Cornerstone Alliance is nearing the completion of its free public WiFi project in Benton Harbor.
The organization received a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2022 to roll out free WiFi to highly trafficked areas of the community, and four of the five selected sites are now online and active.
Cornerstone Alliance manager of physical development Jillian Nadolski tells us COVID demonstrated a real need for community-wide internet access, and Cornerstone decided to give it a try.
“How it started out was kind of a beta test in the Benton Harbor Arts District and installing public Wi-Fi, a free amenity for the downtown community,” Nadolski said.
The WiFi in the Arts District proved a success, so Cornerstone began pursing more options. Nadolski tells us they worked with Comcast and the New Mind Group out of Kalamazoo to handle the technical aspect of the project once the funding was secured.
What are the five sites where free WiFi will be available?
“So we’ve got Union Park and June Woods Park, formerly Broadway Park in the city of Benton Harbor. And we’ve got Harbor City Flats, the housing development, as well as Buss Apartments through the Benton Harbor Housing Commission and the Youth Campus for the Boys and Girls Club.”
Four of the five are now up and running, with the Buss Apartments the last one set to go live next week.
Nadolski says when someone goes to log on to the free WiFi, they get a splash page telling them about the WiFi project and advising them of security considerations, like not to log into sensitive accounts because it’s a public connection. She’s been hearing already from people using the WiFi as it’s been rolled out.
The ribbon cutting to celebrate the WiFi project’s completion will be at Union Park Tuesday at 3 p.m. with local officials on hand.
