City of Austin distributing computers to Austin students in need

The City of Austin will be distributing affordable computers to hundreds of Austin students and their families. 

The city is partnering with PCs for People to distribute retired city computers. For $25 each family will receive a desktop computer tower, monitor, keyboard, a mouse and cords for the PCs. 

There are over 240 Austin families with school-aged children living 200 percent below the federal poverty line that are eligible to buy one of the computers. Austin ISD made efforts to identify families in poverty and chose four schools to participate. 

The PCs can be picked up at Houston Elementary at 5409 Ponciana Drive from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on December 13. Each family will also receive 20 minutes of computer literacy training. 

The four schools selected were already part of the Community Eligibility Provision with 100 percent of students eligible to get free lunch. The Housing Authority of the City of Austin and the Community Tech Network was able to identify other potential recipients among their clients. 

"By providing these computers to students in need, the City of Austin and its partners are providing the tools needed to help better their educational experience." the Austin ISD states. The 2018 Austin Digital Assessment found that 22 percent of respondents felt their children could not complete the necessary homework because they did not have a computer at home.