Officials for the volunteer-run nonprofit NYC Mesh have been awarded a new $898,000 grant from New York State’s ConnectALL initiative that should help the project expand affordable wireless Internet access to the Big Apple’s most vulnerable populations.

The grant is one of $8.3 million in new grants recently awarded by New York State providing much-needed financial assistance to community or municipally run broadband connectivity initiatives through the Connectivity Innovation – Business Model Awards, which support organizations using “novel financing strategies” to serve low-income and rural communities.

“It's mostly fixed wireless, though we'll rent dark fiber in a couple places if necessary,” NYC Mesh’s Ash Wolfson tells ILSR, adding that the expanded wireless links will leverage equipment from Ubiquiti (Airfiber and Wave), with hardware from Mikrotik (RB5009 and CCR2116) or Netpower (16P and CRS317) for routing and switching.

According to NYC Mesh officials, NYC Housing Preservation & Development will help the volunteer-run nonprofit in identifying priority neighborhoods underserved by traditional commercial ISPs, ultimately connecting at least 500 additional low income households to its affordable, community-run network.

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“Our agency is excited to partner with NYC Mesh on expanding our Neighborhood Internet program model to Central Brooklyn, where nearly 25 percent of households lack Internet access,” Dave Seliger, NYC Housing Preservation & Development Chief Digital Equity Officer says of the expansion.

In 2020, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled an Internet Master Plan that was one of the most ambitious municipal broadband proposals in U.S. history. 

It detailed a $2.1 billion commitment to deploy publicly-owned, open-access fiber across the city’s five boroughs, promising to reshape how the nation's largest city would connect a then-estimated 1.5 million city residents without Internet access.

Then, Mayor Eric Adams came into office and quietly killed it.

Now, with new Mayor Zohran Mamdani – whose entire political brand is built on making essential services affordable to the people who need them most – pursuing a popular affordability agenda that has energized his base and inspired electoral interest far outside the Big Apple, the prospect for a city-wide municipal Internet network is back on the radar.

Last week, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams – a non-voting member of the New York City Council with the right to introduce and co-sponsor legislation – released a detailed “Get Connected” report calling “for the city to deliver high-speed, low-cost citywide municipal Internet service akin to a public utility,” laying the policy groundwork for what at least has the potential to become the Mamdani administration's signature infrastructure initiative.

The Cost of Killing the Master Plan

At a press conference with advocates and tenants at the Grand Street Guild Housing Complex, where NYC Mesh has successfully installed fiber connections, Williams said “in the [I]nternet age, we cannot afford to be disconnected, yet many can’t afford to connect.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently unveiled plans to improve public safety, housing, and the overall livability of the Big Apple.

Among them is $6 million in new funding to expand the New York Public Library’s (NYPL) “Neighborhood Internet” network, providing free Internet to an additional 2,000 households receiving Section 8 rental assistance.

The city hopes that the program, which is first focused on expanding Internet access to low-income households in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, will ultimately be expanded to reach as many low income NYC residents as possible. But the effort still remains a far cry from the bolder, bigger, “master plan” initiative scrapped by the Adams administration in 2022.

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Low income city residents simply need a library card to connect to the NYPL network in the limited parts of the city where access is currently being offered. The NYPL has experimented with Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), fixed wireless, and some fiber for connectivity. The program also provides low income users with a Chromebook with Wi-Fi access.