Equitable Internet Initiative to Accelerate Outreach, Training, and Wireless Broadband Internet Sharing

Amid significant poverty and a lack of robust infrastructure, 40 percent of Detroit residents struggle to access reliable broadband service. Fortunately, organizations like the Detroit Community Technology Project (DCTP) exist to challenge the status quo. DCTP’s mission is “to use and create technology rooted in community needs that strengthens neighbors’ connection to each other, and to the planet.” Through Project OVERCOME, DCTP and its partners at Grace in Action Collectives are targeting the digital divide in one southwest Detroit neighborhood, an area that is home to many low-income immigrants and Black and Brown families. The DCTP team is bringing community-owned communications infrastructure to the region and working to ensure that improved internet access leads to better health outcomes, greater job readiness, and overall economic growth. With a goal to provide reliable, affordable broadband service combined with high levels of customer support, DCTP has partnered with technology company 123NET, which will deploy fiber into the Detroit neighborhood before hanging aerial fiber lines directly to residential homes. Customer installations will be completed by trusted and trained local residents, who also are building a new fixed wireless network by connecting additional homes and businesses with point-to-point radios and adding outdoor public hotspots.