{"id":86758,"date":"2025-07-23T19:52:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T19:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/86758\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T19:52:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T19:52:14","slug":"new-york-citys-liberty-link-to-install-free-wi-fi-in-public-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/86758\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City’s ‘Liberty Link’ to install free Wi-Fi in public housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City officials on Wednesday announced a new pilot program, called Liberty Link, to bring free or low-cost internet to nearly 2,200 households living in public housing.<\/p>\n

The initiative will deliver building-wide high-speed Wi-Fi to 35 buildings in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan, where many residents struggle with internet access. According to the Bronx Community Foundation<\/a>, roughly 22% of households in the borough still lack home internet.<\/p>\n

At a press conference<\/a> announcing the program on Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams described internet access as an \u201cessential service\u201d in today\u2019s world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s finding a job, filling a prescription, or applying for child care, the internet is no longer a luxury. It\u2019s an essential service,\u201d Adams told reporters as he stood beside an oversized model of a wireless router. <\/p>\n

Adams said the program builds on the city\u2019s \u201cBig Apple Connect\u201d program, launched in 2022, which gave free internet to hundreds of thousands of public housing residents.<\/p>\n

New York is spending $3.25 million on the project, which is led by the New York Public Library and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The library will oversee the installation of fiber connections and shared Wi-Fi systems in the selected buildings. Residents can also learn digital literacy skills through HPD\u2019s Neighborhood Tech Help program.<\/p>\n

According to the announcement<\/a>, the program will test a variety of internet technologies and delivery methods over the next three years, including wireless networks and fiber optic connections, with half the installation contracts awarded to minority or women-owned businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the families we serve, the internet isn\u2019t a luxury \u2014 it\u2019s how you find a job, get your kids through school, stay connected to health care and community,\u201d HPD Acting Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said of the initiative. \u201cWith Liberty Link, we\u2019re meeting people where they are and removing a barrier that\u2019s held too many New Yorkers back for far too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sophia<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWritten by Sophia Fox-Sowell
\n\t\t\tSophia Fox-Sowell reports on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and government regulation for StateScoop. She was previously a multimedia producer for CNET, where her coverage focused on private sector innovation in food production, climate change and space through podcasts and video content. She earned her bachelor\u2019s in anthropology at Wagner College and master\u2019s in media innovation from Northeastern University.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City officials on Wednesday announced a new pilot program, called Liberty Link, to bring free or…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":86759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,10521,28114,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,42096,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-86758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-digital-divide","10":"tag-internet-accessibility","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-state-local-news","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114904298336155653","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}