From the Solutions at Work Newsletter, Spring 2005

The door opens on a room bustling with activity. You've come to the Get Connected! Computer center in the basement of Old Cambridge Baptist Church. As you look around you see someone writing, someone doing research, people reading their e-mail, and someone getting tutored by Randy Eck, one of the center's two volunteer staff.

It's a small space, with room for only 10 computers, but a place focused on ensuring that homeless people in the Harvard Square area have easy access to computers, computer training, and the Internet. You may think it's not hard, even for someone who’s homeless, to access a computer -- all you have to do is walk into a library, right? Now quite, says Randy. It's hard to get enough computer time. And not every place is accommodating to someone who has lots of bags or a big backpack or whose clothes look as if they've been slept in. Randy is very aware of the problems, because right now he's homeless himself, having separated from his wife in mid-January. He came to the Solutions office in need of a place to do the on-line research by which he earns his living. "For people who used to have businesses, the center gives you a connection to what you used to have -- different but the same."

Get Connected! Was started to provide people with computers as they moved off the street. In addition, with the opening of the drop-in computer center, Get Connected! Addresses a broader goal of providing basic computer skills and Internet access to local people who are homeless or in transition.

The computer center boasts two on-site volunteers who monitor the space as well as teach. Stephen Kamau and Randy Eck (pictured here) are both proficient computer technicians who are there to make sure the center is in operation, plus answer any technical questions. People at any skill level can come into the center to learn the basics, or just to work on a project of their own. Randy and Stephen can help set up and e-mail account, work on a resume, search for a job on line, learn computer basics, or build up skills to use on the job. As Randy put it, “We’ll start where you are and get you to where you want to be.”

Stephen Kamau, originally from Kenya, uses the Internet to run a business organizing trade exhibits highlighting emerging markets in Africa an Eastern Europe. Both he and Randy came to use the center for them-selves before it was officially open and ended up volunteering to staff it. But they didn’t just staff it. True to the mission of Solutions, they brought their vision to the center: researched other centers, designed the rules, and implemented the outreach process. The services at the center meet the needs that homeless people have told us about –- for instance, we store people’s disks and papers, to keep them safe. Randy and Stephen must be doing something right, because to date we haven’t had anyone come into the center for just one-time use.

The staff fill complementary roles at the center. Randy says, ‘I’m really interested in the training. I want us to give classes and offer more one-on-one training.” Stephen says, “I’m a small businessman. My focus is on helping people get jobs. Who knows -– I may even be able to hire someone who comes though the center.”

Randy is volunteering now, but his goal is to be paid to staff the center. We need your help to make this happen.

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