Urban Health Institute Unveils Computer Training
Center
The 9,000-square-foot East
Baltimore Technical Resource Center will give local
residents easy cost-free access to computer training and
repair work instruction.
PHOTO BY HPS/WILL KIRK
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By John Lazarou Johns Hopkins Medicine
The Johns Hopkins
Urban Health Institute and its partner organizations
celebrated the Wednesday opening of the institute's East
Baltimore Technical Resource Center with a ribbon cutting
and open house. Roughly 100 people from the community and
Johns Hopkins attended the event, including President William R. Brody and
Jerome Schnydman,
executive assistant to the president.
"The center will be a place of new beginnings," Brody
said when he addressed the guests. "The outpouring of
support from community organizations, neighborhood churches
and the residents of Historic East Baltimore has been a
tremendous help in making this center a reality. It will
nicely complement the work of the Johns Hopkins Urban
Health Institute in trying to bring better health, housing
and economic opportunities for all."
The new facility, home to 9,000 square feet of
computer learning labs and a venue for a wide range of
general computing and technical courses, is designed to
provide local residents with easy cost-free access to
computer training. Trainees also can learn computer repair
and maintenance. Refurbished computers will be distributed
to East Baltimore community-based organizations, schools
and homes.
Claude Earl Fox, director of the Urban Health
Institute, said that the new facility was made possible
with the help of several organizations and their commitment
to help build a healthier community. "This center will
provide skills necessary in today's job market," Fox said.
"It also provides computers, donated by Johns Hopkins
University, to assist community-based organizations in
their efforts to improve computer literacy in the
community."
The East Baltimore Technical Resource Center, located
at 1819 E. Preston St., is the first site of its kind in
East Baltimore. The building, former home of the Diamond
Press, was donated by the Historic East Baltimore Community
Action Coalition, known as HEBCAC, and will be staffed via
VISTA, the Volunteers in Service to America program.
Training seminars and courses will be offered through a
partnership between the training center, the Maryland
Center for Arts and Technology and Baltimore City Community
College. Other important organizations involved with the
project are Senior Cyber Net, Phoenix Project, Space Hope,
Gaining Access to Training and Employment, University of
Baltimore's Center for Community Technology Services,
Madison East-End Community Association and Rose Street
Community Center.
According to Tom Morford, deputy director of the Urban
Health Institute, "The long-range plan for the center is
not only to provide training opportunities but also to help
bridge the digital divide by providing computers for
additional learning opportunities throughout the community.
We will continue to establish computer learning labs across
the city, with the refurbished computers, to further
improve computer literacy."
For more about the Johns Hopkins Urban Health
Institute, go to
www.jhu.edu/uhi.
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