Press

How San Rafael, California Built a Neighborhood Mesh Network That Turned into Something More

September 4, 2020

It's wonderful not only to contribute our efforts to those of so many caring, dedicated professionals in both the public and private sector who have come together to help narrow an education gap made wider by the pandemic, but to see the solutions we build take on a kind of life of their own, with our partners imagining new ways to use them to address the many needs of the most vulnerable in our communities.

In the the article Community Networks recently published about the project, San Rafael Director of Digital Services and Open Government Rebecca Woodbury,  had the following to say about it: 

“I’ve been reflecting a lot on it,” Rebecca said of the project. “It feels like we’re living in a world where everything is not working, and this project has worked. I think it was the right people. This project is really a testament to cross-agency, cross-sector cooperation. If everything in government worked like this, we would have fewer problems.”

Powerful, and inspiring words. Marin IT is proud to be part of the local team making this possible. 

Read the Community Network article here: https://muninetworks.org/content/how-san-rafael-california-built-neighborhood-mesh-network-turned-something-more

 

Marin IT Collaborates with Local Agencies to Create a New Free Public Wi-Fi Network for the Canal district, San Rafael

August 4, 2020

Our team was happy to donate our time and expertise in a collaborative effort between the Marin IT, the City of San Rafael, the San Rafael Canal Alliance, the San Rafael School District, DC Electric, and the County of Marin, to design and deploy a new free community Wi-Fi network, expanding internet availability to the Canal district community in advance of the 2020/21 school year, starting later this month.

“We designed the network with students in mind, recognizing that as long as we’re all dealing with COVID-19, students will need to rely upon distance learning via Zoom classes, and if we want to keep our communities safe, we need to help make a robust system for increasing network availability. Marin County is our home, and if we can help our fellow residents stay safe, we’re happy to do our part. We really are all in this together.” said David Cooper, Marin IT co-founder and chief engineer.

Read the full article in the Marin Independent Journal https://www.marinij.com/2020/08/03/canal-community-wi-fi-set-to-launch-by-start-of-school-year/

Watch the agenda item from the August 3rd San Rafael City Council meeting to learn more about this project:

Visit www.canal-wifi.com to log in to the network.