Federal grant expans Falls Internet

Courtesy of Jim Fink

WBFO

It may be hard to believe but even in the Year 2025 there are swaths of several Niagara Falls neighborhoods that have limited, poor, or in some cases, no internet access.

But a $9.2 million federal grant may help address that lingering issue. The funds are coming through the federal “Digital Equity Act.”

Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino said it will be a major boost.

“We decided that it would provide us with the ability to get internet access out to some of the zip codes in our area where there's still limited access,” Restaino said.

Internet upgrades will focus on some library services, updating computer infrastructure, and digital training for more than 2,000 Niagara Falls residents, all of whom are without any form of internet access.

Computer training for students in the Niagara Falls city school district is also covered in the federal grant. Also in the works is a community computer center that will be housed in Niagara University’s Academic Innovation Hub just off Main Street.

“It’s no longer paper and pencil, it's a lot of it is technology, and our libraries right now provide computer services for people who are just unable to access it on their own. This will now move us into a setting where we can have people in their neighborhoods again being able to access the internet and do what others find to be just normal in their everyday lives,” Restaino said. “It's a massive step forward for our community, for some of the segments of our community where there is still that internet challenge.”

Restaino said the upgrades will take place during the next few years and various Niagara Falls neighborhoods will be targeted.