Well, you may have, by now, begun to suspect that when things are quiet on the news from The Brickyard, that maybe we might be just up to some… well, shenanigans. You wouldn’t be wrong. We have a whole lot to report, but we’re going to start with a little update on our health and welfare, first, and then tell you the Big News.
We’ve seen a curious thing this past year. With all the changes in our daily work habits and the trends in employment and life in general, we’re seeing a whole lot of people come out of the woodwork wanting to do “that thing” they’ve always wanted to do. In a lot of our new members’ cases, that means joining a collaborative workspace and learning, trying, even playing with creating and building. That means, in the last few months, not only have we recovered the membership that dropped off after you-know-what, but we just passed a goal we’ve been working at for a long time – 50 members! Without getting too philosophical, this is another example of a crisis showing us who we really are, and what we can accomplish!
We’ve also been awarded a few really amazing and generous grants. One is from the MassDevelopment Collaborative Workspace program for expanding our space… more on that later. The other grant is from the MGCC – the Mass Growth Capital Corporation – to help businesses in Lynn pivot out into the post-covid ecosystem. …and that’s what we really want to tell you about!
The Big News
We’re excited to share that we’re working hand-in-hand with City Hall to explore free, broadband WIFI access to the entire downtown area. It’s a great partnership – we’re leveraging our considerable skills in sourcing and evaluating systems, designing tech solutions, business and development to bring the city a bunch of potential options and solutions, and we have the resources to implement them and test them. City Hall can then evaluate ideas to implement the best long-term plan for bringing broadband to the city.
HUGE thanks to the City of Lynn Planning, especially Lauren Drago and Aaron Clausen for their outreach and enthusiasm – not to mention Mayor Thomas McGee and his vision and support for our version of innovation in the city!
Right now we have two access points up, covering Central Square and the new Frederick Douglass Park, thanks to the support of Lynn Museum, GALA, Cultura Latina Dance Academy and the Union Cafe for their patience and willingness to let us use their sites. For all the latest information, see our site: FreeLynn.com on the web, and on Facebook, FreeLynnWIFI. These are using one wired access point, and one “meshed” point, which doubles our reach for a minimal investment. With this mesh tech, we have drawn out a system that cuts the costs of our original city-wide design in half.
Try it out! Just head over there and look for FreeLynnWIFI on your mobile device, and join the network. No fees, no signup simple as that!
Do you have a business location in Central Square, Monroe Street, Union Street or Market Street and want to join the fun? Shoot us a note, and we’ll make it happen.
OK, there’s more… but we’re going to tease it out. That’s it for now. We’re working on a really fun project to buildout our space without the usual constraints of a buildout, but that’s all we’re going to dish for now…
As always, keep making stuff. Take care of people, play nice and clean up after yourselves.
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