Goal: expand free Internet, skills training
San Francisco city officials are planning to expand a pilot program that brings high-speed Internet service and digital skills training to residents living in public housing.
Since January, the city has provided free Internet access, on-site computer labs offering digital literacy training and hardware repair services to residents of the Robert B. Pitts and Hunters Point West public housing sites.
Together the locations contain 313 housing units, and both locations were selected based on a needs assessment. And now, citing the success of the pilot program, city officials are working on a plan to expand similar services to five additional public housing sites by the end of the year. A memorial: Brian Quinn took the harsh lessons of sleeping in parks as a homeless teenager in the East Bay and turned them into motivations. He overcame his struggles on the street to become a member of the U.S. Army and a San Francisco State University graduate who eventually ran shelter and housing programs in San Francisco for people who were homeless just like he had been as a kid.
When he died of natural causes on April 22 in San Francisco at age 46, he was overseeing the expansion and implementation of the city’s five Navigation Centers, specialized one-stop shelters where street people can move in 24/7 and get intensive case management. In his honor, the city will name his last project — a sixth Navigation Center set to open on Division Street this month — after him.
“I have rarely met a person who had such a positive impact on so many homeless people as Brian did,” said his longtime friend and colleague in homelessaid endeavors, Jeff Kositsky, head of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “This was his calling.
“Whether it was being a case manager or doing complex analysis for a supportive housing project, he was always helping to change and save people’s lives. He had a huge heart,” Kositsky said.
A public memorial will be held for Quinn at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Kelly Cullen Community center, 220 Golden Gate Ave. in San Francisco.