CU aids Southside Community Center computer lab

Cornell graduate student Phil Rigueur, top, coordinator of the Southside Community Center Computer Lab, works in the lab with Sean Butler, 14, July 17. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

The Southside Community Center Computer Lab at 305 S. Plain St. in downtown Ithaca is open, thanks to grants from Cornell and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency. The center provides free public use of computers.

Available are 10 PCs and two Macintoshes with high-speed Internet access and installed with programs such as Excel, Word and Photoshop. Also available are scanners, printers, educational games and a TV/VCR instructional station. A lab technician is available for help and computer support.

"It is free and open to the public to use," said lab coordinator and Cornell alumnus Phil Rigueur '03, who is a master's degree candidate in the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs. He was a staff member with the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership (C-IP) when he was hired in December to be the lab's coordinator.

The lab is open Monday through Friday, 2:30 to 6 p.m., and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

"We have brand-new computers, comfortable seating and a large table available for group work," said Rigueur. "The room is also equipped with a projector for teaching purposes and is available to groups, by appointment."

"Phil and technology savvy volunteers from the community are the 'lab technicians' available to help," said Leslyn McBean, assistant director of C-IP, a HUD and Cornell-funded program that was established to bring university resources to assist in addressing the concerns of downtown Ithaca neighborhoods.

Patricia Baron Pollak, associate professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management in Cornell's College of Human Ecology and director of C-IP, conceived of the lab four years ago and wrote the proposal for a Community Development Block Grant; which was awarded to the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency, with Southside Community Center as a partner. A large steering committee composed of C-IP staff, Southside Center staff and board members, community residents and consultants from Cornell Information Technologies developed and implemented the plan. The lab opened in February.