City officials announced Thursday 50 of the five borough’s “Learning Bridges” childcare sites have received wifi upgrades.
The expanded access to broadband comes as the result of a public-private partnership with the city and The Information Technology Disaster Resource Center, The Rockefeller Foundation, Zoom, the Cielo Scholarship Foundation, and Education SuperHighway, a nonprofit organization that connects classrooms to high-speed internet.
The 50 sites selected for broadband upgrades are all housed in New York House Authority facilities which City Hall claims will improve internet access for 12,000 young people and adults in addition to “thousands of community members” able to connect to free Wi-Fi hotspots at 30 of the locations provided by ITDRC, the city says.
“Supporting our students as they navigate distance learning is critical, and connectivity is key,” said Mayor de Blasio. “These community centers will be hubs for Internet access, and I am grateful for our partners for working with us to get this done.”
“Learning Bridges” was set up last year to provide working public school parents with children in pre-K through the eighth grade with free childcare on remote learning days. The program has been severely underused since rollout began last fall. Despite Mayor de Blasio setting a goal of 100,000 seats by the end of 2020, only 56,000 seats have been offered to families, according to City Hall.
Last month, the city decided to open up “Learning Bridges” for remote-only students in order to help the changing needs of families amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
De Blasio announced in January and again earlier this week plans to invest $157 million in contracts with telecommunication companies in order to expand high-speed internet access across the city. Under the plan, de Blasio hopes to reach up to 600,000 New York City residents with shoddy or non-existent wifi in the 33 neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic including 200,000 in NYCHA buildings.
The following centers have received upgrades:
BRONX
Melrose* BronxWorks 286 East 156 Street
Butler* Directions For Our Youth (DFOY) 1368 Webster Avenue
Edenwald Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MCCC) 1150 East 229 Street
Marble Hill Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) 5365 Broadway
Boston Secor* Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) 3540 Bivona Street
Davidson* SoBro 1221 Prospect Avenue
Fort Independence* Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) 3350 Bailey Avenue
BROOKLYN
Glenwood* Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC) 5816 Farragut Road
Marcus Garvey* Research Foundation of CUNY 20 Amboy Street
Surfside HeartShare St. Vincent’s 2923 West 28 Street
Carey Garden* HeartShare St. Vincent’s 2315 Surf Avenue
Bushwick-Hylan Grand Street Settlement 50 Humboldt Street
Williamsburg Grand Street Settlement 195 Graham Avenue
Cooper Park* Coalition of Children and Family Services 76 Kingsland Avenue
Kingsborough* Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC) 129 Kingsborough 1st Walk
Lafayette Grand Street Settlement 442 Dekalb Avenue
Taylor‐Wythe* El Puente 80 Clymer Street
Albany CAMBA 164 Troy Avenue
Atlantic Terminal* University Settlement 501 Carlton Avenue
Boulevard CAMBA 726 Stanley Avenue
Howard CAMBA 90 Watkins Street
Sheepshead Bay CAMBA 3679 Nostrand Avenue
Brevoort CAMBA 280 Ralph Avenue
Penn-Wortman CAMBA 895 Pennsylvania Avenue
Williams Plaza* El Puente 323 Roebling Street
O’Dwyer Gardens* Brooklyn Community Services (BCS) 2945 West 33 Street
Langston Hughes* Research Foundation of CUNY 301 Sutter Avenue
Tilden* Research Foundation of CUNY 630 Mother Gaston Boulevard
Breukelen* Police Athletic League (PAL) 715 East 105 Street
Independence Towers* El Puente 114 Taylor Street
Van Dyke* Research Foundation of CUNY 392 Blake Avenue
MANHATTAN
Manhattanville* Graham Windham 530 West 133 Street
Clinton* Supportive Children’s Advocacy Network (SCAN) 120 East 110 Street
Johnson Supportive Children’s Advocacy Network (SCAN) 1833 Lexington Avenue
King Towers* Supportive Children’s Advocacy Network (SCAN) 2 West 115 Street
East River* SCAN-New York Volunteer Parent-Aides Association, Inc. (SCAN) 404 East 105 Street
Drew Hamilton The Children’s Village 220 West 143 Street Manhattan
Dyckman* Children’s Arts & Science Workshops, Inc. (CASW) 3782 Tenth Avenue
Baruch Grand Street Settlement 605 FDR Drive Manhattan
Polo Police Athletic League (PAL) 3005 Frederick Douglass Boulevard
Rutgers Grand Street Settlement 200 Madison Street
Grant* Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) 1301 Amsterdam Avenue
QUEENS
Astoria* HANAC 4-05 Astoria Boulevard
Ravenswood* Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement 35-40 21 Street
Ocean Bay* Child Center of NY 57-10 Beach Channel Drive
South Jamaica II Southern Queens Park Association (SQPA) 109-04 160 Street
STATEN ISLAND
Todt Hill* Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Staten Island 255 Westwood Avenue
South Beach United Activities Unlimited (UAU) 155 Norway Avenue
Gerard Carter* Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Staten Island 230 Broad Street
West Brighton I United Activities Unlimited (UAU) 230 Broadway
