This post was written by Molly Tschang, customer solutions director, advisory services, reflecting the teamwork started by 20+ members of Cisco’s New York City public sector team

Ten to fifteen percent of America’s homeless population is chronically homeless. Yet they utilize more than 50 percent of public resources available to help the homeless.  Housing people permanently reconnects them to society and amounts to annual savings of US$30,000 to US$40,000 per family in New York City, money that could potentially support other city services.

Community Solutions is a leading social enterprise, assessing the roots of homelessness and addressing them with long-term solutions. Partnering with Community Solutions, Cisco’s New York City public sector team is tapping a broad range of Cisco’s assets--human and technology--to help end homelessness. At the same time, they are achieving the business aim of better understanding their customers’ mission and having greater, more meaningful impact as a business partner.

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Tags: Cisco, community solutions, CSR, homeless, housing, impact multiplied, New York City, youth

By Howard Baldwin, Contributing Columnist

Municipalities around the world have been targeting broadband deployment, with varying degrees of success, as noted in our recent editorial, Intelligent Communities: A Smart Choice? The biggest U.S. city of all, New York, has committed extensive resources to make its broadband deployment a huge economic success, focusing on some traditional areas — government information, business support — and also some non-traditional areas.

Much of the program, dubbed NYC Digital, mirrors what many municipalities have already done. It includes deploying broadband access throughout the five boroughs to improve digital capabilities for industry, citizens, educational institutions, and city government itself. It also includes the traditional feature of giving citizens electronic access to government services — for example, permits, public records, and street cleaning schedules.

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Tags: AT&T, broadband, government, ICT, New York City, Smart+Connected Communities, wi-fi