UrbanTech, a student-run computer repair/refurbishing center that provides technical training to the youth that reside in North Philadelphia and the surrounding area, provides an innovative experience that encourages and empowers students to learn about technology. The students are encouraged to share their technical knowledge in order to recycle the information back into the schools and the community, helping to increase the community members' awareness of technology.       
 
One program working out of the UrbanTech center is the Youthbuild Charter School. Youthbuild students use the tech center to learn various technology skills. The students use the tech center’s media lab to enhance their typing and MS Word skills. They also work in the refurbishing area to learn how to repair, reformat, install operating systems and troubleshoot any problems with donated computers. The students attend classes two days a week to prepare for the A+ Certification test. 
 
Metropolitan Career Center (MCC) is UrbanTech’s first non co-op internship program. The interns must  fulfill 197 hours to complete their internship at UrbanTech. Throughout their internship, they will use the technical skills they learned during their MCC training to enhance the productivity of UrbanTech’s refurbishing process and to serve as mentors to the Youthbuild Charter School.
 
Another UrbanTech program is Youth Works. This program works with high school students after school either at their school site or at UrbanTech.  The students participate in technology-based service projects, often serving as mentors to students who would not otherwise have access to technology or technical knowledge. The students involved with this program receive a stipend upon completion of this program.
 
At UrbanTech there are also partnerships with other local community technology centers.  For example, Urban Hope Center and UrbanTech have collaborated to share resources with one another.  UrbanTech shares media equipment and a filming crew to collect footage for movies of various events that take place at the Urban Hope Center. UrbanTech students and interns also mentor the Urban Hope Center after school club students, teaching them about technology. 
 
UrbanTech is a very exciting place with a lot of potential to grow far beyond what it has accomplished in these six years. UrbanTech has encouraged many youths to become actively involved with various aspects of technology and to share their new skills with their teachers, students, families and communities.  It is not everyday that you find a resource center that increases the knowledge of participants, while also creating a fun environment that makes students want to come back again and again.