Home Nonprofit & Education Nonprofit Mobile Beacon technology empowers nonprofits, those in poverty

Mobile Beacon technology empowers nonprofits, those in poverty

By

Michael J. Decicco

-

09/22/2017

A SIMPLE SOLUTION: Mobile Beacon staffers, from right, Lauren Yergeau, Cristina Graham and Rick Lindholm talk with Kate Aubin at the Providence Public Library about helping library patrons gain internet access through mobile devices the nonprofit supplies. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

INNOVATIVE COMPANIES | NONPROFIT Since its founding by Executive Director Katherine Messier in 2010, nonprofit Mobile Beacon has extended low-cost, high-speed mobile, internet-access service to nonprofits, schools, libraries and homes across the country. In arguably its biggest accomplishment, the company started the first-ever library hotspot lending program in 2012 with the Providence Community Library, allowing

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INNOVATIVE COMPANIES | NONPROFIT Since its founding by Executive Director Katherine Messier in 2010, nonprofit Mobile Beacon has extended low-cost, high-speed mobile, internet-access service to nonprofits, schools, libraries and homes across the country. In arguably its biggest accomplishment, the company started the first-ever library hotspot lending program in 2012 with the Providence Community Library, allowing patrons to check out 4G mobile hotspot devices as they would books. This program has since expanded to the New York Public Library System and 340 library systems nationwide. It is now the largest library hotspot program in the country, lending out 10,000 units to date. Its donation program with TechSoup and Digital Wish has provided more than 7,400 affordable 4G LTE high-speed mobile services to schools, libraries and nonprofits since 2016. PCs for People and Mobile Beacon’s Bridging the Gap program have provided more than 30,000 families below the 200 percent poverty level with affordable computers and internet access. “We are the only internet service provider exclusively for nonprofit organizations,” Messier said proudly. “Our mission is to be able to provide individuals and organizations with high-speed, mobile internet access beyond what they were capable of in the past.” Bridging the Gap, she said, helps nonprofits serve low-income individuals in a way that can lift them out of poverty. Having a home computer and internet access they couldn’t otherwise afford allows people to “take classes, take tests – look for jobs the way other people with home computing can. It’s … a strong lever to get out of poverty.” Nonprofits with mobile internet access, she added, can hire more people and work more efficiently by being able to work outside of the office. “It’s hard to pick what accomplishment I am proudest of,” Messier said. “We help nonprofits fulfill their mission.”