State funding will support Tech Lab at Queensbridge

The Tech Lab at Queensbridge is about to get a bit more innovative.

Last week State Senator Michael Gianaris visited the library serving residents in the public housing project to announce $10,000 in funding to advance the lab and its promotion of digital literacy.

Jeff Lambert, digital literacy coordinator at the Queens Library, explained that the money will be used for Adobe Creative Suite, web development, robotics, and entry-level computer classes.

Gianaris told students in a tech class he is hopeful Queensbridge residents will land jobs in computer science fields, and then in turn create more opportunities for fellow the community.

“What we need to do is make sure that the employees who are servicing this industry are not just people who are brought in from Silicon Valley, but that we have home grown talent,” Gianaris said.

The Queensbridge branch at 10-43 41st Avenue celebrated its 70th anniversary earlier this year. It opened its doors in 1949 as a branch, became a family literacy center, then in 2017 was renovated to become the modern Tech Lab.

The Tech Lab was created in 2017, and offers classes free of charge.

“You don’t even need a library card,” Lambert said.

The lab recently had to expand its services to four days a week to accommodate the increasing demand for tech programs in the area.

“Our goal is to be the bridge between those more in-depth programs and services and the free services here,” Lambert said.