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District to Distribute Thousands of Surplus Laptops to UDC, Non-Profit Organizations

Monday, January 26, 2015

In January, The District received an influx of 2,500 lightly used laptop computers from federal agencies and are working to get them in the hands of students and non-profits as quickly as possible.

OCP's Surplus Property team acquired the laptops from the federal General Services Administration (GSA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The agency is already partnering with University of the District of Columbia Community College, the R.I.S.E. Demonstration Center at St. Elizabeth’s East, and Seaton Elementary School, among others.

OCTO’s Connect.DC and OCP’s Surplus Property programs are seeking non-profits to bring access to technology to those in need across the District. Over 20 District-based non-profits and 8A firms have expressed interest in participating in the program and requested laptops to support their missions to serve District residents.

This project is a part of OCP’s Surplus Property Program’s ongoing effort to engage District government agencies, schools, and local non-profits to utilize surplus property from the local and federal surplus programs to access furniture, computers, and additional equipment. In 2014, the OCP Surplus team distributed over 1,000 laptops to community partners and educational facilities across the District.

OCTO’s Connect.DC program works to bridge the digital divide by making technology more accessible, affordable and relevant to District residents. In addition to the new laptops, OCTO already pledged to distribute 500 computers to those in need and also set aside $40,000 to subsidize the costs of the routers, computers, and other devices this fiscal year.

Approximately 160,000, or roughly twenty-five percent of District residents lack home Internet access, according to recently published Federal Communications Commission data. Rates are higher among low-income and minority households.

Organizations interested in applying for the computers can contact OCP at (202) 724-4477 or via email at [email protected].