Chicago Blog

We’re all familiar with the film of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reciting his “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C. in 1963, but a new exhibit at the DuSable Museum will let you experience it as if you were there.

As CBS News’ Adriana Diaz reported, there were 250,000 people who were actually present for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom as Dr. King spoke. Now, almost 57 years later, you can be there too.ADVERTISING

At the DuSable Museum of African-American History, at 740 E. 56th Pl. in Washington Park, a new virtual reality exhibit called “The March” – created by Time Studios – allows visitors to time-travel nearly six decades.

View full article in CBS Chicago.

Unfortunately, the biggest death and injury rate for first responders is traffic accidents. HAAS Alert, a Chicago-based cellular-vehicle communication company, is using technology to tackle this issue.  

Fire and police command centers, for example, work with the company to alert drivers when emergency vehicles are approaching. As Cory Hohs, CEO and Co-Founder of HAAS Alert told us, from the time a driver hears a siren or sees an emergency vehicle, they typically have about 2.6 seconds to react.

With 5G’s speed and latency, alerts from HAAS can move faster – giving drivers more time to react. “Every second is critical. That’s where you really start to see the power of 5G. … [If you can] give a second back to somebody, it really can save lives,” says Hohs.

Check out the latest video from Faces of 5G and then click here to learn more about Haas Alert.

Robert Johnson is making it his mission to support the development of entrepreneurs of color.

He recently started a social impact business incubator called The Collective. Located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, his organization helps minority entrepreneurs grow, scale, and access resources.

Robert sees 5G as a huge opportunity to help bridge the gap among underserved communities. To ensure that happens, he says: “There’s a need to engage the community, bring the community together, and provide opportunities for those who have been left out, disenfranchised, and underinvested in.”

Check out the latest video from Faces of 5G.

At Outlier Ventures in Chicago, Rumi Morales is focused on the creation of a new digital economy and knows that new and transformative businesses need 5G to succeed.

Rumi, who is a Partner at Outlier and Head of Venture, expanded on this at our recent event in Chicago, “5G in the Windy City.” We caught up with her before the event to talk about the impact she expects 5G to have on everything from the Internet of Things to artificial intelligence.

Here’s some of what she had to say:

“I cannot imagine, for example, many of the things that we’re talking about – whether it’s around bitcoin or whether it’s around AI – for those promises to become real without 5G. It touches so many parts of our future economy. 5G equals opportunity. 5G equals future economic growth. A lot can be missed if we don’t start investing in 5G now.”

For more from Rumi, check out the latest video from Faces of 5G and then click here to learn more about Outlier Ventures.

Originally posted on Faces of 5G. 

In the 21st century, digital literacy is no longer a luxury – it’s a necessity. Every day, we’re becoming more reliant on technology to accomplish basic tasks, from making doctors’ appointments, to paying bills, to applying for jobs, to communicating with friends and family. The ability to use computers and access, create, and share digital content is critical to thriving at work and in our daily lives. More than 8 in 10 jobs require some level of digital competency. Yet, according to a Pew Research Center report, 10% of American adults say they do not use the internet. That figure is higher for Hispanics and seniors: 14% of Hispanic adults in the U.S. and 27% of those 65 and older say that they do not use the internet. Household income is also a factor affecting internet adoption. Adults from lower income households are more likely to be offline than more affluent adults.

Here in Chicago – despite being a hotspot for innovation where the growth rate of tech startups has nearly tripled over the past decade – many communities are faced with these issues of digital exclusion. For the city to thrive it is imperative to train and upskill the current workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs. To do this, Verizon and Unidos.US have joined forces to build digital learning centers in major cities, starting with Chicago. The Chicago center is located at Northwest Side Housing in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood and is equipped with mobile technology, an educational curriculum, and professional services to help program participants become digitally competent in the workplace. The centers will also offer child care and lunches for those enrolled. Verizon and UnidosUS will also launch similar learning centers in Lawrenceville, Massachusetts, Seattle, Washington, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

View full article in HispanicPro.