Four Intel Computer Clubhouses Open In Chicagoland

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Four Intel Computer Clubhouses Open In Chicagoland

CHICAGO, Jan. 24, 2006 – Four Intel Computer Clubhouses, which are unique after–school learning centers for children ages 10 to 18, are opening in the Chicago area in the next two weeks. These clubhouses will be located in existing community service agencies around the city – specifically the ABJ Community Services, Austin YMCA, Howard Area Community Center and WYTEC.

“These new Intel Computer Clubhouses will give Chicago youth access to the latest technology, connecting them with the world and exposing them to a whole new spectrum of opportunities,” said Rosalind Hudnell, Intel director of diversity. “With the new technologies and support of dedicated mentors from the hosting agencies, hundreds of young people will be able to channel their curiosity and creativity into learning about their world while developing skills that can improve both their academic and professional futures.”

Computer Clubhouse members learn by doing. Youth can create digital artwork; produce their own music CDs; film, write and edit short movies; and design Web sites. Most come to the Clubhouse knowing little about technology, and leave with the skills and self–confidence to succeed in today’s technology–driven society.

About the Chicago Computer Clubhouses
ABJ Community Services, located in the South Shore Community, provides child– welfare services as well as substance abuse counseling and treatment services that include foster care and adoptions, behavior health services, prevention and intervention services for youth, employment training, food/clothing pantry, HIV/AIDS counseling and General Educational Development exam classes. Most of the ABJ Computer Clubhouse members are teens between 15 and 18 years of age. One of these members has already begun using the technology to produce a music CD project that has received interest from a prominent recording company.

The Austin YMCA is a membership facility within the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, which includes 43 centers and more than 100 extension sites. Its programs help children learn and grow, teach young people to lead, bring families closer together and encourage individual health and well–being. The Intel Computer Clubhouse at the Austin YMCA features a host of state–of the–art computer equipment, software, Internet access, digital cameras and a recording studio that youth can use to design a dream house, mix digital music or experiment with image processing and electronic publishing. They can see for themselves what it is like to be an architect, engineer, composer, artist, journalist, scientific researcher or computer programmer.

The Howard Area Community Center, located in Chicago’s racially and ethnically diverse Rogers Park neighborhood, is a multi–service organization offering an array of social services, early childhood education, GED and other adult education classes, an alternative high school, and job training and placement services. The new Computer Clubhouse located there will be an integral component of the organization’s youth program that serves primarily low–income elementary and high school students. In addition to experiencing a broad array of new technology, Clubhouse members benefit from tutoring, life skills workshops, career exploration, post–secondary education preparation, job readiness training and internships.

WYTEC, located in the West Garfield community, serves as a bridge from the business sector to the youth in the community to let them know that they have choices other than drugs, gangs, and violence. WYTEC serves boys and girls of all backgrounds, with emphasis on helping at–risk youth build confidence, develop character and acquire the skills they need to grow into productive, civic–minded, responsible adults. WYTEC seeks to revitalize the business community from the inside out; the community residents must be empowered through entrepreneurship education, technology training and the development of life skills to improve the quality of their lives and to assist in leveling the global business arena.

About the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network
The Intel Computer Clubhouse Network, the largest program of its kind, is a project of Museum of Science, Boston in collaboration with the MIT Media Laboratory. The Clubhouse program aims to reach youth living in underserved communities, and engage them in developing technology skills at an early age.

Intel provides financial, technical, career, and volunteer mentor support to proliferate the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network globally. Intel has invested $32 million over five years to sponsor more than 100 Intel Computer Clubhouses. In addition, Adobe Systems (provider of the largest software donation), Autodesk, Corel, Macromedia and Procreate have committed more than $10 million in software and services to the network. Other organizations involved include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, LEGO Systems and Haworth.

The Intel Computer Clubhouse Network is part of the Intel’s innovation initiative in collaboration with educators and government leaders worldwide – to help today’s students develop the higher–level thinking skills they need to participate and succeed in a knowledge–based economy. For more information, visit http://www.intel.com/education