New event: Leeds Share and Learn, Power to Change handbook and more

Online Centres Members' News

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Thursday 5 March 2020

Hello <<First Name>>

I’m pleased to announce that after two successful events in both Manchester and London, we are holding a third Share and Learn event at Leeds City Library on Tuesday 9 June. We’ve got lots of great network speakers lined up; Jason Tutin from Leeds City Libraries, Paul Davies from Destinations@Saltburn, Fareeha Usman from Being Woman and Fran Rodgers from Purple Patch Arts.

Sally Deith will also be sharing her expertise in a bid writing workshop and Jonathan Gilbert will be chatting all about how to get the most out of social media. Members of the Network Team will be on hand all day to ask any questions that you may have about Learn My Way and your membership in general. We really hope you can join us! Places are free, and a complimentary lunch is provided too, but capacity is limited, so please reserve your place in plenty of time.

Best wishes
Helen Milner OBE
Chief Executive
Good Things Foundation

Book your place

Next week, we have another national funding round opening for the Make it Click programme. In partnership with Google.org, the programme is aimed at limited users of the internet; individuals who already use computers and the internet regularly, but who do not have the skills they need to thrive online.

We have a variety of contract sizes available ranging from £1,250 to £15,000 to allow us to fund a wide range of small, medium and large organisations. Keep an eye out on the website and social media for when applications are open.

Coronavirus: digital resources to support your learners

As the coronavirus situation continues to develop in the UK, we know your organisation will be thinking about how best to support your staff, volunteers and learners, and ensure they have the tools & information they need to keep themselves safe and healthy. With this in mind, we wanted to share some of our resources that could help you and the people you support to use digital to become informed about the spread of the virus and how they can manage their own health.

We’ve created a session plan which brings together the relevant content on Learn My Way, to help learners gain reliable health advice and demonstrate how they can video call their GP or even friends & family to help prevent the virus spreading. The session plan aims to increase confidence when searching for health information online and when video calling on computers or mobile devices. Learners will need a Learn My Way account to access the online course in this session.

NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) have also put together some useful guidance for charities on coronavirus and how to best keep your employees and volunteers safe and well. You can take a read of the guidance here.

Take a look at the resources

CONTRACTS AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT PEOPLE TO ACCESS THE 2021 CENSUS

Applications are still open for you to express your interest in supporting digitally and socially excluded people to complete the Census online between March and May 2021. We’re inviting all organisations who are interested to submit an expression of interest by Friday 27 March at 5pm. We will then ask successful organisations to complete a fuller application in May, and successful applicants will be informed by the end of June. Although delivery does not begin until March 2021, onboarding for successful applicants will begin in August 2020. Find out more.

How we can tackle health inequalities through digital

Last week, our CEO Helen Milner was on BBC News, along with Mala from Online Centre Skills Enterprise, to chat to Geeta Guru-Murthy about how we can tackle health inequalities through digital. The interview focused on how social exclusion is ‘exacerbating health inequalities and that’s exacerbating digital inequalities’. If you missed it you can watch the full interview here. Following, this we pitched our opinion piece in The Independent. It’s great to see this issue receiving such prominent national attention and publicity.

Watch the interview

ALL DIGITAL WEEK

ALL DIGITAL Week takes place between 23-29 March. This is the annual European digital inclusion campaign aimed at empowering individuals and promoting a world where everyone can benefit from digital.

Since 2010, the campaign has reached over 1,255,000 people, helping them to take their first steps online. Good Things Foundation is proud to support ALL DIGITAL Week and encourage our Online Centres Network to represent the UK in a Europe-wide digital inclusion movement.

To get involved, register on the ALL DIGITAL Week website and add your events to their map. Why not shout about what you’re getting up to on social media by using #ALLDIGITALWeek?

POWER TO CHANGE HANDBOOK FOR COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS

Online Centres can make great use of the Power to Change Community Hub Handbook, designed to help organisations run a successful community hub. The handbook includes lots of handy hints and tips to help you run a successful community organisation, as well as resources and links to relevant websites. Take a read of the handbook.

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