We've heard of the promise of community wireless access for years now and with the support of CWRU, OneCommunity, Cisco Systems and more than 50 community organizations and partners, the promise has become a reality.
This is the first "light up" of a community wireless mesh network in the country. Focused on the University Circle area, the solution is scalable and replicable to other neighborhoods in our area.
Connectivity without access and content is incomplete so several real-time community applications were demoed at the event. From the Peter B. Lewis Building, we could view other local sites using the wi-fi mesh and applications to address the community priority of advancing the education of public health. As Case's Lev Gonick said, "It's not just about technology, it's about people."
One Community's Scott Rourke said the goal was to "take the barriers of technology away." 
Cleveland Municipal School District CEO Dr. Eugene Sanders, Cisco's Robert Lloyd, One Community's Scott Rourke and Case CIO Lev Gonick
Rob Lloyd of Cisco Systems said they understand "the power of technology to transform things" and that the "network will become the platform for our experiences - as patients, as consumers and so on."
Dr. Eugene Sanders, CEO of the Cleveland Schools, spoke of "digital immigrants" which he defined as people "my age and older" as opposed to the young people who grew up with tech. "We're excited about the partnership", he stated as it helps reach their goal of becoming one of the premier school systems in the US. 
Lev Gonick showing a Cisco device
PBS' Rick Jackson and University Hospital's Dr Edgar Jackson led the interactive demo where we witnessed students at John Hay High School observing a live open heart surgery that was being performed at the Cleveland Clinic. We saw students at the MLK library using various devices to wirelessly research information about diabetes and heart disease.
Dr Edgar Jackson of University Hospital
and Rick Jackson of PBS
The Ashbury Senior Center is now wirelessly connected to serve that community and a woman, someone's "Aunt Doris", was shown on her porch discussing her symptoms with her doctor via a wireless web transmission.
It's a tremendous use of technology and with Cleveland' many medical resources, health of the community is a perfect first focus.
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