A team of vocational technology students in New York City is helping bridge the digital divide.

The vo-tech students are part of an innovative program, called Computers for Youth (CFY), that aims to bring technology to inner-city youths by giving them a computer for their home.

But a computer alone isn’t enough, says Elisabeth Stock, executive director of CFY.

"People think the digital divide is about access or technology, but it’s about a lot more," she says. "There’s all these other pieces--tech support, content and training."

Integral Part of Program
The vo-tech students will work through partnerships to deliver some of the pieces that help inner-city youths learn to effectively use technology.

Computers are donated by New York area businesses and are checked, rehabilitated and configured by vo-tech students. The students are part of a cooperative program, in which juniors and seniors in high schools across the city participate in alternating weeks of school study and off-site internships.

One goal is to enable all students to pass the "A+" computer repair test by the end of their work with Computers for Youth. Another goal is to ready old computers for use in schools and in students’ homes.

Expensive To Fix Old Computers
Schools across the country, in fact, are questioning the cost and effort of rehabilitating outdated computers. For example, California’s Detwiler Foundation recently announced that it would discontinue its pioneering Computers for Schools program, citing dwindling support and concerns about total cost of ownership of donated computers for schools.

In contrast, the efforts of vo-tech students in New York mean that CFY computers are ready to use when they arrive in schools and homes with little additional work required.

In the internship, students progress from learning basic computer mechanics to doing minor repairs on computers that will be used in schools. Eventually, students can work their way up to more sophisticated debugging and software reconfiguration to help families use the computers easily and immediately.

While they are learning, students make minimum wage and earn high school credit for cleaning hard drives, installing hardware, software and modems, and doing other repairs.

Computers for Youth will begin a second school to career component next week. As part of an after-school program, students of the School for Co-operative Technical Education (Co-op Tech) in East Harlem will man a help desk for families who have a CFY computer.

Real World Experience
The program is voluntary for students who have an interest in learning to respond to help requests via phone calls and e-mails. Initially, the help desk will be open on weekday evenings, and will pay vo-tech staffers minimum wage.

Corporate volunteers, such as IBM’s Lotus and Globix, and Internet connectivity and solution provider, will support the help desk by providing server software and workstations, and training and supervising students.

Stock is pleased that students will gain experience in a field that is flexible and marketable enough to allow students to work hours and earn money to continue their education past high school.

"It’s really a win, win, win situation," says Stock. "Our families get help troubleshooting their new computers, students get experience in a very marketable skill, and companies train and even scout the talented people they need to run their own help desks in the future."

For information about Computers for Youth, contact www.cfy.org.