How can our digital drop-in service help the local community?
To promote digital inclusion, we have introduced a volunteer position known as the Online Chum Mentor. This digital befriender offers both technical guidance and community support to older and disabled individuals, including asylum seekers, refugees and unemployed people. The latter group face significant obstacles since the Department for Work and Pensions requires benefit claimants to be online. For many, the lack of a personal computer, or phone mean they must depend on public spaces such as libraries, which is fraught with difficulties: users cannot guarantee privacy or personalised settings, and the limited time available on library computers adds to the strain. Such constraints can lead to wider social and economic exclusion and, all too often, result in individuals becoming further disconnected from the community alongside restricted access to online socially essential services.
Good photo of the three of us here at Park View Project good stuff.