Residential retrofitting program turns on high-speed internet for Bay Meadow Apts. in Springfield

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2 days ago

SPRINGFIELD — Luz Ramos, a 29-year resident of the Bay Meadow Apartments affordable housing complex in Springfield, helped Monday to turn on new, high-speed internet capable of delivering up to 1 gigabit-a-second upload and download speeds.
'This is going to open a lot of doors,' Ramos said after a news conference Monday at the complex.
She recently received her high school equivalency diploma. And she plans to go on and take college courses.
Ramos also describes how her grandchildren, and her neighbors and their children will now be able to do homework, and access information and job opportunities easily without a trip to the library for better internet.
'The doors are open, and I'm going to walk right through them,' she said.
The 148-unit Bay Meadow Apartments is the first housing development in Massachusetts to get connected through the Residential Retrofit Program of Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Massachusetts Broadband Institute.
Funded with $82 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, the program already has committed $38.9 million to deliver internet to more than 27,300 housing units across the state, said Michael Baldino, director and general counsel for the institute.
In Western Massachusetts alone, the institute has committed $14 million for 8,000 units, Baldino said. The units are in Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, Easthampton, Northampton and Westfield.
Housing operators interested in applying to the next round of the retrofit program may submit an expression of interest form by July 31. For more information, applicants should visit broadband.masstech.org/retrofit.
The funds must be spent by the end of 2026.
The program pays for upgrades to wiring and connectivity infrastructure that in some cases is phone cabling that's 50 years old, Baldino said. Through internet provider Aervivo Inc. and property owner Preservation of Affordable Housing, Bay Meadow Apartment residents get free service of 100 megabits per second.
For $19 a month, residents can upgrade to the faster 1 gigabit-a-second service.
'Which is more than enough for any family to do anything they need to do, whether it is doing Teams meetings for work, accessing education, checking with family, accessing government resources. This is state of the art,' said Baldino.
Without the upgrades, it's a different story.
'The wiring prevents them from getting high-quality access,' Baldino said. 'The speeds might be lower. It may cut in and out.'
The internet has gone from an amenity to a must-have utility, said Preservation of Affordable Housing President and CEO Aaron Gornstein.
'Having high speed internet access is really key to economic opportunity for our residents,' he said. 'It is really crucial for participation in our economy.'
At the event, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal called internet access a 'civil right' for the 21st century, given that it's required to do almost any everyday task.
It's a right that the Residential Retrofit program will continue to guarantee, despite the political changes since the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill was passed in 2021.
He said the money is still secure.
'The American Rescue (Plan's) roots have taken hold for sure. I think there is no threat,' Neal said.
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Read the original article on MassLive.