The Paycheck Road to Better Health

A foundation dedicated to keeping Californians healthy is adding a new weapon to its arsenal: computers.

High-tech skills lead to well-paying jobs, and more money equals better health, California Wellness Foundation officials have concluded.

To give low-income youngsters a better shot at good jobs, the foundation is pouring $6 million into programs that help them learn computer technology.

Eleven community organizations across the state that provide computer training for low-income communities will get grants to increase their services, foundation officials will announce today. Two Los Angeles groups--Break Away Technologies in the Mid-City area and the Bresee Foundation in the Westlake area--will receive $525,000 each over four years to expand their computer centers and training programs for youths.

“Already the data are clear: Those who have these skills are better paid,” said Gary Yates, president of the California Wellness Foundation, a private group that focuses on health issues. “The lower your income, the lower your level of health. And at this point in time, there’s a real disparity in access to this technology.”

Better paying jobs also provide more comprehensive health coverage that includes preventive care, Yates said.

Both Los Angeles groups receiving grants today have spent the last five years giving disadvantaged youths hands-on experience with computers.

The Bresee Foundation’s computer lab on West 3rd Street, dubbed “Cyberhood,” has 18 stations where children learn word processing, desktop publishing and World Wide Web page design.

The Wellness Foundation money will allow the lab to expand from 18 to 60 hours a week.

“It’s pretty dramatic,” said Jeff Carr, Bresee’s executive director. “Kids obviously need this, because if you don’t have any of these skills or access to the Internet, you’re going to get left behind.”

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Break Away Technologies will use the grant to open a 24-hour business services center, complete with a bank of 20 computers, a cyber cafe and a computer research library.

The center will give nearby residents round-the-clock access to technology they often can’t find, staffers said.

“There’s a very high correlation between what you know, what you have and your health,” said Joseph Loeb, president of Break Away. “Computers can become a great equalizer, one of the few level playing fields in society.”

Loeb created Break Away in the aftermath of the 1992 riots. He sold his truck to buy his first computer, and began teaching software classes to local children out of his garage.

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Two years ago, the nonprofit organization moved to a spacious building on West Jefferson Avenue where it runs classes in Web page design and computer programming, an Internet radio station and a digital design studio, among other programs.

On Thursday, about 20 high school students sat hunched over their terminals in a small room, intently focused on an advanced drafting program.

Volunteer teacher Melissa Daerr, a recent graduate of Biola University, circled the room answering questions.

Learning these skills now, she said, is going to make a world of difference in the future of these young people.

“I’m teaching them a program used by AT&T;, Motorola and other big companies,” said Daerr, 22. “If they can learn just a little bit of this, they can get a job when they graduate. If they don’t know how to use computers by the time they’re 18, they’re just not going to survive.”

Cameron Phinley, 17, was one of the first students to complete his drafting assignment. The training is going to help him in his career as a photographer or architect, he said.

“Not knowing how to use a computer is almost like not having money or being poor,” said the Hamilton High senior. “If you don’t know how to use them, you’re going to be left out.”