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Digital champions win top-level approval

25 March 2010

 

A senior civil servant has praised a Teesside University partnership with the voluntary sector that is helping to help bridge the digital divide.

The Digital Champions initiative is run by the University's Institute of Digital Innovation (IDI). Recently it joined forces with employment charity Shaw Trust through the Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) Learning Revolution.

The aim is to extend the programme and reach a wider and more diverse network of community groups, with a particular focus on disabled and disadvantaged people.

Skills in using digital technology The scheme provides community leaders with skills in using digital technology to help others in their communities and it has won the enthusiastic endorsement of Cathy Francis, from the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG).

Cathy, Deputy Director of Multi-Area Agreements & City-Regions and Digital Inclusion at the CLG, saw the initiative in action when she visited the IDI to meet some of those taking part.

She said: 'I like the way the University is really engaged with the community and the partnership with Shaw Trust. The work done by the Digital Champions programme is hitting just so many of the governments priorities, preparing people for the labour market and it’s community inspired.'

Among those who met Cathy was Alf Hannaford, a former crane driver who is now active in the Middlesbrough town centre residents’ group TRICS. He is project manager at the Union Street Neighbourhood Centre and plans to develop their existing courses in computers for beginners into more advanced digital activities such as creating blogs.

'Many older people are afraid of computers, but we've got people from the age of five to 82 taking part in our activities and helping each other learn and develop their digital skills.'

Elizabeth Shaw, who runs the scheme at the IDI, said they plan to expand the Digital Champions programme right across the North East of England after the success of the first programme of the University.

She said: 'A programme like Digital Champions empowers the groups at the very heart of our communities. The Digital Champions use digital technology and go back to their communities to deliver improved learning and digital participation within their own groups.'

When Cathy Francis visited the IDI, she met a group putting the finishing touches to a three-minute movie about their experiences on the programme which was shown at a special Digital Champions celebration event at the mima on Tuesday, 23 March, which showcased what the first Digital Champions had achieved.

Factfile The Shaw Trust is a national charity, formed in 1982, which helps people with disability or disadvantage to find work and achieve independence. It does this not only by delivering government programmes, but also through our own self-funded initiatives, and by campaigning to change attitudes at all levels. Across the UK more than 1,600 staff now oversee a diverse range of more than 200 projects.


 
 
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