With technology for all

Firm wires Durham low-income communities

David Strow

DURHAM -- Inner-city Durham doesn't seem like a fruitful place for a technology company to find new business and customers.

But when Erroll Reese, a former IBMer, peers into the housing projects of Durham, he sees an untapped resource begging to be served, and a community needing to fit into the region's booming high-technology job market.

Reese's EWI is a systems integration firm in Durham. A growing piece of its revenues are coming from helping to install and maintain community computing centers in Durham's poorest districts.

The goal is to give residents the computer skills, training and literacy required for a majority of today's jobs.

Eventually, they're hoping that the community computer center idea spreads throughout the Southeast -- and that EWI becomes the vendor of choice for such projects.

"There's a part of the community that's being left out," said Cecil Hollar, EWI's vice president of marketing. "If you can mobilize that segment, you can do a lot for the community in total. It will change the entire community."

Founded in 1995, EWI has been the force behind the establishment of three Durham computing centers; two located at Durham housing projects, the third at Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers (TROSA). A fourth will open at Durham's Oxford Manor on Feb. 11, and EWI is working with Raleigh officials to open a fifth in southeast Raleigh.

The centers are financed by a variety of sources. Durham native and NBA basketball player Rodney Rogers funded the first center at the McDougald Terrace project, while the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development will fund Oxford Manor. Darrell Green of the NFL's Washington Redskins provided equipment for a Cornwallis Road-area project because of ties between his Washington, D.C., church and a Durham church.

GTE is providing free Internet access for the projects.

It typically costs $40,000 to launch a center, then at least $35,000 annually for maintenance and training. Finding money for the centers into the future is the next challenge. Many centers have organized into non-profit entities, and EWI is helping line up private and public grants.

It is a business born from EWI's start as a web design firm called EasyWeb Inc., which built a web network aimed at minorities. Former University of North Carolina basketball stars Phil Ford and Walter Davis were initial investors.

EasyWeb created CommunityNet of North Carolina, a collection of websites and information sources aimed at minorities. But the company's founders realized that much of their target audience lacked access to the Internet.

"We were creating a website for individuals who look like us," said Reese. "But do they know how to get to us? This is turning into a real business. It kind of fell out of the sky."

Today, the computer centers that started as a goodwill effort have become EWI's focus in life.

The company won't disclose revenues. The company employs eight, and has an additional 18 contractors. In addition to its computing center work, EWI provides systems integration, web design and application development for small and mid-size companies.

"It is neat for any organization to support that kind of effort," said Steve Toler, regional director of public affairs for GTE in Durham, and that company's liaison to EWI. "But when you're an entrepreneur, and you don't have that many people on your team, and you spend a lot of time doing this, that makes it extra special."

The Triangle is brimming with high-tech jobs. Average Triangle household income tops $52,000 a year, and the area's unemployment rate stands at 1.3 percent. But those numbers mask the plight of the unemployed or underemployed, who struggle to break into the technology marketplace.

"We find, if someone is willing to work, and they have a basic understanding of computers, employers are willing to train how to use their technology," said Ted Conner, vice president of economic development at the Durham Chamber of Commerce. "But you cannot be afraid of the computer. If you don't have (computer literacy), it is a major hurdle to surmount."

That's a hurdle faced by most of TROSA's 200 residents, who will spend two years learning job skills at the Durham nonprofit while trying to overcome their addictions.

In their computer lab, installed this December, are 15 state-of-the-art computers, hooked to the Internet through a T-1 line.

The small group of residents in the lab is well aware of the importance of computers, but when TROSA President Kevin McDonald asks how many of them are afraid of them, several reluctantly raise their hands. McDonald nods.

"I didn't even know how to type, or how to turn on a computer," McDonald tells them. "I was scared of computers, but it's coming together. The thing to know is that you can do it."

Initially, residents will learn basic computer skills, then use the machines to prepare for GED examinations. Soon after, McDonald sees the machines becoming the centerpiece of a resident-run business to handle outsourced copying, imaging and data entry jobs from local employers.

Those funds could supplement TROSA's $3.1 million budget, and would supply residents with on-the-job skills for better jobs.

Though it's getting its first test at TROSA, Reese sees a time when local companies would be willing to outsource data entry or word processing work to residents of the Durham communities.

"We would like to see people start careers, not just find jobs," Reese said.