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$699K in federal funds to boost computer access in Cambridge public housing

E-mail|Link|Comments () March 5, 2010 03:34 PM

By Shana Wickett, Globe Correspondent

Internet access – a key to economic opportunity in the 21st century – is something most residents of the Cambridge Housing Authority don't have.

Nearly 60 percent of residents and 84 percent of elderly residents have no Internet access, according to a federal grant application filed by the authority. Three computer centers that served 600 residents were shuttered in July due to budget cuts.

“With limited education and economic opportunity, and little access to technology, CHA residents are destined to repeat the cycle of generational poverty that has plagued their predecessors,” the proposal said.

But change is coming.

The Department of Commerce has awarded the CHA $699,000 in federal stimulus funding to refurbish and reopen the computer centers with new computers, and with high-speed, broadband Internet access.

“What we’re looking to do … is to give people access to the skills and the experience that they need to join the economic and social mainstream,” said Steven Swanger, director of resident services at the authority.

The residents are largely minorities and often immigrants -- and they account for nearly 10 percent of the city’s population. Thirty-one percent have less than a high school education. Most residents who do access the Internet use dial-up service. The grant money will help close the “digital divide," Swanger said.

The computer centers will each ideally support 20 residents at a time and create about 26 jobs in total, he said. Through an educational program, the housing authority will offer training in computer and Internet proficiency, and computer-based instruction in topics such as searching for a job and English as a second language. The technology would also help young residents stay in school and prepare for college, Swanger said.

“It opens up new horizons for our residents,” he said. “Having these public computer centers is really critical.”

The investment was one out of 25 announced this week by Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. The administration received more than 1,800 applications and has awarded 58 grants since December, said Jessica Schafer, a Commerce spokeswoman.

The funds will be distributed in the next few months to Cambridge, Schafer said.

The program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, provides grants to support broadband infrastructure, public computer centers, and the “sustainable adoption of broadband service,” an NTIA news release said.

The offices of US Senator John F. Kerry and US Representative Michael Capuano announced the grant Tuesday.