Grant is start of providing wireless internet to all Mahoning County, officials say

YOUNGSTOWN

Broader wireless internet access is the goal of a federally funded Connect Ohio technical assistance grant received by the Western Reserve Port Authority.

“This will allow as close to universal wireless Internet access as we can accomplish for Mahoning County” homes and offices, once the plan is implemented, said Sarah Lown, WRPA’s public finance manager.

“This is phase one, which is purely technical assistance,” she said.

"It will take several phases, and we’re going to be looking for an implementation grant after this one,” Lown said.

The initial connection would be from the collaborative to the county-owned Oakhill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave., and to county buildings in downtown Youngstown to make all of them wireless Internet hot spots, Lown said.

“One of the things we’re doing at the Oak Hill Collaborative is to try to get access to the neighborhood, and even spreading it around, including parts of downtown and other areas for access to wireless Internet,” Kerrigan told the commissioners.

For more on the project, read Saturday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.