Paul admits he has a tough time with computers, but the 50-year-old is determined to improve his technical skills and begin a new job.
However, there are a few hurdles to face – like not owning a computer, or even having a roof over his head. Paul’s a resident, or “client” at the downtown Calgary Drop-In Centre, which provides shelter, clothing and food for up to 800 homeless or at-risk people daily, including those with substance abuse and serious mental health problems.
It’s not an ideal place to start thinking about launching a new career. But Paul and other Calgarians now have a chance to give themselves a hand up by learning about the Internet and computer skills through a $10-million “community empowerment” project called Connect Calgary.
The Drop-In Centre, along with the Salvation Army, the Mustard Seed and the Calgary Public Library, are among several key cogs in the Calgary Connect program, part of the federal government’s Smart Communities demonstration project to help reduce the so-called “digital divide” between haves and have-nots. Calgary Technologies Inc.’s INFOPORT Community Empowerment project won the bid for Alberta, and is now helping co-ordinate the project.
The project is a collaborative effort by Calgary organizations that share an interest in using technology as a tool to assist those less fortunate, says Ken Myhre, project co-ordinator for Calgary Technologies Inc.
With the help of $4.5 million in federal funding over three years matched by local partners, up to 400 “personal access terminals” (PATs) will be installed in core agencies to allow at-risk Calgarians access to the Internet, e-mail and computer training.
“I consider this to be a very important step for those who are on the lower end of the socio-economic scale,” said Major Reg Newbury of the Salvation Army, at the official kickoff of Calgary Connect last week.
“Many jobs now require computer skills and training . . . for people to get what was once commonly called a labourer’s job, isn’t the same as it used to be. Learning to get on to the Internet puts them into a whole new dimension, and accesses a whole range of services . . . not only for housing and employment, but health, education and other social services. It opens up a whole new world for them in terms of expanding their horizons.”
The Salvation Army, which Newbury estimates serves about 278 clients at the Booth Centre and 345 at the new Centre of Hope, will be equipped with 11 PATs, while the Mustard Seed and the Drop-In Centre will receive up to 30 computers each.
“It’s another door to open, a way to spend time productively and to learn, and a way to get away from the stagnant life that people without resources seem to enter,” says Dermot Baldwin, executive director at the Drop-In Centre. “It’s brought a whole lot of new hope to us.”
And to people like Paul, who says he’s trying to start a new estimating company.
“I’m a computer illiterate, basically,” he says. “I saw downstairs that they were advertising a free course, and I thought I should take advantage of it.”
He’s now taking courses to learn how to operate Windows ’98, so he can upgrade his skills and get his new enterprise off the ground.
Meanwhile, the city of Calgary is also reaching out to improve free public Internet access by launching the second phase of its Co-ordinated Community Access Program (CAP). Boosted by funding from Industry Canada, the $1.5-million project is setting up computers at 51 sites across the city, including community facilities, immigrant agencies, teen centres, seniors’ clubs and sports facilities in lower-income areas of Calgary.
“It’s very much a grassroots project,” says manager Jennifer Leonard, who adds she hopes Calgary’s corporate community will help sustain the project after federal funding runs out in two years.
Myhre adds the Connect Calgary initiative will be working co-operatively with the city’s community access project to broaden the reach of both programs to at-risk Calgarians.
Web Watch:
www. connectcalgary.ca
www.gov.calgary.ab.ca/community/cap
