How to get a laptop from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
Nisa Allen, left, smiles as she gets a new Lenovo Imagine Pad notebook delivered by E2D, the Center for Electronic Equity, LISC, and Barings in the course of a kick-off party at Evoke Residing at Westerly Hills on Thursday, Oct 27, 2022.
The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is distributing 20,000 free of charge, refurbished laptops to qualified older people in Mecklenburg County beginning this 7 days.
The effort is section of the library system’s MeckTech application, which will work to minimize the range of households in Charlotte without having pcs and obtain to on the internet methods.
Each individual laptop features “preloaded productivity and training purposes,” and hardware required for setup, in accordance to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. Online provider is not bundled, but all personal computers will be in a position to link to WiFi.
To qualify for a free of charge computer, candidates need to:
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Be at least 18 several years old
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Be a Mecklenburg County resident
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Have an energetic e-mail tackle
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Have a photograph ID with an identification variety
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Offer proof of a Mecklenburg County handle
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Indication a assertion indicating they would not if not have the technological know-how necessary to satisfy their educational and informational wants
Programs will be obtainable on the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library web page setting up on Thursday.
Authorized applicants will acquire a confirmation e mail 7-10 business days right after submission, in accordance to the library method. Ineligible or unapproved apps will not receive a reply.
All those who are authorised will sign up for a distribution day and time by means of their confirmation e-mail. Laptops will be dispersed on a initial-appear, 1st-served foundation.
“We hope to serve as lots of users of our neighborhood as attainable, but we have limited source and regrettably cannot assurance that we will be in a position to satisfy all requires,” the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library reported in a assertion.
The Center for Electronic Fairness (CDE), an group that works to supply desktops and online link to Charlotte residents in need, will be on-website during laptop or computer distributions to chat about its Inexpensive Connectivity Program. The federal initiative aims to support minimal-profits homes shell out for broadband support and net-linked products.
Mecklenburg County inhabitants who are ineligible for a absolutely free laptop computer can call 311 to converse to a Digital Navigator from the CDE to support establish alternate options for affordable technological know-how.
Evan Moore is a services journalism reporter for the Charlotte Observer. He grew up in Denver, North Carolina, where by he earlier labored as a reporter for the Denver Citizen, and is a UNC Charlotte graduate.