NYPL
The New York Public Library will launch its mobile hotspot program in the fall, thanks to a grant from the Knight Foundation. At its Port Richmond branch, a pilot program already exists. (Staten Island Advance/Virginia Sherry)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As a part of its continuing efforts to close the digital divide in New York City, the New York Public Library announced Monday that it will be launching a Wi-Fi hotspot lending program, with the help of a $500,000 grant from the Knight Foundation.
The program, entitled "Check Out the Internet," will allow libraries to loan mobile hotspots to thousands of New York City families who do not have broadband access at home. The families will check out the hotspots from local branches and bring them home.
The NYPL currently is operating several pilot programs around the city, including one in Port Richmond and three others in the Bronx, but will be expanding to other branches -- which have not been announced -- sometime in the fall.
The effort comes after a survey conducted by the NYPL found that 55 percent of patrons who use Internet services and programs in NYPL branches do not have broadband access at home.
That number, the survey showed, rose to 65 percent when the family's household income was below $25,000.
"In a world where access to the Internet is necessary for almost any important task -- applying for jobs, doing school work, paying bills -- it is unacceptable that so many of the most vulnerable New Yorkers would be left behind," NYPL President Tony Marx said in a statement on Monday.
The NYPL's program is just one of 19 winners of the Knight New Challenge grant, an effort sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
At the foundation's media conference on Monday, the project granted a total of $3.4 million to various Internet-related efforts.
"The winning projects strengthen or defend the power of the Internet to inform communities and help innovation thrive," said Michael Maness, the Knight Foundation's vice president of journalism and media innovation, in a statement.
Other New York-based winners include Inquisite, a program promoting collaboration among researchers on investigative projects via an online hub, as well as Report-a-Troll, a platform for victims to safely report online harassment and for volunteers to respond.