Austin, Community Partners To Distribute Affordable Computers To Hundreds Of Austin Students

The City of Austin is partnering with PCs for People to distribute retired City computers. For $25, each family will receive a desktop computer tower, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and cords.

• Event Date: December 13, 2019
• Event Location: Houston Elementary, 5409 Ponciana Drive, Austin, TX 78744
• Event Time: 3:30 – 7:00 PM
• Recipients: 240+ Austin families with school-aged children living 200% below federal poverty line

Each computer system will come with Windows 10 and LibreOffice Productivity Software and a 90-day warranty.

Recipients will receive 20 minutes of computer literacy training. These refurbished devices are provided by the Office of Telecommunications and Regulatory Affairs.

The distribution is overseen by PCs for People with the support of Google Fiber. Selected families will pick up their computers from Josephine Houston Elementary School.

The Austin Independent School District led efforts to identify families with school-aged children living 200 percent below the Federal Poverty Income Level who currently lack a home computer to help with their school work.

Four schools were selected to participate:

• Houston Elementary
• Rodriguez Elementary
• Uphaus Early Childhood Center
• Widen Elementary

All four schools are part of the Community Eligibility Provision with 100 percent of students eligible to receive free lunch.

The Housing Authority of the City of Austin and the Community Tech Network also identified potential additional recipients among their clients.

By providing these computers to students in need, the City of Austin and its partners are providing the tools needed to help better their educational experience.

The 2018 Austin Digital Assessment found that 22 percent of respondents felt their children or grandchildren could not complete their homework because they did not have access to a computer at home.

The assessment also showed that the homework gap is concentrated in disadvantaged populations and continues to widen each year.

The Community Technology Services team also provides refurbished computers, as available, year-round to local non-profits focused on digital inclusion and increasing the digital literacy of Austin residents.

Interested organizations can request devices via the City of Austin application form at http://austintexas.gov/page/applying-gtops.