CASE STUDY

No Child Left Offline

Scientel launched a campaign to provide virtual learning environments for students throughout the city of Aurora, IL.

In collaboration with the City of Aurora and OnLight Aurora, Scientel sought to narrow the technology gap that children of low-income families experience. With COVID-19 making it even more difficult for these students to gain sufficient internet access, more pressure had been placed on community organizations to provide spaces for remote education.

Unfortunately, these organizations were held back by legacy systems and an overall lack of internet connectivity. To enhance their ability to provide space for remote schooling, and to create more accessible educational opportunities for low-income families during the pandemic, Scientel provided network upgrades and enhanced connectivity to over ten community organizations across the city.

THE CHALLENGE

Technology gaps and COVID-19 have made it difficult for low-income students to access remote education.

Lower-income students have less access to broadband connections and internet-enabled devices, often hindering their ability to complete school assignments and activities. With the COVID-19 pandemic, this issue had only worsened – creating a wider gap between these children and their higher-income counterparts.

With in-person schooling off limits for most communities, families have had to adjust their lives to facilitate remote education for their children. Parents not only need to acquire the right technology for their kids to join video calls; they need help looking after their children so that they can keep working to support their family.

Thankfully, there are incredible community organizations that are committed to helping families in need. Organizations from homeless shelters to churches have created space for children in their communities to participate in remote learning. Unfortunately, these same organizations often experience a lack of modern technology and internet connectivity needed to effectively operate remote schooling programs.

SCIENTEL’S SOLUTION

Scientel provided state-of-the-art wireless and fiber connections to essential community organizations that help students with remote schooling.

Alongside Alderwomen Hart-Burns & Garza, Scientel and the City of Aurora launched the “No Child Left Offline” campaign – an initiative that identified community organizations that provide remote education spaces for low-income students, but that were also in need of technology upgrades. Scientel worked with each organization to identify the existing connectivity issues and prioritize the best solution.

In partnership with OnLight Aurora, a community fiber services provider, Scientel set out on a three-month-long plan to install upgrades at over ten organizations around the city. Legacy networks, modems, and hotspots were replaced with high-capacity networks and increased access points.

With these new improvements, “No Child Left Offline” recipients were not only much more capable of providing remote learning spaces for children, but will benefit from a sustainable, long-term solution to their internet connectivity and bandwidth for years to come.

“Thanks to their professionalism and understanding of the additional difficulties children living in a homeless shelter face, [Scientel’s team was] able to install four wireless access points enabling the children to spread out and have private areas for their remote learning.”

– Chris Cox

Director of Information Technology at Hesed House

Students at Simply Destinee using the studio’s computer lab, which benefitted from new high-speed connectivity.

THE RESULTS

Through No Child Left Offline, Scientel upgraded internet connectivity for more than 10 community organizations.

Scientel’s “No Child Left Offline” program has been in place since October, and has already made a significant impact on its beneficiaries.

For Hesed House, the second-largest homeless shelter in Illinois, Scientel upgraded a legacy wireless network to a state-of-the-art Wi-Fi 6 high-capacity network. This upgraded system, along with increased access points, has allowed Hesed House to create private areas for children of its families to continue their learning remotely.

At Simply Destinee, a dance studio that helps foster Aurora’s youth through dance programs, life skills development, and mental health awareness, a handheld hotspot was replaced with high-speed connectivity and improved indoor & outdoor Wi-Fi access points. This upgraded connectivity will support Simply Destinee’s learning center for its students and help facilitate remote participation in its classes.

First Midwest Bank’s APS Training Institute, previously constrained by a legacy cable modem, received almost half of a gigabit of sustained bandwidth after their “No Child Left Offline” installation. This enhanced connectivity will help the organization continue its STEM-focused educational programs, such as free SAT test training and its initiative that supports women in technology.

Other recipients of Scientel’s “No Child left Offline” upgrades include the Warren F Cannon Community Outreach Center, M14 Hoops, LaQuinta, Main Baptist Church, Sacred Hearth Catholic Church, Grand Blvd Community Center, Randall West Community Center, and the Aurora Public Library.

As the “No Child Left Offline” campaign continues to be implemented around the city, the team at Scientel is grateful for the opportunity to lend its expertise in wireless and fiber connectivity to support essential community organizations.

“Hesed House has always and will always be dependent upon the support of our community to serve our most vulnerable residents. Collaborative efforts such as this, where everyone can bring their unique talents and passions, continue to inspire all of us at Hesed House and more importantly ensure all the guests at Hesed House have access to the tools they need to succeed. The young students at Hesed House are better off today.”

– Chris Cox

Director of Information Technology at Hesed House

Scientel’s installation team after completing its work at Hesed House.