[wirelesstoronto-discuss] $25 million over the next five years to "community wireless" in the US

[Gabe Sawhney]

This press release doesn't give enough info for me to understand
what's going on, but it sounds like an interesting hybrid model.
-Gabe

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http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/national-knight-center-will-help-communities-provide-access-digital-town-square-their?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

National Knight Center Will Help Communities Provide Access to the
Digital Town Square for Their Citizens


AKRON, Ohio – A new national center here will help communities ensure
that their citizens can take advantage of social, civic and economic
opportunities by accessing the digital town square of the 21st
century.

 The project is funded by a first-year, $4.5 million grant from the
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to OneCommunity, an acclaimed
expert in helping communities create sustainable universal access.
Knight has pledged up to $25 million over the next five years to
accelerate digital access projects in the 26 U.S. communities where
the Knight brothers owned newspapers.

 The nonprofit Knight Center of Digital Excellence will collect and
share international best practices online with communities everywhere.
It will provide on-the-ground aid to the Knight communities to develop
technology strategies and enable citizens to connect with each other
and the world. Knight's initiative includes a $10 million Digital
Opportunity fund offering challenge grants to Knight communities.

Akron is the national center's headquarters and the first community to
benefit from a grant: $625,000 for a wireless universal access
corridor that will leverage OneCommunity's regional fiber-optic
network. The corridor will cover eight to twelve square miles,
including downtown, and cost about $2.2 million to design and deploy.

OneCommunity will implement the corridor in a public-private
partnership. Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic has signed a memorandum
of understanding with OneCommunity and will recommend that City
Council approve a five-year commitment of about $800,000 toward the
design, deployment, and operation of the network.

"Universal access will improve the quality of life, create new
economic opportunities for Akron's citizens, enhance health and
education, improve public safety, and drive economic development,"
said Plusquellic. "With this public-private partnership, the City of
Akron will serve as a role model for communities around the country.
We are proud to be the home of this national Center of Digital
Excellence and to be the first community to benefit from Knight's
commitment to universal access."

"More and more in a global economy we conduct our civic, business and
social activities online," said Paula Ellis, Knight Foundation's vice
president of strategic initiatives. "In every city and town it's
important to ensure that no one becomes a second-class citizen because
he or she does not have access. Enabling everybody to participate in
the digital age has the potential to transform communities."

The Knight Center will be staffed and operated by OneCommunity, a
nonprofit technology organization internationally recognized for its
leadership in deploying broadband infrastructure and applications.
OneCommunity President & CEO Scot Rourke was recently named
Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year for 2008 by the
Intelligent Community Forum (www.intelligentcommunity.org), a New
York-based think tank dedicated to studying economic growth in the
global broadband economy.

 "Our goal is to help ensure that communities develop effective
broadband and applications strategies that bring value to a community,
are widely adopted by all constituencies and are well positioned for
sustainability," says Rourke. "OneCommunity uses a unique,
collaborative approach that convenes key stakeholders from both the
public and private sectors – including schools, libraries, hospitals,
universities, governments, and local technology companies."

 About Knight Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in
journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of Akron and 25 other
U.S. communities. Knight Foundation focuses on ideas and projects that
create transformational change. To learn more, visit
www.knightfoundation.org.

 Knight Communities

 Aberdeen, S.D.; Akron, Ohio;, Biloxi, Miss.; Boulder, Colo.;
Bradenton, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; Columbia, S.C.; Columbus, Ga.;
Detroit, Mich.; Duluth, Minn.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Gary, Ind; Grand
Forks, N.D, Lexington, Ky.; Long Beach, Calif.; Macon, Ga.; Miami,
Fla.; Milledgeville, Ga.; Myrtle Beach, S.C., Palm Beach County, Fla.;
Philadelphia, Pa.; San Jose, Calif.; St. Paul, Minn.; State College,
Pa.; Tallahassee, Fla.; and Wichita, Kan.

 About OneCommunity

OneCommunity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering
economic and civic progress through the innovative and collaborative
application of information technologies. OneCommunity connects nearly
1,000 public and nonprofit institutions via its fiber-optic broadband
network – one of the largest and fastest in the world – and supports
21st-century programs in health care, education, government and
economic development. To learn more, please visit
www.onecommunity.org.