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Let’s Get Digital: Free Computer Lab Brings Internet Access To Atlanta’s Westside
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On weekday afternoons, vehicle and pedestrian traffic flow heavily through the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard about two miles west of downtown Atlanta.
On one corner there is a row of the kind of businesses you’d expect to find: a sports bar, a barber shop, a place to get your taxes done. But one storefront is different, and on certain afternoons, you’ll find Darren Hicks on the sidewalk out front in a full suit handing out fliers.
Said Hicks on a recent afternoon: “If I’m on this corner, I say: ‘How’re you doing today ma’am or sir?’ I say: ‘You know we have a free computer lab right here? It’s free. Everything is free, and you come in and go online and take care of your business.’”
Walk inside and you might find one of the lab’s regulars, like Jaferrell Jenkins.
“I’m usually here every Tuesday and Thursday,” he said. “This is actually like my office.”
Jenkins is an aspiring rapper with cerebral palsy. On the day I met him, he was using a walker to get around. He said he’d used the lab to apply for jobs, but that he’d had trouble finding steady work. So, he was taking time to focus on his music.
Jenkins has big plans for the year: he’s just released a single on Soundcloud and said he’s working on more mixtapes, a movie, and a clothing line all with the help of the lab’s resources.
Sheri Davis-Faulkner, Director of the Westside Communities Alliance, WCA, runs the lab and said the group’s not picky about how people use it.
“We might have people who have come in to do their taxes. We’ve had elders who’ve come in who’ve never really used computers before,” she said. “We’re not saying don’t come in and do Facebook: even if it’s just consumption, increasing your digital literacy is a good thing.”
The WCA is run by nearby Georgia Tech and works to connect community groups in Atlanta’s west-side neighborhoods. Their lab, which they launched in 2013, is a modest operation, just six laptops on desks pushed up against mostly bare walls.
“It’s pretty bare bones in terms of what’s needed it, but the reality of it is, it doesn’t take a lot to have a computer lab,” Davis-Faulkner said.
She said the WCA picked the storefront for its visibility. The lab is on the same block as MARTA’s Ashby station and right down the road from a busy Wal-Mart shopping center.
It’s also in the Vine City neighborhood in the middle of an area where at least 30 percent of residents live below the poverty line. According to a 2013 U.S. Census report, that’s exactly the kind of place where people are less likely to have computer and internet access.
Davis-Faulkner said the WCA saw that need in the community and responded.
“We set [the lab] up because we know that a number of people don’t have access to internet accessible computers [here], and that nowadays, services, job opportunities, you name it, are mostly available online,” she said.
The lab provides access to those resources and computer help to anyone who might need it free of charge and, unless someone else is waiting, with no time limits.
For now, the lab is open three days a week, and Davis-Faulkner said attendance varies. Some days are slow with just a few people dropping in, but some are busy with as many as 20 people coming by to use the computers.
That’s an impact that matters to Precious Muhammad. She grew up in the neighborhood and rents the storefront to the lab, but doesn’t make any money on it.
“This is more valuable than money,” Muhammad said.
On the days the lab isn’t open, the storefront sits empty. Muhammad says it’s more important to her that the community have a place to learn.
“People don’t go to gyms because they feel intimidated. People don’t go to computer labs because they feel like they’re not smart enough,” she said. “What this brings is that relationship and that assistance to help them cross over [with] technology.”
That kind of assistance matters to Jaferrell Jenkins. He has a computer at home, but chooses to come to the computer lab anyway.
“‘Cause you have someone who can actually sit down with you and assist you one-on-one with the computer. I know I can get help with it and it’s done,” Jenkins said. “This computer lab has actually helped me find myself in a lot of ways.”
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