A free computer lab stocked with donated hardware and high-speed internet opened Wednesday inside Gateway Center, the downtown Atlanta shelter that serves as the city's main intake hub for people experiencing homelessness. The new AT&T Connected Learning Center gives shelter residents access to computers, high-speed internet, and mentoring resources aimed at helping them build job skills and find work.
The lab launched with a digital literacy workshop led by the nonprofit Compudopt, according to Gateway Center. As CBS News Atlanta reported, the center provides people experiencing homelessness with free access to computers, mentoring, and high-speed internet under one roof at the shelter's Pryor Street location.
The opening is part of a much larger commitment: in July 2024, AT&T pledged to open at least 100 Connected Learning Centers nationwide by 2027 as part of a $5 billion push to close the digital divide. Centers built under that initiative come equipped with hardware donated by Dell Technologies, fiber internet and Wi-Fi, and free educational software including AT&T's “The Achievery” platform, the company has said.
A Shelter Built to Do More Than House People
Gateway Center has operated at 275 Pryor Street SW since 2005, serving more than 6,000 individuals experiencing homelessness each year and providing residential housing with case management for 469 men, according to Atlanta Magazine. The shelter also functions as the primary access point for the City of Atlanta's Homeless Continuum of Care Coordinated Entry system, running intake sign-ups starting at 8 a.m. daily to connect people to shelter and housing prioritization, per ATL311.
Beyond the new computer lab, the center already runs job readiness and financial literacy programs, housing placement, behavioral health counseling, and an in-house medical clinic operated by Mercy Care, the organization says on its website. Gateway Center has been led since July 2016 by Chief Executive Officer Raphael Holloway, who has expanded staff from 30 to nearly 100 employees while growing the agency's annual operating budget to roughly $9 million, according to Titan 100.
Homelessness Climbing as Housing Costs Rise
The lab arrives as Atlanta grapples with a rising homeless population. Atlanta's 2026 Point-in-Time Count, conducted by Partners for HOME, found 3,060 people experiencing homelessness citywide — a 6% increase from 2025 driven by rising housing costs, according to WSB-TV. The same count found that 40% of unhoused individuals surveyed were experiencing homelessness for the first time, while unsheltered homelessness rose 3% and chronic homelessness increased 4%, per Partners for HOME's report.
City officials have leaned on other programs to push back against those numbers. Atlanta's “Downtown Rising” initiative, part of a $235 million campaign to reduce unsheltered homelessness downtown, rehoused 490 people between May 2025 and May 2026, cutting average placement times to 48 days compared to 108 days citywide, Partners for HOME reported. Digital skills training at Gateway Center adds another tool aimed at helping residents move more quickly from shelter into stable housing and employment.
Part of a Broader Shift at Gateway Center
The new lab follows other recent changes at the shelter complex. In April, Hoodline reported on a nearby relocation after the nonprofit Georgia Works moved its transitional housing beds out of Gateway Center into a renovated building on Auburn Avenue. Gateway Center has also served as the city's nightly transportation pickup site for emergency cold-weather shelters during winter storms, a role Hoodline covered during warming-center openings this past winter.
Together, the additions point to a shelter trying to expand its role well past overnight beds — pairing housing intake, medical care, and now digital literacy training under one roof as Atlanta works to keep pace with a growing and increasingly first-time homeless population.
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