Community Learning

We have been nominated for a Digital Leaders 100 a

We have been nominated for a Digital Leaders 100 award this year.

Our category is the Craig MacDonald memorial prize, establish to recognize grassroots and community organizations helping to close the digital divide.

https://lnkd.in/dwVnw46Z

In our world. It is posh way of saying we 'help people with computers', but for us it is so more more than that.

The critical bit for us is what the person is trying to do and facing technology as the barrier and getting in the way. So we provide access to devices where we can through partners but truly focus on building confidence and helping people be safer online.

Through the hard work of the staff and volunteers, we have extended from a pilot project in a community library to working across 4 Borough in London as well as talking nationally.

This has been made possible only by our local residents and referring partners, that’s YOU FOLKS, who have attended our classes or drop-ins, told their friends & neighbours or supported in other ways.

If we win this prize, it is an opportunity for national recognition which can only mean we are able to continue our work both locally and with new partners.

So please vote for us, but more importantly continue to come along to our sessions, spread the word and of course practice!

LINK IN BIO!!! 👉

#digitalinclusion #digitaldivide #fixthedigitaldivide #digitalchampions #digitalbuddy #volunteering #digitalskills

We will at be the Salvation Army, Thornton Heath t

We will at be the Salvation Army, Thornton Heath this Saturday as part Sustainable Thornton Heath.

We will be providing a 'Drop-in to Drop-off' point for all unwanted or old tech gathering dust underneath the stairs or the back of a cupboard.

Working with our partners, Community Tech Aid, we will take old smart phones, laptops and tablets and where possible will upcycle them and donate them back to to resident in need.

Thus helping the community, providing practical volunteering opportunities and reducing landfill along the way.

Hard drives are securely wiped erasing any data and anything we can't use or be stripped for parts is ethically recycled via other partners To Recycle.

These types of projects got a lot of publicity during pandemic as it came to the fore the importance of working tech for schooling, interviews and also accessing support networks.

As the cost of living crisis deepens then so does the need to be able to access the tech you ensure you are making the best of tariff, deals & benefits.

As part of the National Databank project we are also able to donate data and mifi devices, for many this is the crunch point and though our Community Tech Support drop-in across South London we provide a solution for those questions and in need of assistance to use their device safely.

We can all be part of this journey and you can to, so please go and have a look in the loft or behind the sofa and bring along your older tech to us this Saturday at Sustainable Thornton Heath or to any of our Community Tech Support Drop Ins through the week!

Drop-In to Drop-Off

#FixTheDigitalDivide
#techdonation
#digitalinclusion
#upcycling
#sustainableliving
#sustainablethorntonheath
#thorntonheath
#southnorwood
#uppernorwood
#fridayfeeling

I’m not sure who said older people aren’t inte

I’m not sure who said older people aren’t interested in all this tech stuff, but I disagree.

This was our second Mobile Phone Boot Camp at the Croydon BME Forum’s Wellness Centre.

As a group we discuss challenges with our phones and what we want to do with them and over 4 sessions we break into smaller groups to practice useful and practical things such as using settings, sending attachments, and installing apps.

We also share learning together, which is an important way of reinforcing what we learn – and with any doubt we all learn something as there is always something new to find out.

We focus on helping people to understand look for similarities between devices, not differences.

This is a very transferable to all devices for both people getting something new or dusting something off out of a cupboard. Equally as good we have noticed this to be a great lesson for people working with others – be it community leaders, social prescribers, and link workers.

Helping people to access an email, sign up for a service or download a new app will increasingly be part of our toolkit when working with residents in need, and this starts by building all of our confidence, not so much with individual devices but the ability to think through a challenge with a resident and finding a solution.

This is why our Mobile Phone Boot Camps are open to both residents new to a mobile phone and other wanting to help with a group and understand some of this stuff for themselves.

We have two more in the diary at the Wellness Centre, a set of four starting at Anerley Town Hall as well as some Southwark dates about to be announced.

https://buff.ly/3PEiu7l

If something like this is of interest to you, the people you work with or friend/ family member/ neighbour – then please get in touch!

Your Smart Phone needs you!

#croydon #croydoncommunity #bromley #bromleycommunity #volunteering #voluteer #linkworker #socialprescribing #socialprescriber #community

@croydonbmeforum
@cpctrust @livingwellbromley @bromleywelladultcarers @bromleywellautismsupport
@se20penge

We sometimes forget we all have to start at the be

We sometimes forget we all have to start at the beginning and isn’t that where the magic is?

To see a reply to a first text can genuinely bring amazement but also a confidence that we can all participate and join in.

We have seen technology can in itself be isolating and counterproductive; we still need the 'human' to help cross the bridge or open the door.

This is exactly why we have created our Mobile Phone Boot Camps - a fun and social way to practice new things and learn the fundamentals without feeling rushed or alone.

We are at the Wellness Centre again this Friday 14.00-16.00 in Croydon's Whitgift Centre with our friends the Croydon BME Forum.

If you know someone who would benefit or you would like to help, contact us to find out more

#croydoncommunity #croydonlearning #olderpeoplenetwork #croydon #CR1 #CR0
#thorntonheath #broadgreen #smartphone #mobilephone #confidence #mentalhealth

Mental Health Awareness Week highlights the plight

Mental Health Awareness Week highlights the plight of loneliness this year and is an opportunity for us to look back through some of the people we helped in lockdown and were they are now.

We first met P right at the beginning when he was trying to learn how to use Zoom and to connect with support staff. With significant challenges of his own, the anxiety of Covid combined with the separation from there was almost too much.

He was one of the beneficiaries of a laptop loan programme we ran. He has since helped us upcycle old donated tech and volunteered to assist with a project at Age UK Croydon.

However, through this confidence building he has gone on to create his own peer support network for adults with long terms medical conditions suffering from mental health and has joined a writing group. We just found out yesterday that one of his first scripts is to be performed on stage by professional actors …. So watch this space.

If you are unsure about the impact providing digital support and access to equipment can make to a person in need – you need not go any further it is right here!

#fixthedigitaldivide #digitalinclusion #digitalskills #techdonation
#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawarenessweek #learningdifficulties #autism #autismawareness #learningdisabilities #loneliness #endloneliness

As Mental Health Awareness Week is launched, this

As Mental Health Awareness Week is launched, this year it focusses on tackling loneliness.

During lockdown we supported Chrys to get a donated phone after he damaged his other one.

He finds music and singing to be the very thing to help him through his dark times. What he didn't realise was that his very singing also kept his neighbours upbeat.

Mental health issue can make you feel alone but we can all affect the people around us positively without realising it.

#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawarenessweek #learningdificulties #learningdisabilities #lonliness #endloneliness

@croydonmencap
@bromleymencap
@certitude.london
@disabilityadviceservicelambeth
@millennium_community_solutions
mentalhealth_community

Questions about smart phones come in regularly.

Questions about smart phones come in regularly.

It's all very well saying

"you just need to explore a bit" or

"swipe there , then there and tap that , there you go, you must have, no hold on .... ive shown you that already don't you remember"

If you are new to using a mobile phone and you don't know what it can do then how can you explore?

If we go too fast and get frustrated , not only is it difficult to pick up, it squashes confidence and enthusiasm

We all need to have our own motivation to learn new things and we need encouragement, this is why we created our 'Mobile Phone Boot Camp' format!

Our social events encourage small group activities, helping each other and working through practical and useful things with a smart phone. We all learn something

Join us and the Croydon BME Forum at the Wellness Centre, Whitgift Centre in Croydon on the 20th May 14.00-1600

#croydoncommunity #croydonlearning #olderpeoplenetwork #croydon #CR1 #CR0
#thorntonheath #broadgreen

See link in Bio

And so today we are at the Moorland Community Cent

And so today we are at the Moorland Community Centre with a whole bunch of other organizations to celebrate the opening of the Southwyck Pantry here. 🥂🎉🎈

The Southwyck Pantry, part of the Healthy Living Platform provides a community priced food for residents in needs as well an informal point for social prescribing, and part of Thriving Vassall Coldharbour.🍉🌽🍏🍎

It’s a great show of dedication by many of the local groups and services who have represented long and hard through the lockdown and have come out the other side building bridges and trust with each other and local residents. 🥉

For us it is a new chapter for our Community Tech Support drop-ins. Due to a pending refurbishment we had had to sat goodbye for now to the Platform Café. Since last September we have supported many local resets build confidence with their phone and laptops, distributed donated and loan devices and signposted to other assistance.💻🖱️🖥️🔌

For the next 12 weeks our home will be here at Moorlands Community Centre every Thursday BUT with a difference!

This will be our first project working alongside a dedicated Wellbeing Ambassador who will help us build and develop our community connections in Lambeth (Thank you so much Age UK Lambeth & Lambeth Council for this opportunity).

This will also be our first regular donation point for our new project with Community Tech Aid – Drop in to drop off! If you have an old laptop, tablet or mobile phone and don’t know where to recycle it or you would like it to go to a good home, you can pop it along to any of our weekly drop-ins to ensure it gets into the right hands.

Community Tech Aid are the leading lights in Lambeth; upcycling, recycling and donated back to families and residents in need. They have a strong sense of advocacy with both sustainability and community at the heart, thank you Linda, Cat, Jim, Steph and all of the volunteers for this work!

Lets go to work!

#lambethcommunity #lambeth #sustainability #brixton #coldharbour #upcycling

@living_platform @communitytechaid @lambeth_council
@platformcafe.lj
@thrivestreatham
@lindajheid