Jacob's cool computer program.

Publication: Career World, a Weekly Reader publication
Date: Monday, October 1 2007

At age 5, when most kids are learning to write their names, Jacob Komar of Burlington, Conn., was writing computer programs. When he was 8, he started taking computers apart and putting them together again. A year later, in 2001, when he heard that his sister's school was throwing away 30 computers,

Jacob had an idea.

"I figured these computers [were] just going to waste," he recalls. "[I thought,] maybe I can just take them, fix them up, and give them to people who don't have computers."

Jacob refurbished the machines. Then, with the help of the Connecticut Department of Social Services, he distributed them to families in the Hartford, Conn., area. Soon Jacob had kids in his school fixing up old, donated machines. His organization, Computers for Communities, was born. Since 2001, the group has distributed more than 2,000 refurbished computers.

Jacob's goal is to help solve what he calls the greatest challenge facing the United States today--the digital divide.

"There are people who have access to computers and are on them all the time," he says. "And then there [are] people who go through life every day without a computer, without access to the Internet, and those people are at a great disadvantage."

Four programs that Jacob, now 15, oversees aim to close that digital divide. One is a computer-refurbishing program for prison inmates, who learn information technology skills that may one day help them land jobs. Jacob is also using grant money from the National Science Foundation to run training programs in high schools. In April, Jacob received a Brick Award for his community-building activities. He and other Brick Award winners were also featured on bags of Doritos. But Jacob isn't helping people for money, acclaim, or even free tortilla chips.

"There's no substitute for the reaction on someone's face when you show them Google.com for the first time," he says.

To find out more about Jacob's mission, visit his Web site: computers4communities.org.

Like Jacob Komar, are you changing your community for the better? Don't just sit there! Apply for the 2008 Brick Awards at www.dosomething .org/brick_a pplication_guide.