Partnering with the HOPE Financial Dignity Center, located within the Martin Luther King Sr. Community Resource Complex at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, Comcast Cable Communications helped launch a cyber café to provide the local community access to technology.
Comcast donated $50,000 to the HOPE Center’s cyber café outfitting the space with 15 desktops, laptops, and printers. Launched last November, the cyber café and center are a part of Operation HOPE, a national nonprofit that is dedicated to empowering the local communities through financial literacy.
The center aims to serve a bigger purpose in the community. “The vision for the HOPE center was to create a space where our clients can come in and learn how to make an online presence,” said Morgan Sinclair, customer service administrator at the HOPE Center.
Membership to the center is $10 per year, and it provides all the resources the cyber café has to offer. The center provides classes such as beginner’s workshops, resume building, online job search, to social media training. It hopes to expand to advanced computer courses and classes for business owners, focusing on advanced Microsoft Excel and Access.
Currently serving about 45 clients, the cyber café is growing and uses the help of volunteers in various ways. “We need volunteers to help get the word out about the café, raise awareness, and volunteer time to teach classes,” added Sinclair. “The center is open to everyone in the Atlanta community because we want to empower the community to become more professional and successful.”
This partnership falls under Comcast’s mission to bridge the divide of digital literacy and access. The cable company launched Internet Essentials providing low-income families affordable Internet services equalizing opportunities for digital and technological advantages similar to high-income neighborhoods and families.
Atlanta currently has the second-highest Internet Essentials enrollment in the nation behind Chicago, with nearly 6,000 local students or 22,000 low-income residents enrolling in the program since it launched in August 2011.
Comcast Vice President of Government and Community Affairs, Andy Macke said, “Using a computer is ingrained nowadays, and partnering with Operation HOPE and the center provides resources to help lift a community up in a digital way.”
To volunteer with the Hope Financial Dignity Center, e-mail Morgan Sinclair at morgan.sinclair@operationhope.org
For more information on Comcast’s Internet Essentials, visit www.internetessentials.com
In other news: The Georgia National Guard Family Support Foundation received a $39,000 donation from Kangaroo Express' Salute Our Troops campaign held in Marietta on Dec. 19. The Georgia National Guard Family Support Foundation provides assistance on an emergency relief basis to soldiers and airmen serving in the Georgia National Guard and other qualified military members living in Georgia.
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