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Las Vegas Urban League and City of Las Vegas Celebrate Grand Opening of Nevada Public Computer Centers

The Las Vegas Urban League and the City of Las Vegas today culminated a process that began more than a year ago with the celebration of the grand opening of the Nevada Public Computer Centers.

On March 4, 2010, the Las Vegas Urban League (LVUL) was awarded a $4.7 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant to create 29 Public Computer Centers (PCC). The PCC’s are operated in partnership with the City of Las Vegas, the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, Area Health Centers, Clark County Health District, Cox Communications, Desert Rose Adult School, the Las Vegas Urban League Young Professionals, the Las Vegas Urban League’s Guild, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Lutheran Social Services and Skills 4 Kids.

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the City’s Doolittle Community Center, LVUL CEO Morse Arberry Jr., Ward 5 Councilman Ricki Y. Barlow and LVUL Chairman of the Board of Directors Steven Brooks praised the program. Doolittle is one of 29 PCC sites located to serve vulnerable populations in public housing developments, low-income and high unemployment communities and senior citizens. Each site will offer computer classes, job training and certification programs, and community health programs through local partner organizations.

“This is a great day for the Las Vegas Urban League and the culmination of a collaborative effort led by the City of Las Vegas, Housing Authority and our local partners,” said Arberry. “The Public Computer Center program represents our collective vision of ensuring online technology is available to everyone in our community.”

The PCC’s are free and open to the public. So far, 15 of the 29 sites have been opened as of October 2010, with the remainder set to open before the end of the year. Information about the computer centers is available at www.nvpcc.org or (702) 608-5245.

“These centers offer residents the opportunity to learn how to use computers to take part in a number of activities including job training,” Councilman Barlow said. “I’m proud that the city could team with the

Urban League to bring these centers to those who might otherwise not have the opportunities these computers will provide.”

Overall, the project expects to INSERT about 100 workstations and add more than 90 new ones, enabling the centers to increase the number of users served from approximately 1,600 to 4,600 per week.

The ceremony was followed by a reception where Councilman Barlow led a tour of the PCC at Doolittle and applauded the LVUL’s effort along with each of the local partners to further the use of online technology in underserved areas of the Southern Nevada community.