The David Bohnett CyberCenter at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center’s The Village at Ed Gould Plaza has become a touchstone for the Foundation’s efforts to fund progressive social services for the gay and lesbian community. Established in 1998, the David Bohnett CyberCenter provides computer access to more than 1,400 people per month who would otherwise not have access to the Internet and to computer training. One of the foundation’s most successful ventures, the CyberCenter is a model for similar efforts throughout the United States. Using a Bohnett Foundation grant, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center (LAGLC) has been able to create a permanent home for the CyberCenter. From this comfortable and inviting location, LAGLC continues to provide women, men, and children who might not otherwise have access to these technologies, with appropriate and expanding access to state-of-the-art technologies and high-speed Internet connections. According to Carol Hass, LAGLC’s Director of Foundation Relations, “Upwards of 100 clients who share that same philosophy put it into action in their lives thanks to the access provided by the CyberCenter. The capacity to empower people to put thoughts and ideas into action is one of the reasons that the CyberCenter is so successful – it works because people believe in it, they understand it, and they put it to use to ‘create change.'”

The LAGLC’s David Bohnett CyberCenter was the first in what has become an expanding network of David Bohnett CyberCenters being developed at gay and lesbian community centers across the country. The Foundation views the LAGLC’s CyberCenter as an investment in the democratizing possibilities of technology, an investment in human capital, and ultimately an investment in human potential. The LAGLC’s CyberCenter is a model for similar CyberCenters in New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Tucson, and elsewhere.