NYC opens fourth Gigabit Center in Brooklyn
On Wednesday, New York City opened its fourth Gigabit Center. The Brooklyn facility offers free high-speed internet access to students and digital literacy programs to older adults in the borough as part of city’s efforts to close the digital divide.
The new center, located at the Major R. Owens Health & Wellness Community Center in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, will also provide students with access to tablets, laptops, a 3D printer and tech education workshops on topics such as coding and app design, a news release said.
The Brooklyn center is the city’s fourth such facility. The Queens facility opened in December, and two others operate in Harlem and the Bronx. A fifth center in Staten Island is expected to launch sometime this spring, the news release said, rounding out the effort in each of the city’s five boroughs.
The Brooklyn center is the product of a partnership between the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation, the internet kiosk program LinkNYC and the tech education nonprofit Digital Girl.
“Whether completing homework or learning to code, students in underserved communities rely upon equitable internet and device access to keep pace with their peers and to explore potential career horizons,” NYC Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser said in the news release. “This new Gigabit Center in Crown Heights, where 36% of households lack broadband access, ensures that participating students have the digital tools and skills training necessary to excel in our modern world.”
