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A presentation is shown on what the communication benefits are to Valley Villa residents, at the Provo City Housing Authority on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014. ]

Grant Hindsley, Daily Herald

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Valley Villa opened its new Google Fiber sponsored computer room at the Provo City Housing Authority on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald

Grant Hindsley

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Joshua Katuka gives a presentation on what the communication benefits are to Valley Villa residents, at the Provo City Housing Authority on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014. Google Fiber sponsored a new computer lab for senior citizens to use, along with weekly classes to teach them how to fully utilize them. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald

Grant Hindsley

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As Google Fiber has been installed in many homes and nonprofit businesses this past year in Provo, the communications giant has further partnered with the 25 organizations chosen by Provo City for the Community Connections Program — one of which being Provo City Housing Authority.

This week, representatives from Google Fiber-Provo and Provo Housing Authority gathered with residents at Valley Villa Apartments to unveil a pilot program that both organizations hope will aid in digital literacy among Provo’s seniors and low-income communities.

“This is the group that really lacks access, so we thought we’d have the biggest impact here,” said Jeremy Runia, executive director of Provo City Housing Authority.

Valley Villa Apartments, which houses 78 seniors typically over the age of 62, is the largest property managed by PCHA and was selected to receive an on-site computer lab. Within two and half weeks, Google transformed an aging room crammed with old bookshelves into the lab complete with a furnished lounge area. Weekly hour-long computer classes will be taught by Google Fiber employees and BYU students chosen for the Community Leaders Program — all part of Google’s three-pronged approach to provide access, devices and training to bridge the digital divide.

“We hope in the next 90 days to show an improvement, to improve lives of residents here, help get them online to be healthier, happier and more connected generally,” said Devin Baer, Google Fiber-Provo’s Head of Sales and Marketing.

The Valley Villa Apartment’s lab will be open for residents from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, though PCHA hopes it can be expanded to 24 hours in the future. The lab features three Chromebooks, one in Spanish and two in English to cater to the varying needs of residents.

The 90-day computer class program is part of Google’s digital literacy initiatives and will instruct residents on how to use computers and the possibilities available online: emailing friends and family, applying for jobs, learning information or watching videos through YouTube. Google Fiber hopes that at the end of the pilot program they can quantify the progress of the PCHA residents and use the data to encourage other local organizations in digital literacy outreach. 

“Our goal is to quantify and show that we’ve made a difference here and then hope to continue to partner with PCHA to expand that,” Baer said. “We’re also cognizant of fact that we can’t fix it on our own and have this experience in every complex in Utah, right? So it’ll require other people sponsoring, donating, other nonprofits pitching in to help out. We’ve built a microcosm to show that it can work, and then it’ll be on the community.”

Though the pilot program at PCHA is in the beginning stages in Provo, other Google Fiber cities and organizations, like the Housing Authority of the City of Austin, have felt the positive impact as the corporation seeks to bridge the digital gap across the nation by meeting specific needs of each city.

Provo City Housing Authority is not the only organization of the 25 in the Community Connections Program seeing benefits and growth with the access and partnership with Google Fiber. United Way of Utah County, the South Franklin Community Center and others are utilizing the digital progress to aid initiatives within their organizations. Now I Can Foundation, a nonprofit intensive physical therapy treatment center aiding disabled children and their families visiting from across the country, has used their high-speed Internet to connect separated families during treatment via webcams sponsored by Google Fiber.