Star
History
The
STAR of SEATTLE COMPUTER CENTER first opened its
door on November 1, 1999, after almost two years of exhaustive
work by many residents of Center Park, the Seattle Housing
Authority, City of Seattle and individuals from the community.
The dream
of a computer lab where all of the residents could learn
and work on computers had caused the Center Park Residents
Council to reject the offer of surplus computers from the
Seattle Housing Authority. The reason was because there
are too many residents with physical limitations which made
using a standard computer impossible.
So, the Seattle Housing Authority sought a way to help their
disabled tenants in this matter. They found the City of
Seattle had matching funds grants available from the Department
of Neighborhoods and the Department of Information Technology.
The Center Park Residents council was eligible as a non-profit,
community based organization for matching funds grants of
$30,000 from the Department of Information Technology and
$70,000 from the Department of Neighborhoods. The Seattle
Housing Authority (SHA) stepped up to match the grant funds
less the 25% from Volunteer participation match.
SHA
contracted with a consultant to help in the STAR Center
set up. The consultant and associates trained the first
round of Certified Lab Monitors. Since the STAR Center relies
heavily on "Peer-to-Peer" support, this style
is used by the Volunteer program as well. Every volunteer
student is required to help in the training of the next
round of trainees. This helps make the Volunteer program
self-sustaining.
Randy Hayhurst was a driving force in the preparations of
the STAR Center and was given the title of Director by the
other Founders of the STAR Center. Those other Founders
are: Donna Potter-Garcia, June O’Hanlon-Eagle, Kathy
Hansen, Dan Pempeit, Sarah Howe,
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