Newark shelter residents hunt for jobs on computers refurbished by city youths

The refurbished PC at the Hope Village II transitional homeless shelter was hardly a gleaming new Mac.

But the old Dell OptiPlex personal computer was good enough for Major Anthony, a resident of Hope II who used it to write a resume on Indeed.com that he hoped would help land him a job and put him back in a home of his own.

The Dell that Anthony uses is one of eight computers installed at Hope II last week under a program that trains Newark kids to repair computers, smart phones, and other hardware for the dual purpose of making them available at no cost to people who need them while keeping the out of landfills.

“Brilliant idea,” said Anthony, 61, who was in the moving business most of his working life, before losing a job and then his apartment.

The refurbished computers are consistent with the recycled nature of Hope Village II, a cluster of one-story buildings on Elizabeth Avenue made from used shipping containers. At a cost of $3 million split by the city and state, Hope II opened in January and houses 15 men and five women, its capacity, all in single rooms, according to its non-profit operator, the United Community Corporation, or UCC.

Each building has a common area that includes a bathroom with shower, refrigerator, microwave oven and — as of last week — a table and chair with a desktop computer.

The original Hope Village, also made from shipping containers, opened in 2021 and operates on Newark Street, housing 28 people. Both Hope complexes are run by the UCC under a contract with the city Department of Homeless Services. A third Hope Village is under construction.

The computers at Hope II do not have speakers, and residents are instructed not to use them for entertainment or casual browsing. Hope II’s site manager, Shamod Wilson, said residents use them constantly.

“They’re on them 24-7,” Wilson said.

The Hope Villages are designed specifically for hard-to-house people who, out of fear of crime, a desire for privacy or other reasons, avoid conventional, dormitory-type shelters. There is no maximum length of stay, but the residents have a case manager who directs them to mental health or substance abuse counseling, job placement and permanent housing services — some of which residents will be able to augment with the computers.

“I look for jobs, senior programs,” said another Hope II resident, a 61-year-old Newark native who asked that his name not be used. “They work well.”

Officials said the computers at Hope II were among 100 city-owned desktops that had surpassed their life expectancy and were no longer in use. The youth who furbished them were trained by a pair of Newark-based technology education firms, Avatarius and RampUp America, coordinated by the Newark Workforce Development Board, a federally funded panel appointed by Mayor Ras J. Baraka.

City officials said the other refurbished computers will be made available in various settings to other Newark residents who need them. The containers at Hope II were finished with vinyl siding, interior wall board, plumbing and wiring, by participants in a Newark non-profit known as YouthBuild.

Baraka led a tour of Hope Village II on Wednesday for officials of the U.S. Department of Labor and the National League of Cities, who visited Newark this week for a look at various local initiatives.

“To me, this is a testament to the work that we’ve been doing in the city,” said Baraka, a Democrat running for governor in next year’s primary.

Hope II is a place, Baraka said, “that was put together by Newark residents, and a collaboration of Newark organizations, outreach groups, as well as young people who grew up in this community and probably walked past some of those folks that they see sleeping on the streets all the time.”

“Now,” said Baraka, a former high school principal, “they get to say that, ‘We helped build and construct a place for them to go.’”

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Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com.