Local nonprofit Empower House San Antonio no longer has to pay for high-speed internet at its facility in the Monticello Park neighborhood.
As part of its Community Connections program, Google Fiber has installed three, 1 gigabit networks — which are up to 100 times faster than normally available broadband access — and is picking up the entire bill.
“The productivity has gone up because the connection is so fast,” said Becca Najera, assistant director of Empower House, which provides education, community health services and youth programs to underserved communities at three different locations.
The building also acts as a free Wi-Fi hub for the community, with the public network name and password posted on a sign in its front yard. Inside, laptops and printers are available for public use.
“We know that people don’t really look at broadband as a utility — and we believe it is,” Najera said. “To function in this world and to be successful, you really have to have access.”
The nonprofit, formerly known as Martinez Street Women’s Center, uses the former two-story residence for some of its staff’s offices, restorative justice programming and various educational workshops and services to help residents navigate housing, health care and employment systems — systems that largely live on the internet.
Empower House was recently awarded about $164,000 from the City of San Antonio’s Reproductive Justice Fund to provide prenatal care, STI testing and health care access workshops. Those services are slated to start in January.
Upstairs, a recently renovated space serves as the new home for Empower House’s music and talk radio station, KXEP 101.5 FM, which was started in partnership with the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in 2017. The low-powered antenna, which has a 10-mile radius, is located at Esperanza just north of downtown, while the programming and recording happen here at Empower House’s Donaldson Avenue location.
Google Fiber also paid for new technology for the radio station and support for Empower House’s Student Tech Center, located upstairs outside of the studio. The center teaches students of all ages how to use the technology for storytelling, editing and recording podcasts or radio programs, Najera said.
“We, as brown and black people, are underrepresented in media,” she said. “We want that voice of community to be loud and heard and we want our culture to be uplifted. … That means we have to tell our own stories and have a platform.”
Bexar County has a wide digital divide: 1 in 5 households, or approximately 130,000 homes, don’t have access to reliable broadband internet, according to the digital inclusion survey conducted by the city and county in 2020. To reach the vulnerable community it serves, Empower House needs to use the relatively free airwaves, Najera said.
“You’re having it go out to people who may not have access to the show in podcast form,” said radio program host Joy Windrider Jimenez, people who don’t have a computer or phone with internet access but do have a radio at home, at work or in their car.
The 24/7 radio station hosts six local shows weekly and selects other grassroots programming from around the world through the Pacifica Network.
“We’re bringing in local voices and we’re talking about stuff that’s relevant to us,” said Jimenez, who hosts The Resilience Within program. “In my case, it’s about resilience and healing the journey of that. … It’s community conversation. Being able to bring that weekly, where people can come and tune in, it’s powerful.”
People also access the content through the station’s website. Online radio visitors currently average about 150 per day, said Armando Estrada, Empower House’s radio manager. Since the station added an on-demand feature on its website in April, 900 episodes have been downloaded.
But radio can also play an important role in emergencies, such as extreme weather, Estrada said.
“If the internet goes down … radio will be the last thing still standing,” he said.
It’s also just fun.
“We want to start our own version of Tiny Desk Concerts,” he said, referencing the wildly popular NPR series that records performances of musical guests. “About two weeks ago, we did a small test run to see how it would go. And it was amazing.”
Empower House is just one of hundreds of “community hubs” across the country that it has selected to support with free, high-speed internet services, said John-Michael Cortez, head of government and community affairs at Google Fiber.
Google Fiber is a subsidiary of multinational technology company Alphabet, which also owns Google LLC.
“This is our very first Community Connection in San Antonio, and we think we picked the perfect partner,” Cortez said. “We are hopeful to identify other opportunities [here] to bring the best internet to organizations that are really making a meaningful impact in our community.”
Google Fiber will continue to give Empower House’s location at 200 Donaldson Ave. free internet, worth more than $300 each month, “indefinitely,” Cortez said. “We have no expiration date.”
