Wright’s Community Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of at-risk and unemployed young adults in Los Angeles County. Donald Wright has provided his services to the community for more than 19 years, incorporating youth training in repairing copiers, printers, and processes involved with upgrading various computer hardware components and software.
The program at the center has been acknowledged and given a full endorsement and accreditation by the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) and by the Los Angeles County Probation Department.
In addition to assisting youth in gaining knowledge, experience and marketable skills, the center is an environmentally conscious organization emphasizing a program established to reduce hazardous waste materials, outdated electronic equipment and old computer terminals.
According to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control disposing of e-waste in landfills has the potential to cause severe human and environmental health problems. To avoid these risks, the Electronic Waste Recycling Act (Senate Bill 50) was signed into law in 2004. SB-50 established and funded a program for consumers to return, recycle, and ensure safe and environmentally sound disposal of covered electronic devices.
The program that Wright has put together has a cyclical effect. By teaching the youth to repair these computers, while they gain experience they also help the community with a source in which to obtain affordable computers and hopefully copy and fax machines in the near future as well.
Brandon Nicholas Jordan Davenport, who identifies his most useful tool as his hands, is one of the youth involved with Wright’s Community Center.
“When I was little I was always breaking items and my family really didn’t have any money to replace things, so it was either throw it away or fix it.”
Davenport remembers breaking a toy car at age 7. He took it apart piece by piece, learning with each new component how the toy worked. Then he figured out how to use a screwdriver, batteries, and his sister’s alarm clock to put it back together.
“From there I learned to start liking real cars,” he said. “I became a certified grease monkey and worked as an assistant repairing a 1977 Chevy Nova, and a 1990 Acura Integra.”
Davenport said his interest in how things worked didn’t stop there. The year he broke his handheld portable gaming system he took it apart to repair it and that experience led him to trying his talents with computers.
“I have fixed, tweaked, built, modified, [numerous computers] and one has never come back to me without the client being 110 percent satisfied. And now that I’ve teamed up with the Wright’s Community Center the opportunities for me have never been better.”
Brandon’s mother Trena Davenport remembers when he first started taking things apart. “It drove us up the wall in the beginning but then we realized how special his ability was,” she said. “He would break things down and study them, and then put them back together and that’s how he learned,” she said.
Trena Davenport believes working with Wright’s Community Center has been a very positive experience for Brandon, helping him to build his skills and give him something to productive to do in his free time.
“During summer vacation and other school breaks I didn’t want him sitting around doing nothing,” she said. “That is how a lot of youth get into trouble. So one day at an electronics store I asked if they needed any help cleaning and doing other tasks around the store and they accepted. But before long they saw how talented Brandon was and he became a technician.”
Brandon also loves teaching others how things work and how to do repairs, so much so that at the age of 15 he actually launched his own computer repair business, Better-B-Working Electronics. Working with the center has helped him to grow his customer base and improve his skills. After high school Brandon plans to go to an IT college and continue to grow his business.
To utilize Brandon’s services, contact him at betterbworkingelectronics@gmail.com or by phone at (323) 547-0421.
