Click here to read an account of this in the Kirkland Reporter
For nearly 65 years, the Friends of Youth have worked to get young people “in challenging circumstances get their lives back on track.” Today, Friends of Youth helps more than 5,000 youth and young adults ages 6-24 and their families each year, operating facilities and programs at 20 sites in 17n cities across the Puget Sound.
They offer the only overnight youth shelter on the Eastside and provide youth development services such as family or substance abuse counseling, therapeutic foster care and transitional housing for homeless teens and teen mothers.
Understanding the importance of life and work skills for these young people, Comcast granted Friends of Youth $25,000 towards the development of a computer lab at their Kirkland Youth Service Center. The new Comcast-funded mobile computer lab will include 20 high quality laptop computers, a mobile charging laptop cart, projector, and large display screen for use.
The new lab will provide opportunities for homeless youth to gain digital literacy skills and participate in group learning, while providing an alternate space for youth living on its campus to use the computers and screen for weekend learning activities. As a first step, Friends of Youth plans to implement a two-hour Computer Lab Workshop once a week, transporting youth by van to the Kirkland Computer Lab from its Redmond Youth Service Center, as well as from its New Ground Transitional Living Programs in Kirkland, Redmond, Seattle and Bothell.
At the March 7 event, Friends of Youth honored Comcast with an award for “their generous support of the children and youth of the community.”
“The agency is very excited to have this new technology available as a resource to youth in our programs,” said Terry Pottmeyer , President and CEO of Friends of Youth, “and looks forward to leveraging the lab to increase the efficacy of our work with homeless young people.”
To learn more about Friends of Youth, please visit: http://www.friendsofyouth.org.