publiccomputercenters
 Technology For All (TFA) works with nonprofits and community organizations to provide public access to technology, workforce development training, and other learning opportunities in public computer centers (PCCs).
While TFA has provided support to over 180 centers in Houston alone, a recent Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant has united TFA with fellow nonprofits Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network and Austin Free-Net to provide access and training to under-resourced Texans.
voicesfromthelab
As the Texas Connects Coalition, TFA and its partners maintain over 60 PCCs throughout urban and rural Texas to provide total computer technology support and training to the low-income and the underserved. 16 of these centers are available in Houston communities.
Here are their stories.
“With computers, you can learn anything you want to.”
Lina and Regino have been married for 61 years. (“61 already?” Lina asks.) The childhood playmates were married at 16 and 17 in Tahoka, Texas, a small agricultural town near Lubbock. “People got married young in those days,” Lina says. “We were in love. We wanted to have kids; we didn’t think about how we would take care of them.” Now they have 7 children, 18 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren—a dynasty that began in an era where segregation limited educational and economic opportunities. “My dad didn’t see the point in education if you couldn’t get good jobs,” says Lina. “Not everyone had the opportunity to work because people wouldn’t hire blacks and Mexicans.”
 Without education laws, children like Regino and Lina were often put to work. Regino left school in third grade, while Lina attended school after crop-picking until she fell too far behind in seventh grade. This had a huge effect on their lives: they lived as migrant workers, dependent on farmers and seasons.
These disadvantages only pushed Lina’s thirst for education, culminating in General Education Development (GED) and computer classes in the Denver Harbor Multi-Service Center’s computer lab. “I always wanted to be educated, because I didn’t get to finish.”
Regino and Lina are both taking control of their education through computers. Lina says, “Everything is computerized, and we both saw a chance here for the seniors.” They take GED and computer basics together; Lina received her GED at the age of 41, but returned to improve her spelling and support Regino, while he learns computers at her side. At home, they take turns cooking and cleaning so the other can study. “I help him with computers, he helps me with spelling,” Lina says. Regino adds, “If I have her here, I do okay.”
Combining their classes has been rewarding. “For me, it’s a dream come true,” says Lina. When they started, “I didn’t know what software was or what it did,” Lina says. Now, she’s helped Regino fix his computer when it crashed. She enjoys the efficiency of emailing lessons and of online resources for math and spelling. Regino adds, “I want to know what I’m doing.”
The couple is a constant feature in the computer lab. “With computers, you can learn anything you want to,” Lina says. “We’ve learned a lot here, more than I’m telling you. [Technology For All Program Specialist] Chris is a very good teacher.” The couple can pay bills online, create professional documents and name computer components. “They give so much help, and so many people need it.”
"You could see the progression.”
 Technology For All’s Program Specialist Ken remembers the day he met the “roughneck”. “Roughneck”, a slang term for manual labor, is most associated with oil rigs. Houston is also associated with oil rigs thanks to the Port of Houston, the second-busiest port in the U.S. Less than 4 miles away is Mission Milby Community Development Corporation, a community resource for a neighborhood once paved with shells.
“This is a great place. It helps me catch up,” Jerry says. “I don’t have a car right now, so going anywhere costs bus money. This is just down the street.”
“You can’t fake these skills.”
Dadisi is an artist living the kind of life most dream of: world traveler, poet, musician and published author. His website, www.dcmoreproductions.com, showcases his passion for creativity. His collection of poems, “Love is a River,” is his fourth book to be published.
So what brings this self-described “creative entrepreneur” to Eastside University Village Community Learning Center (ESUVCLC) in Houston’s Third Ward. Like many, it’s the increasingly digital demands of today’s job market.
“I’m not afraid anymore.”
Translated through Technology For All Program Specialist Elmer
For five strangers at Elevation Station, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are for computer basics. Thanks to a U.S. Department of Commerce grant supplied to Texas Connects Coalition, founding member Technology For All provides free computer access and training to Houston's heavily mutlicultural Spring Branch neighborhood.
The class is designed to give Spanish-speaking and bilingual populations a firm foundation in computer technology, from terminology to Internet security. So while many students have different computer skills, they all get something out of the class.
 "This is outreach."Amy & Donna--Community Outreach with Houston Public Library at Mission Milby
Mango Languages is a self-paced online language learning resource serving the Department of Homeland Security, the National Institute of Health and 1 in 5 U.S. libraries, including Houston Public Library. Donna and Amy from the Houston Public Library's Community Outreach brought it to Mission Milby’s ESL class in a TFA computer lab. “Anything I think is a big need in the community, I push for,” Amy says.
“I like where I’m going.”
Brenda had looked everywhere for her chance to educate herself. Outside of the local community center and library, however, there was no other place for the people of Settegast to learn computer skills. “Now they stopped offering classes,” she says. “It’s a shame we don’t have anything in the area. People want this.”
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“They are really getting something out of it.”
Hunt has taught at Sharpstown Learning Center (SLC) for three years, and uses technology wherever she can in class. “It’s a must.” Making copies of paperwork or transparencies for projectors are costly and inefficient—two especially dreaded words in the adult education realm. So she presents material on projectors connected to her laptop. “It’s more efficient than a white board, uses less space, I can walk around my classroom and they pay more attention.”
To Hunt, the transition to digital presentation is simply a sign of the times. Some of her younger students are completely unfamiliar what a newspaper is. “They are so used to looking at screens. They pick up their smartphone, not a newspaper.”
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