Computer Labs news articles are shown below. Learn more about our “Public Computer Labs” program.

PCF Support of Programs and Community Centers

Besides working with schools and families directly, PCF is committed to help Community Centers, Churches, After School programs, and anyone else willing to make computers available to their communities free of charge. That includes supporting other organizations, non-profits, and programs by providing them with computers and projectors, or assist in teaching classes. PCF has partnered with various other organizations that run programs to benefit the communities we serve. Often times these organizations are able to [...]

One Way to Spend Your Spring Break…

Western Suburbs Chapter volunteers Ashwin and Srikar chose to spend time volunteering for PCF during their short Spring Break holiday this year. With the help of their families, they met PCF at our storage facility where we refurbished a lot of computers on the first day. The next day they returned to visit three different community centers in Philadelphia to install/drop-off the newly refurbished computers. The three programs we helped that day are: Concerned Black [...]

10-Unit Lab at South Philly Community Center

Last Friday, PCF Director Jan Deruiter joined PCF's Western Suburb Chapter members Srikar and Ashwin for the installation of a 10-unit lab in a South Philadelphia Community Center. The Community Center offers a variety of programs to serve the Bhutanese refugee (learn more ») community who have resettled in the Philadelphia area in last ten years. Among the programs offered are computer literacy classes, music, and others. PCF installed 5 desktops in a lab room [...]

Coatesville Better Tomorrows Mini Lab

Today, the PCF Western Suburbs Chapter team of Srikar and Ashwin installed their second Community Center at Better Tomorrows, a national organization that empowers communities around the country, including Coatesville, PA. The organization's social coordinator, Ms. Crystal Lowery, contacted PCF requesting a donation of ten computers along with a printer for their Center. Ashwin and Srikar successfully completed the setup by refurbishing, imaging, and installing four desktops, six laptops, and a printer. In the application, Ms. [...]

Coatesville ‘Kids to College’ Mini Lab

This week, the PCF Western Suburbs crew installed their first Community Center Lab in Coatesville, Pa. Ashwin and Srikar, who head up the PCF Western Suburbs chapter, identified the Program to support and solicited the equipment donations that were used (in part) to support the program. Additional support was provided by PCF. The recipient program is called the "Coatesville Kids to College" program, which is headed up by Mr. Keith Wilburn and is housed in [...]

Community Ctr for HIV Positive Youth in Southwest

Pastor Brawner, who runs the Haven Paniel church in North Philadelphia where we installed a 10-unit lab, also runs a support center for HIV positive youth in Southwest Philadelphia. The mission of Haven Youth Center is to provide educational, social, and recreational services to HIV positive youth to support healthy, age-appropriate development and transition into adulthood. Haven provides HIV positive youth with a recreational facility to decrease social isolation, improve self-concept/self-esteem, enhance communication skills, and [...]

July 26th, 2017|Categories: Publicly Accessible Mini-Labs|

Computer Lab at Haven Peniel Church

This publicly accessible computer lab at the Haven Paniel Methodist Church in North Philadelphia was referred to us by the Brewerytown Community Center (where we recently installed a lab). Pastor Brawner also runs a Youth Center in Southwest Philadelphia where we installed a 3-unit lab and a printer. Haven Peniel United Methodist Church has a rich 139 year history of serving economically disadvantaged people in Philadelphia in part by bringing needed resources to the community. [...]

July 26th, 2017|Categories: Publicly Accessible Mini-Labs|

15-Unit Lab at a Brewerytown Community Center

PCF installed a 15-unit computer lab at the Brewerytown Sharswood NAC/CDC, located at 30th & Master Street in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia. The facility serves a community of over 8,000 of which 51% live below the government poverty level line; the rate of unemployment is higher than any other zip code (19121) in the city of Philadelphia; the school drop out rate is high with a high rate of recidivism in this service area. [...]

July 12th, 2017|Categories: Publicly Accessible Mini-Labs|

Laptops for the Village of the Arts & Humanities

PCF received a request from the Village for some laptop computers. When we learned that the laptops were needed for programming and web development courses being taught over the summer, we jumped at the opportunity. The Village is an amazing place and a great resource and PCF was delighted they were teaching computer courses over the summer. All in all 10 laptops (donated by the Radnor School district) were set up on the third floor [...]

30+ Laser Printers to Teachers/Centers in Need

PCF has been busy distributing and installing Laser Printers to schools and community centers in need. In many schools, teachers only have access to the printer in their school's main office, which means they have to leave their classroom and walk several flights of stairs just to print a document. For the Community Centers, it allows their users to print their resumes, applications and other documents. PCF came into a large donation of 40 HP Laser [...]

PhillyKids is Looking for Part-Time Worker/s

The Philadelphia Children's Foundation is looking to fill a part time position as soon as possible. Philadelphia Children’s Foundation Elementary School Technology Program Development and Instruction Position Description Background PCF is a non-profit organization of people who passionately believe that tomorrow’s leaders need computer skills today.  Many inner-city households have no or no working computer, and their children often go to schools in the same boat: many classrooms have few or no working computers to assist in [...]

Mini Lab Installation in Kensington

Right next to Cramp Elementary school, whom we supplied with classroom computers in the past, is the Schmidt Recreation Center. The Center helps students after school with homework and other programs. When we contacted Cramp about updating their computers, they asked if PCF would be willing to help the Rec Center with computers. After reading their application, this was a no brainer ! In part, it read: Schmidt Playground is located next to Cramp School [...]

November 24th, 2016|Categories: Publicly Accessible Mini-Labs|Tags: |

PCF’s New State-of-the-Art Refurbishing Process

We could have used a few different titles for this post such as "How To Save Yourself 60+ Minutes Per Machine", or "Fast and Error-Free Refurbishing" or "How DAO Technologies Saved PCF !" among others. PCF has been incredibly fortunate to have received support from DAO Technologies this Fall. DAO devised a very practical, state-of-the-art way to refurbish computers or to update those already installed: Rather than configure each machine individually, we now create a [...]

Classroom Computers & Mini-Lab at W. Cramp

Thanks to our donors and volunteers, PCF was able to install 30 computers into various classrooms and the Family Resource Room at William Cramp Elementary. Prior to installing the computers, PCF  provided Cramp with 8 donated iPads. In addition to setting up mini labs in various classrooms, we also outfitted a room that is used by parents to access the internet, fill out applications, write resumes, and take GED classes. We were thrilled to have [...]

Houston Library Computers

PCF has had the fortune of working with Henry H. Houston Elementary school quite a bit in the past. They were our second Classroom Computers program installation plus we have helped them with iPads, the installation of a security system and, most recently, we outfitted their library with five computers. PCF encourages schools to set up our computers into areas that can be accessed by students and their families. Besides being a school resource, the [...]

Publicly Accessible Computers & Printers Inside Schools

One of the things we observed from installing computers into the homes of families was the absence of working printers. We learned that depending on the school, most students do not have a computer at home.* And amongst those that do, working printers are a rarity. We assume this to be true because printers can be difficult to connect and replacing toner can be expensive. But whatever the cause, the reality is that working printers at home are far and few between. [...]

September 27th, 2015|Categories: Publicly Accessible Mini-Labs|Tags: |