadband industry group, called Broadband for America, spent $4.2 million generating more than 8.5 million of the fake FCC comments. Half a million fake letters were also sent to Congress.

Arbel, Tali, “Broadband industry behind millions of fake comments to FCC pushing net neutrality repeal”, New York attorney general says, Associated Press, 6 May, 2021

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-aud-biz-net-neutrality-fcc-fake-comments-20210506-3ut6n5xnxfcu5fmrplyuuiskiq-story.html

The Hill: To build lasting digital equity, look to communities

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Take Hunts Point in the South Bronx, where a local community development corporation called THE POINT recruited young people to build their own free wireless Wi-Fi network to connect learners and residents. Hunts Point Free WiFi is managed by people who live here and supported by local businesses. To a community built on a vulnerable peninsula hit hard by COVID-19, connectivity is more than just hooking up to the internet. It’s about building self-reliance, generating wealth and sustaining a platform to build a community-driven vision of the future.

Byrum, Greta. “To build lasting digital equity, look to communities,” The Hill. 29 March 2021.

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/545337-to-build-lasting-digital-equity-look-to-communities

The Reboot: “The Infrastructural Power Beneath the Internet as We Know It”

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Ownership models for ISPs serving poor or rural areas vary from utility cooperatives to municipal and tribal government-supported networks to community networks run by and for residents. Maybe part of imagining a different distribution of the means of computation requires a flipping of the script. Rather than assuming that the internet starts as massive nodes of platform data centers and internet exchanges, perhaps the last mile is actually the first step in working toward a different vision of who should own and govern the means of computation. 

Burrington, Ingrid. “The Infrastructural Power Beneath the Internet as We Know It,” The Reboot. 22 April 2021. https://thereboot.com/the-infrastructural-power-beneath-the-internet-as-we-know-it/