Children at Holiday Apartments are getting a gift, and it’s not even Christmas.

Alcorn State University has received a $220,000 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to be used, in part, to set up a computer learning center at Holiday Apartments.

Residents of the Natchez public housing complex believe access to computers will help students succeed in school and, in the long term, give them a competitive edge in the world of work.

&uot;I think it’s a beautiful thing, and something we’ve been trying to locate here for some time,&uot; said resident Bonita Watson. &uot;It will be an education for them (the children) — and it would be a source of recreation for them, too.&uot;

&uot;It will mean a lot for me, because I take a computer science class, and even in my other classes a lot of our reports are done on computers,&uot; said Watson’s 15-year-old son, Marcus Miller.

In all, HUD has awarded $10.4 million to 38 historically black colleges and universities to help the schools boost local economic and community development.

The grants will officially be awarded to the schools at a conference in Washington during National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week, which starts today.

It is not yet known when the computer center will be installed or where in the complex it will be located. Apartment Manager Lucy Ford could not be reached for comment Saturday or Sunday.

&uot;Something like this is very important for the children these days. They almost need it, in today’s world,&uot; said resident Charles Jones, who has five children and two school-age grandchildren.

&uot;It will be good for them to have something like that so close to home.&uot;

Keith Dee Sr. hopes that both young and old residents will work together at the lab, learning together and teaching each other.

&uot;It would be wonderful for everybody to learn about them, because in the next 10 years, everything will be run by computers,&uot; Dee said.

Krystal Sawell, 9, already has plans for the computers, including using them to help her learn her multiplication tables.

&uot;I like computers,&uot; Sawell said. &uot;We already use them at school, mostly to do math. With these (new) computers, I’ll be able to make good grades.&uot;

And Delores Anderson, whose grandchildren live at Holiday Apartments, said having such a learning center is especially important in public housing complexes, where many parents and guardians cannot afford computers.

&uot;It will be a big asset to them in their educational life,&uot;&160;Anderson said.

Some of Alcorn’s grant — the exact amount is not yet known — will also be used to continue a revolving loan program for small businesses in Wilkinson County.