Press Coverage

USF Students Help Homeless to Acquire Computer Skills:

(San Francisco)— The University of San Francisco and San Francisco Network Ministries, a non-profit serving poor and homeless persons in the Tenderloin, are carrying out a pilot partnership program that puts USF computer science students to work at Network Ministries. Two USF students will volunteer all summer long; two were there in the spring; and the program is expected to expand to up to ten students next fall.

This summer, students Josephine Chuang and John Toews will continue some of the work initiated in the spring by two of their classmates: Clark Goto and Jose Guadamuz. Goto and Guadamuz performed an audit of the entire system at the Network Ministries’ computer training center and identified a way to upgrade its machines at minimal cost. They also helped with the technical aspects of launching a totally redesigned version of Network Ministries’ web site.

All Network Ministries’ clients are poor or homeless who want to get free computer skills that would help them succeed in the labor market. Consequently, “this is a valuable opportunity for students to gain some real-world experience in a way that dovetails with USF’s core values of service and social responsibility,” said Chris Brooks, USF assistant professor of computer science and promoter of the partnership.

“We had been planning to replace our current computers in the adult lab at a cost of roughly $800-1,000 a piece. The students’ solution came to about $200 per computer,” said Scott MacLeod, associate director of Network Ministries and director of the Computer Training Center.

Brooks plans to expand the program in the fall of 2003, incorporating it into an existing course on the role of computers in society and expanding both the number of organizations served and the range of services.

USF is a Jesuit, Catholic university located in the heart of the city. Established in 1855, it has approximately 8,000 students and is dedicated educating minds and hearts to change the world.

Every year, USF students volunteer an average of 7,144 hours of their work. Also, 73 percent of the University’s freshman served community work, compared with the national average of 53 percent.

For more information, contact Chris Brooks, at (415) 422-5221 or cbrooks@cs.usfca.edu. Otherwise, reach Monica Leifer, USF assistant director of media relations, at (415) 422-2697.