June 29, 1998
Partnership puts Internet access in public housing
Federal grant follows success in Durham apartment developments
Richard R. Rogoski
DURHAM -- Most people who live in low-income public housing never get a chance to use a computer, let alone "surf the web." Children who live in these housing projects have access to computers through schools in the Triangle, which generally have labs and Internet access. Yet when they get home, there is rarely a computer to use.
But that's changing.
Spurred by the success of two previous projects that have brought computers and free Internet access to public housing communities in Durham, the Durham Housing Authority, GTE and EasyWeb Inc. are again joining forces to bring technology to the less fortunate.
According to Frank Meachem, deputy director of the Durham Housing Authority, the Oxford Manor public housing project was recently awarded a $100,000 TOPS (Tenants Opportunity Program) grant from HUD to set up a resident management corporation which will operate a community computer center.
Like previous projects housed in the McDougald Terrace and Cornwallis Road developments, the one scheduled to get underway in July at Oxford Manor will rely on the technical expertise of Research Triangle Park-based EasyWeb Inc. and the donation by GTE of free Internet access.
It is hoped that Oxford Manor will also have 15 new computers hooked up to the Internet, Meachem said.
Success breeds success
The first attempt to bring free Internet access to a Durham housing complex has been an overwhelming success, Meachem said.
Launched in December 1996, that program stemmed from donation of two IBM computers by Durham native Rodney Rogers, now playing with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers.
Rogers had grown up in McDougald Terrace and wanted to give something back to his community, so he donated the computers to the McDougald Terrace branch of the Durham Public Library.
But that was just the beginning.
Jeff Martin, community relations director at EasyWeb, then contacted GTE to see if they would be interested in donating free Internet access.
"The overall reason we got involved is because we're in the information age and it's very dynamic," said GTE spokesman, Steve Toler. "We felt that we wanted to participate in an effort to make the information age more inclusive, and not leave anyone behind."
Martin said the project did a lot in leveling the playing field between the haves and have-nots. "Some of these kids were in school with kids who had computers at home," he said. "So the idea was to bring some kind of balance to these kids."
Toler agrees. "We're reaching out to communities that normally would not get on the Internet in the foreseeable future," he said. "Many of those kids who can't even make it to the North Carolina Zoo can now go to the San Diego Zoo or even to the Louvre or the Smithsonian."
Martin's company programmed the computers, installed the software and trained some of the people who would be managing the site.
The project's impact was felt throughout Durham. "This was the first place in Durham where the public could gain access to the Internet for free," Martin said. "It caused the Durham library system to speed up getting all their branches on-line."
Almena Walker, the librarian at the McDougald Terrace library, said that since the computers were installed, the number of people accessing the Internet has skyrocketed. Her records show that computer use has jumped from only 18 people in November 1997 to 45 people in May of this year.
Both children and adults are taking advantage of the service, according to Walker. "Children use it to do research for their homework," she noted. "But many of the adults look for places to visit on vacation or are looking for jobs. And young adults often use it when they're looking for universities."
With the success of the McDougald Terrace project, the stage was set for an even larger endeavor involving the Cornwallis Road housing development or, more specifically, the King's Park Life Center, he said.
Operated as an outreach program of the King's Park International Church, the King's Park Life Center serves as an after-school enrichment program for children, said Cheryl Lide, the center's program director.
After hearing that Darryl Green, a professional football player with the Washington Redskins, had donated computers to a similar program in Washington, D.C., the Durham church asked him if he could also make a donation to Durham. And he did with a check for $13,500, which bought 10 Compaq computers equipped with Pentium II processors, Lide said.
These were added to five other computers donated by Duke University.
In addition, the Durham Housing Authority donated an apartment in the housing complex to be used as a separate computer center, she said.
With the cooperation of Duke University's Office of Information Technology, GTE and EasyWeb, 10 of the 15 computers were hooked up to the Internet using three phone lines and external modems with speeds of 56 kilobytes per second.
"It's been a blessing," Lide said. "We have 30 children enrolled in the after school enrichment program and all have a chance to use the Internet."
Mornings at the computer center also are getting busier now, she said. Since 98 percent of the community consists of single mothers who have an average of three children, the center has begun offering continuing education classes for these women. Many are using the Internet to get their GED while others are looking for jobs.
The success of these two projects and the optimism surrounding the upcoming project at Oxford Manor has not gone unnoticed by the Durham Housing Authority. "We want to expand this and set up computer centers in all our communities," Meachem said.
© 1998, Triangle Business Journal
