Seattle Charity Sponsors Mobile Computer Lab

By NICOLE WALLACE

The Boys & Girls Club of King County is giving the Good Humor man a run for his money this summer.

The organization, based in Seattle, is sending its Techmobile — a mobile computer lab housed in a converted Winnebago — out on the road to introduce children in the county’s poor neighborhoods to computer technology.

The program officially got its start on May 31, and in the first month after school let out in June, more than 500 children participated in computer lessons on the Techmobile.

The rolling technology center includes eight computer work stations with flat-screen monitors, a laser printer, two digital cameras, and a scanner.

The program’s goal this summer is to offer a taste of technology to as many children as possible. To help build on their introductions, the program’s director is developing longer multiple-lesson courses that will start in the fall.

The total cost of building the Techmobile was $200,000. The Boys & Girls Club of King County was one of 15 clubs around the country that shared in a $1.5-million grant the Microsoft Corporation awarded to Boys & Girls Clubs of America for new technology labs (The Chronicle, August 12). The club used its share to purchase the Winnebago, and a separate grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation paid for most of the computer equipment and software on the Techmobile.

To get there: Go to http://www.positiveplace.org/techmobile.htm.