Grant Funds Digital Literacy in Low- Grant Funds Digital Literacy in Low-Income Communities

San Bernardino, CA – San Bernardino County just got closer to closing the digital divide among low-income communities thanks to a $484,830 grant award to the Housing Authority (HACSB) from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) Broadband Public Housing Account for the Broadband Adoption Digital Learning Centers project.

HACSB has partnered with Great Harvest Community Center, Inc. to implement its digital literacy training project. This project will provide digital literacy and computer-based job skills trainings for up to 2,760 residents in 26 public housing locations in San Bernardino County.

The digital literacy curriculum will include: digital literacy and computer hardware basics; office productivity software; internet safety; employment access; job search; and resume building.

This overall project will also provide computer access in order to:

• Provide school aged children access to educational resources;
• Provide residents access to healthcare and primary care providers and to communicate
  with family and friends; and
• Provide additional, individual self-paced training; lab assistance will be available.

Each resident will receive a minimum of eight hours of training. Upon completion of eight hours of digital literacy training and enrollment in broadband internet services, a refurbished laptop computer will be issued to the resident. “Just in the last couple months, with only the two Digital Learning Centers open, 62 residents completed the training course. We are making great progress and look forward to expanding our reach in the future centers,” according to Greg Walker and Mickey Yates, Great Harvest’s (CoFounders).

The following is a list of the Digital Literacy Centers, located in various Housing Authority housing sites. The Digital Learning Centers are open to the public as well. Please note, at the time of this announcement, only the Maplewood Homes and Parkside Pines locations are currently open.

• Maplewood Homes, 1738 W. 9th Street, San Bernardino, CA
• Parkside Pines, 772 Pine Street, Colton, CA
• 13088 Monte Vista Ave, Chino CA
• 803 W. Brockton, Redlands CA
• 421 South 7th Ave, Barstow CA
• Summit Walk, 1206 West 4th Street, Ontario, CA
• Sunset Vista, 755 E. Virginia Way, Barstow, CA
• Sunset Pointe, 501 E. Virginia Way, Barstow, CA

The Housing Authority and Great Harvest will host various community events and grand openings to inform residents of the openings at these other locations.

“Though these grant dollars we hope San Bernardino County residents will not only learn about the importance of broadband technology but have an opportunity to gain access to a variety of resources to promote the health and wellness of their families,” said Maria Razo, Executive Director of the Housing Authority.