There's now free Wi-Fi in West Baltimore's Sandtown

The partners behind a new Wi-Fi hotspot in West Baltimore's Sandtown are ready to bring free high-speed internet access to another city neighborhood. A free Wi-Fi hotspot has been active in Baltimore's Sandtown neighborhood for about a month. Jonathan Moore, one of the local organizers behind the hotspot project, said now it's time to begin building out an affordable wireless network spanning several underserved neighborhoods. The next steps of the project include bringing wireless routers into the homes of about 50 local residents and setting up a new hotspot in Cherry Hill in South Baltimore. Moore said the project was in motion before the onset of Covid-19, but the pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated some of the inequities that have long existed in Baltimore's lowest-income communities, namely a lack of access to low-cost, high-speed internet.

Moore also said it is critical for the partners to continue the non-technical work of enhancing community buy-in. The community Wi-Fi project partners are relying on community leaders and organizations like Safe Streets to help educate and build trust among residents in neighborhoods selected to host the new hotspots. Although the Sandtown hotspot has drawn a lot of early enthusiasm, Moore said, it has also drawn some skepticism about the goals of the project and its backers. "We've heard people asking if we're the FBI or DEA, if we are spying on people," Moore said. "We have to do a lot of work to dispel those fears and build trust... But we have also seen people are excited to see people actually bringing some new resources into West Baltimore."