American Tower opens its first digital community in the Padre Carlos Mugica neighborhood in partnership with GCBA

Digital Communities is a global initiative of American Tower that seeks to contribute to the development of technological capabilities in societies in general, with a particular focus on vulnerable areas and/or populations that lack access to technologies and connectivity for further development opportunities.

The digital classroom is located in the Casa de la Cultura, a public space belonging to the city government, and is expected to be a place of reference for culture and education in the neighborhood. Now, attendees will also be able to access communication and technology resources, and participate in various proposals by mentors and experts in the field.

Since 2016, the city government has been working on an unprecedented integration project in the Mugica district. The different approaches point to the same goal: to ensure that residents have the same opportunities and exercise the same responsibilities as any other porteino, so that the neighborhood is another one of the city. Within these policies is the YENDO program of the Department of Social Inclusion, which aims to promote the all-round development of adolescents and youth. It is proposed as an open space for the entire neighborhood community to enable access, education and training in the use of digital tools. This is how this alliance between American Tower and City Government was born, promoting the projects of each one in the House of Culture space.

In this context, the digital community is developing workshops and courses that promote professional and educational projects; training so that youth and teens in the neighborhood can freely and safely use digital platforms; vocational and labor guidance courses; And workshops for creating audiovisual content such as photoshop or music production, are just some of the tasks that are carried out from the digital community.

“Promoting universal access to the most vulnerable sectors is essential for those of us who promote integration and equity. That is why, with American Towers, we have inaugurated the Digital Society that expands access to technology and reduces the digital divide.” – Thomas Gallmarini, project lead for social, urban and economic integration at Mugica district.

As a result of this pandemic, the importance of the Internet and its associated technologies as essential tools for current education and communication is becoming evident. “Digital communities are one possibility to bring digital inclusion and equitable growth closer to marginalized communities. Explains Josefina Hernandez Gascon, Director of Public and Legal Affairs at American Tower for Argentina, Chile and Paraguay.

He deepened, “In American Tower, we are working to achieve more developed cities, with successful deployments and communications infrastructure that offer new opportunities and improve the quality of life of their residents. Today, in the Mugica neighborhood, we accompany the opening of the first digital community. Today, a new neighborhood makes its connection and begins A wonderful journey towards digital literacy.”

Promoting access to and use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the neighborhood is a key component of the social integration and redevelopment project. For this reason, it is essential that UPEUBPCM coordinate with private sector actors committed to common goals that promote the integrated development of society.

“We have worked to design a presentation of activities, in coordination with public and private sector programmes, in order to enhance personal autonomy and empower every young person to build future projects in the field of education and / or work; similarly, specific projects for women and diversity that contribute to reducing the digital gender gap have been incorporated. ”explains Juan Francisco Merlino, General Manager of Social Integration, Special Projects Unit of Barrio Padre Carlos Mogica.

These types of alliances and initiatives show that collaboration between governments and corporations is essential so that they can deploy robust infrastructure with sufficient capacity to ensure the connectivity ecosystem.

Thus, this new space joins the more than 400 digital communities that American Tower is implementing globally. In Latin America, the company already has nearly 50 digital communities and will continue to work on developing local alliances to reach the goal of 200 digital communities in the region in the next five years. Currently, more than 10,000 people have benefited from this initiative.

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