Three-year Department of Education Grant Makes Lab Possible

The road to work was smoothed a bit this month for hundreds of unemployed residents of the West Humboldt Park area who are participants in the Career Advancement Community Technology Center, located at 1116 N. Kedzie Ave. Help came in the form of a U.S. Department of Education grant awarded to DePaul University that is being used to fund a high-tech computer laboratory at the center.

The DePaul University Egan Urban Center recently received a $1.4 million grant to create three technology centers in Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods. The grant, to be disbursed over three years, will finance 50 percent of the cost to open these centers. The rest will be funded in kind. The award will provide computer equipment and training for two additional community centers in West Humboldt Park that also have limited technological resources.

“These grants are a part of a Bill Clinton initiative to bring computers to poor neighborhoods,” explained Marjorie Piechowski, director of Sponsored Programs and Research at DePaul. “DePaul was among the first wave of grants given in the nation, and the university received two of them. This speaks to our community involvement and outreach.”

The first of the three computer centers will enhance the referral and training efforts of Support and Training Result in Valuable Employees (STRIVE), a non-profit employment preparedness service for chronically unemployed, low-income adults. The grant also provides for comprehensive computer training of STRIVE’s staff, something that is often overlooked in programs aimed at bridging the digital divide. Staff will receive 18 hours of training in Plato, a GED skills building software package; Microsoft Office and Resume Writer, which was developed by DePaul’s School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems, Department of Sociology and Office of Community-Based Services Learning.

STRIVE clients participate in a four-week job readiness workshop to prepare for entry into the work force. Beginning in January 2001, the workshop, which includes basic office skills building and reading literacy, will include an introduction to computers.

The technology center has two computer labs – one to be used by clients enrolled in the core services training sessions, and the other to be used as a drop-in lab where computer users may work independently. The drop-in lab will be staffed by a full-time instructor and will be open from noon until 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturdays. The instructor can walk lab users through tutorials in Microsoft Office, reading and literacy skills building and Internet applications.

According to Sylvia Benson, chief operating officer of STRIVE, most of the users of the drop-in lab will be graduates of previous job prep workshops who need to update resumes, increase typing skills and search web sites for job leads. Some 3,300 people, a combination of African Americans and Hispanics, have graduated from STRIVE’s job readiness workshops in the past 10 years.

Prior to receiving the DePaul-funded computer lab, not only did STRIVE’s training program for its clients lacked technical instruction. “Previously, we were not able to offer structured computer training – now we can offer a holistic approach to providing services to our clients,” said Benson.

The personal computers are Gateway Pentium IIIs with 17-inch monitors and high-speed Internet access connectivity. A specialized presentation station provides multi-media and video applications for audio conferencing, video conferencing, Power Point presentation, distance learning and computer-based education.

The Egan Urban Center, named in honor of Msgr. John J. Egan, special assistant for community affairs for the president of DePaul and a dedicated servant of social justice issues, provides the vehicle for DePaul to fulfill its mission of community service. “We are in the sixth year of an ongoing commitment to provide technical assistance and resources to the West Humboldt Park community,” said Bernice Taylor, associate director of the center and author of the grant. “Our community partners determine our initiatives – from staff development to local church organizing. Our concern when it comes to computer technology is access. The digital divide is a critical issue for those communities that are left behind. Without technology, their options are severely limited.” For more information about the Egan Urban Center and its community programs, call 312/362-6233.

Editors’ Note: An open house will be held at the STRIVE Career Advancement Center, 1116 N. Kedzie, 5th floor, Nov. 2 from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. Community leaders, public officials, DePaul Egan Urban Center staff and STRIVE staff will attend.