S.F. nonprofit feeds hunger for computer basics

Student Flora May helps fellow student, Charles Noland while Instructor, Chris Moore, back, helps out Pamela Anderson, at the St. Anthony's Foundation Technology Center in San Francsico, Calif., Moore teaching a basic computer skills course on Tuesday Oct. 14, 2008. less Student Flora May helps fellow student, Charles Noland while Instructor, Chris Moore, back, helps out Pamela Anderson, at the St. Anthony's Foundation Technology Center in San Francsico, Calif., Moore ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close S.F. nonprofit feeds hunger for computer basics 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

Unemployed machinist Chris Vincent has no experience with computers, he says - unless you count Nintendo.

But Vincent, 43, knew that looking for a job these days is difficult enough without having at least some basic computer skill. So he turned to the St. Anthony Foundation's new Tenderloin computer and job training center earlier this month.

"You used to be able to look at (want ads) in the newspapers. Now you can pull up Craigslist and find a job. It's like the (difference between) the Flintstones and the Jetsons."

Best known for serving meals to the needy for the past 58 years, the San Francisco nonprofit has started feeding a new hunger among low-income Tenderloin area residents: for personal technology training.

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The new Employment Program and Tech Lab opened Oct. 3 as a one-stop center offering free training and Internet access for people with little or no access to a computer. The center, which has 37 computers, provides basic classes in Microsoft Word, Excel, e-mail and navigating the Web. It also offers training in how to create cover letters and resumes.

Within a few days, the training classes were filled and the computer drop-in center, where clients can check e-mail and search sites like Craigslist or Monster.com for jobs, became constantly packed, said Karl Robillard, the center's program manager.

"Having access to a computer is no longer a luxury for people, it's a necessity. And if you don't have the basic skills to do that, your opportunities for employment are seriously limited," Robillard said.

The program becomes even more important with the economy floundering. The unemployment ranks are rapidly swelling with tech-savvy workers, which adds competition for jobs.

"We have people who've applied for 20-hour, part-time, entry-level positions and have been told there was over a hundred applicants for one position," Robillard said. "That's unheard of."

The facility, housed on the third floor of St. Anthony's new Social Services Center at 150 Golden Gate Ave., merges the decade-old S.F. Network Ministries Computer Training Center on Eddy Street with St. Anthony's Employment Program and Learning Center. The new lab emphasizes learning computer skills to train for jobs, even those not directly in high-tech fields.

"Even some security jobs, which traditionally have always been for people without any technical computer literacy, and a lot of fast-food jobs require you to have basic computer skills, even just clocking in, clocking out, using the registers," Robillard said.

Some clients are men and women who have jobs that require physical labor, such as warehousing and construction, but are seeking new computer skills because as they get older, their bodies can no longer keep up with the physical demands, Robillard said.

Many of the tech center's clients are "essentially computer illiterate," he said. "If you were to say to them, 'Get on Yahoo and send me an e-mail,' 86 percent of the people who come in here do not have an e-mail account. That's a significant barrier to employment.

"They don't have the concept that the Internet doesn't exist in your computer, that it's a more free-form, universal way of communicating," he said. "It's a very interesting gap in the digital divide, because young people today are being raised with technology in a way that it's almost inherent to what they do. (Then) you have a significant population of people 40 or over and they have had virtually no contact with a computer even up until now."

As a carpenter, Elijah Haynesworth, 50, is used to pounding nails into wood. But pounding out the "A" and "E" keys on a keyboard was another matter.

"I feel like my fingers are all over the place, so it's kind of hard," Haynesworth said as he tried to save animated bugs on the popular Mavis Beacon typing tutorial. The South of Market resident enrolled in a basic computer class at St. Anthony's to reduce his reliance on construction work, which slows in economic downturns.

"For things like job applications, most places, they're not accepting applications by paper anymore," he said. "They're doing it through the Internet. Up until now, I was angry, because the only thing I know how to do is put it on paper. Since I've been in this class, I've been really thinking about getting in there and upgrading my resume because I can do it now."

Truck driver Jarrett Nash, 61, dropped out of the workforce when his wife, Cynthia, died suddenly four years ago. When he was ready to get back into the job market, he learned that the computer skills he lacked had become essential.

In the past, Nash said, "most of the jobs I got were from the newspaper, and you don't see them in there anymore. All of a sudden, everybody was saying, you have to go online."

Now, Nash has his own e-mail account and has learned how to post his resume online.

"I give kudos to this place big time," Nash said. "I don't have a computer at home, so I can come in here and check my e-mail and send out resumes and send out applications."

A $1 million software grant from Microsoft Corp. helped fund the center. The foundation also received help from a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who wished to remain anonymous. He sent a shipment of flat-panel monitors.

The program also offers classes in Web design and A+ certification, the computer industry standard for entry-level technicians. St. Anthony's plans to expand the number of computer classes to meet the demand, but needs volunteers to teach them, Robillard said.

Michael Dallas Wilson Finch, 43, has been out of work since last year and is homeless. He relies on computers in the lab's 17-station drop-in center or at the public library to check e-mail and job postings on Monster.com.

Even with the current economic turmoil, the former Internal Revenue Service employee remains confident that there are better times ahead.

"They probably will have more jobs in the long run after everything subsides," Finch said. "I really believe in that. And the more jobs that are going to come up are going to come up through the Internet. I believe that's the future."

The Employment Program and Tech Lab is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays except Wednesdays, when it closes at noon. For more information, go to www.stanthonysf.org.

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