Connect Project
11.9million people across the UK lack essential digital skills. These skills include the confidence and ability to stay safe online, to handle information and content, to undertake transactions, to communicate with others and to solve problems.
People who are not active online, non-users and limited users, are more at risk of being isolated and lonely, they are often people who have additional barriers to inclusion such as disability, mental health issues, are unemployed or have low education attainment.
The MDCVS Connect project from Maldon CVS aims to support people to become more connected to their communities and more confident and skilled in looking for digital solutions.
This will involve supporting people with digital learning as a route to achieving individual goals and learning objectives.
These objectives will include ambitions around accessing training and moving into employment where applicable but also to help people link to their communities and stay informed through:
- Social media groups linked to location, hobby or health
- Online and remote volunteering
- Using trusted apps
- Navigating trusted websites and gathering information.
The project will host wellbeing sessions, digital buddy drop ins and peer support lunches offering a range of support from social conversations exploring individual learning goals to professional working lunches. Volunteers with good IT skills and the willingness to share knowledge and support others are wanted in a range of roles.
Sarah Troop, Director at Maldon and District CVS said “Through the Connect project we want to help people to maximise their opportunities and potential, whether this be people who are in work learning how to use office platforms to help them in their jobs, people who are unemployed and looking for work to build their CVS or local residents who want to know more about the opportunities and information available to them to help them to find services, peer communities and social connections”
Full details are available online at www.maldoncvs.org.uk/connect or by contacting Carly on 01621 851891 or Connectadmin@maldoncvs.org.uk