For years now, Chicago has been in the spotlight as a poster city for urban revitalization. Stories about how investors are tapping into the city’s heritage to bolster the economy, and how urbanist and developers are converting the city’s vacant land into sustainable farms and affordable housing, are commonplace.

 

However, what they gloss over is that many Chicagoans still lack the basic amenity of broadband access at home.  Within Chicago's digitally underserved communities across the city, TMA Technology Solutions (TMA) is stepping up to meet this need by providing an affordable broadband solution to engage and benefit the community members within.

 

The Chicago Area Broadband Initiative (CABI) will deploy a Broadband network that will initially encompass the communities of Washington Park and Woodlawn on the South Side of Chicago. These communities make up more than 35,000 residents, of which a great many are unable to benefit from= the digital economy because they do not have access to affordable broadband technologies and services.

 

Recent studies have shown that the lack of access to broadband technologies and services threaten to greatly increase existing inequities in these communities, resulting in the creation of a more broader broadband digital divide.

 

It is highly recognized that digital literacy, broadband adoption, access to computers, and knowing how to use them have significant advantages in employment, education, health, and civic participation. Bridging this divide is part of the core mission of the Chicago Area Broadband Initiative (CABI) a TMA Initiative.