Here’s One Place Where High-Tech and Community-Building Do Mix
Break Away Technologies Research Institute is a nonprofit organization in South-Central Los Angeles that provides access to state-of-the-art telecommunication resources for local students and community groups. The nonprofit organization is funded by private sponsors and the fees it charges for classes. Local schools also pay to use the state-of-the-art equipment and software, largely provided by Microsoft Corp., for classes.
The center’s 80 computers are used by up to 1,500 students weekly for computer and Internet classes, but it is also open to the public for word processing, database use and operating system instruction. Break Away offers low-cost Internet access to local businesses and groups, and, in conjunction with the Getty Information Intstitute, is helping community organizations build and maintain their own Internet Web pages.
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Interviews and photos by MARY G. WENTZ / For The Times
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JOSEPH LOEB / Break Away founder and president; associate minister, Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church
Break Away began in my garage after the disturbances of 1992. I remember the sirens and looking out my window seeing the fires and smelling the smoke from the riots. It was devastating to witness the neighborhood I’ve lived in all of my life being destroyed.
At that moment, I wanted to make sure that I was a contributing member of my community and I wanted to help make it better.
Young people need to be a part of society at large and not trapped in an ethnic society. They need to participate in the world economy; technology is a great avenue to get to that place.
At Break Away, there is emphasis on developing social and critical thinking skills. To think that technology does everything is a mistake. People also need a communal space, to get together and interact. The thing that technology does is to give people the ability to compete.
Microsoft is a partner of Break Away and they make it happen. We just received the latest digital 3-D animation software, Microsoft Image. We are very excited about being able to offer this kind of technology to our community.
Break Away is an Internet service provider. Our specialty is setting up entire networks for local groups like the Blue Line tele-village telecommuting center, Escuela de Montessori and L.A. Opportunity Industrialization Center. We provide a comprehensive package, including computers, software and direct Internet access.
Break Away students, with the help of Devry Institute in Pomona, built 30 Pentium 100 computers for their senior class project last year. These computers were then used for a project with the Getty Information Institute.
What we learned from this relationship with the Getty is that Break Away is a delivery vehicle. We are able to bring in whole groups of people to work on Web projects together. The combination of synergy from the group and the technology worked; it became a productive and comfortable atmosphere.
For students, this program is designed to supplement their regular studies. We get them excited about computers and they are taught how to use computers for educational purposes. Once they’ve mastered the basic skills, they take off visiting NASA, the Louvre and other live educational sites on the Internet.
My wife, Paula, encourages me to press on. She is a major part of Break Away’s success.
Next year, we will offer TV production classes to the community. For the most part, we [in South-Central] don’t like the way that our community is portrayed in the news. So, instead of being angry at the media, the best thing to do is to create something of our own.
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JOSEPH LEWIS / Fifth grade, West Angeles Christian Academy
I have learned how to do research for my class projects on the Internet. Because of summer computer classes at Break Away, I have mastered some of the software and I am able to assist my fellow classmates with the computer. I plan to continue using computer technology in designing homes and other structures.
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ABDUL ROBERTSON / Fifth grade, West Angeles
Last year I learned about computer components and how they work. My favorite thing about a computer is that it makes learning fun. I don’t have a computer at home, so I look forward to coming here to use one.
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DAVID JENSEN / Project manager, L.A. CultureNet initiative, for the Getty Information Institute
The Getty is a museum, five institutes and a grants program. The L.A. CultureNet is a three-year initiative to help cultural institutions and organizations explore the opportunity of the information age and to distribute cultural content on-line.
L.A. CultureNet has had two “web- raisings” in collaboration with Break Away technologies. We were able to do this project more efficiently and on a larger scale because of that facility.
There is a broad range of participants--The Peace and Freedom Party, L.A. County Museum of Art, Carmelite sisters from the Saints Felicitas and Perpetua school, Watts Towers, Venice Arts Mecca, Korean Youth and Community Center, Plaza de la Raza, Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team and local artists. We want to assist primarily cultural nonprofits to understand the opportunities in the information age.
At each web-raising there are 30 organizations represented. We’ve developed a curriculum and there are facilitators who assist in translating the technical and graphic materials. Over two days, each organization produces a home page that is ready to be uploaded on the Internet.
To get involved:
HTTP://www.gii.getty.edu/lacn
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JOHN LONG / Venice Arts Mecca
We built a web page for the organization in just two days. We used to have a traditional film-based photo program and now we are moving toward the digital age, using digital cameras. The nice thing about this is that the students can view the images that they shot almost immediately and post them on our home page for the whole world to see.
My plan is that each kid can have their own home page, then they will have a virtual community on the Internet. This dream is now possible because of Break Away and the Getty.
