Center brings computers to community

by KIA MUHAMMAD

The Mt. Airy community is taking a leap into the technological world through the Mt. Airy Community Computer Center. The center, located at 6335 Wayne Ave., is a place where individuals can gain access to 11 computers linked to a unified network. Founded in 1999 by the Mt. Airy Business Association (MABA), the Mt. Airy Learning Tree (MALT) and the Mt. Airy Schools Committee (MASC), the computer center’s goal was to reach out to schools in the Mt. Airy and Germantown communities. Six years later, under the immediate supervision of director Terri Rivera and the overseeing supervision of board president Howard Bilofsky, the main goal is now not only to work with schools, but also to reach out to other groups of the community such as the homeless, elderly and ex-offenders through a new program that serves those that have recently been released from prison.

The computer center offers valuable classes and information about computer technology from volunteers with some background in computer sciences or education. The classes for adults are reasonably priced and are offered through the Mt. Airy Learning Tree. Some of the organizations and groups that use the computer center are after-school programs, including one that works with Arcadia University, and the Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church. Another program allows elementary students from Houston and Henry schools to come work on their Internet skills and math skills to increase their speed on standardized tests.

Another important group that takes advantage of the services the computer center offers to the community is the Ontario Youth Spirit program, an all-teenage girl group that often comes to the computer center on Thursday evenings to work on homework, school projects and to search for employment. The computer center works with the MABA to offer sessions for small businesses that teach them how to use programs such as Microsoft Office Suite. With new programs such as the ex-offenders program and soon-to-be introduced public access hours (Wednesdays at their satellite lab at the Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church from 6 to 8 p.m. and Fridays at their main lab on Wayne Avenue from 7 to 9 p.m.), the computer center is making much leeway in the community.

Although not entirely known in the surrounding communities of Mt. Airy, Germantown and Chestnut Hill, the community center is popular among the organizations that already use it. The center hopes to “get the word out,” said Bilofsky, who believes that the center is really a place that offers knowledge about what computers are good for. The computer center has been funded through grants, both small state grants as well as larger grants from such major corporations as the William Penn Foundation. An update to the computer center was done last year largely due to a grant from Microsoft. The new program for ex-offenders, which offers a computer as well as knowledge on how to use them, will be funded by a contract between the computer center and the city prison system.

Almost 20 percent of Germantown’s population lives below the poverty line and have little knowledge about computers and how they continue to be a major driving force in the world today. Through programs such as the computer center, the Mt. Airy community is attempting to “bridge the digital divide,” according to Bilofsky, and provide much-needed knowledge to the citizens of the community.