Address

Straightway Baptist Church
3300 Bond Ave
E St. Louis, IL 62201

History

Straightway Baptist is a small church with a small but slowly growing congregation. The congregation largely consists of middle-age and older individuals and young people ranging from birth to early twenties. They have a gap in age representation from about 25-45. Currently, the congregation has a commitment to education and are proud to have about 20 youth of the church pursuing higher education. They hope to encourage other children to follow in those footsteps.

Currently, they are trying to build their youth program to include more than just Sunday school and choir. In particular they are looking to start an after school program for not only children currently in the congregation but also for children in the neighborhood. They are hoping to set up a tutoring program by drawing on resources from a local community college. Tutoring would provide homework help and enrichment in core subject areas. In conjunction with the tutoring program, the church would like a computer lab. Many children do not have access to a computer at home, and locations with publicly available computers, like the library, are located on the other side of town. However, many school assignments, especially as children get older, requires the ability to access the internet for research. They would need productivity software so children can work on schoolwork and would also like games that encourage problem solving or fosters the growth of computer skills or skills in core subject areas. They are concerned about allowing unfiltered access to the internet to children.

The church also hopes to host classes in the future on developing computer skills. Subjects such as photo or web editing were mentioned as possibilities. In general the goal would be to build skills and foster creativity. Classes on computer use would also be appealing to the church’s senior population. They already meet to discuss health topics, but computer skills would also be of interest to them.

There is a population of young people, mostly single parents, in the local community that the church would like to reach out to. They hope the lab might be a tool in doing so, as access to computers within walking distance is rare in the area. They would like to promote the lab to this demographic as a place to help with job searching and similar needs. In the future, the church would like to do additional outreach to this demographic with classes such as parenting classes.

The church is open to trying open source software, though it was mentioned that they would like the children to build proficiency with a Windows OS as that is the most commonly encountered OS. A version of Linux close to Windows might be a good solution. They were open to using other programs if it really will serve the same purpose of the proprietary software.

The building is old – the upper story was built in the 70s on an existing foundation. The location of the lab will be in the basement, which is of uncertain age. Additional power has been run into the room previously; the pastor believes the room is on two circuits but will check into the matter further for us. Their are seven outlets currently, with wiring for two more in places. There is no internet to the church currently, though some local homes and businesses have access to internet, implying that there is access to be had in the neighborhood. The would like the office printer to be networked with the computers in the lab. They will arrange for desk space or table space to put the computers on. They hope for 10 computers. Once we have information on power to the room, we can determine the number of computers that really can be supported by the room.

Priorities:

1. Lab for use in after school program to mesh with tutoring – ages covering pre-K to high school.
2. Classes for kids, teens, and seniors
3. Outreach to young families in community