Digital skills: How our lottery funding is already making a difference
Earlier this year, Digital Voice received our biggest ever funding grant from The National Lottery Community Fund, giving us the ability to run projects in North East communities over the next three years. Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to so far.
All of these funded projects are for marginalised and digitally excluded people, with a focus on practical skills which we know can genuinely improve people’s lives and employment prospects.
Groups from both Gateshead Young Women’s Outreach Project and Meadow Well Connected, took part in our Wellbeing Through Digital Drawing course. This course is delivered over six weeks and introduces the participants to the digital drawing tools on an iPad whilst they visited local outdoor spaces like Saltwell Park or the allotment garden at Meadow Well Connected, drawing inspiration from the beautiful scenery.
As well as seeing improvements in their mental health and wellbeing, participants really enjoyed the course content and were able to see how to apply their new skills in their own lives:
“I WOULD USE MY NEW SKILLS GOING FORWARD IN FUTURE COURSES AND DAY TO DAY PHOTOS OF MY FAMILY.”
“I AM WANTING TO USE THESE SKILLS TO CREATE DESIGNS TO USE ON MY CRICUT MACHINE.”
Meanwhile, women at the Muslim Centre in Gateshead took part in our inTouch Digital Skills course which is designed for people with no previous experience. This warm and supportive group learnt about how to use devices, set up email accounts and stay safe while accessing the online world. The course is designed to build on skills week by week and demonstrate how to practically apply it in everyday life, such as using NHS online services. Feedback has been very positive from both the participants and staff at the centre:
“THESE DIGITAL IT SKILLS SESSIONS ARE VERY USEFUL FOR THE WOMEN ATTENDING THE CENTRE, AND THEY’VE BEEN ABLE TO IMPROVE BASIC IT SKILLS, AND WANT TO LEARN MORE DIGITAL SKILLS IN TIME E.G. SMALL BUSINESSES, BUSINESS ONLINE. ONCE THEY HAVE FINISHED THIS COURSE, THE WOMEN WANT TO LEARN MORE ADVANCED SKILLS AND THEY ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT STEPS.”
- Afroz Qureshi, Centre Manager
Alison Fisher, Project Manager for Digital Voice, who supports all of these projects (and more!) had this to say about the impact we’re making in these communities:
“I CAN FEEL THE YEARS OF GOOD PROJECT WORK THAT HAS GONE ON IN DIGITAL VOICE BY THE SMILING FACES I SEE WHEN I SPEAK TO PEOPLE AND TELL THEM WHERE I'M FROM. ON A RECENT PROJECT, WORKING WITH A GROUP OF PEOPLE IN GATESHEAD WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES - A PARTICIPANT ASKED ME TO SAY THANK YOU AGAIN TO ONE OF OUR TEAM, RONNIE, AS ALL HE HAD DONE TO HELP HER LEARN ABOUT HOW TO USE A TABLET HAD REALLY MADE A DIFFERENCE TO HER. IT'S REALLY GREAT TO BE PART OF A TEAM DOING GREAT WORK, AND WHO ALL REALLY CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH.”
We will continue to update you on the work happening with this funding and to find out more about our programmes click here.
The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK, thanks to the National Lottery players who raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. The National Lottery Community Fund distributes a share of this to projects to support people and communities to prosper and thrive.
To find out more about the funding visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk