Leeds City Council is awarding fifteen community organisations digital funding, through their 100% Digital Leeds: Digital Inclusion Fund, to help them commit to including digital skills in their future work.
Councillor Debra Coupar, Leeds City Council executive member for communities, said: “Working with partners and the third sector to ensure everyone in the city has the motivation, access and skills they need to improve their lives through digital has had demonstrable success. That’s why the council is continuing to invest in these initiatives.
“For example, Cross Gates and District Good Neighbours, as a local, community organisation, has better relationships with and access to older residents in the area. With the right skills and equipment they are best placed to help those people get online. This helps them connect to family who might not be local and access services and information they wouldn’t have before – all of which helps improve their overall health and wellbeing, which is a priority for Leeds City Council.”
Dylan Roberts, Chief Digital and Information Officer for Leeds City Council, said: “We’re delighted to be awarding a total of £100,000 to fifteen community organisations who have demonstrated an understanding of the barriers to digital inclusion. These barriers are where people are having problems accessing and using online information and services.
“The funding will allow community organisations to help people in Leeds and West Yorkshire to be healthier and happier by improving their digital skills – and these groups are best placed to engage with local communities to do that.
“In Leeds across health and care we have made a commitment to improve digital inclusion, and by awarding this funding to the community organisations, we will be working towards this. Over the year we will look at how the funding is being spent, where it has made a difference and what learning we can take away as a result.”
This work forms part of the Leeds ‘Smart city’ strategy and makes a significant contribution to our health and care plan, supported by all NHS organisations in the city. A celebration event was held today (Friday 13 September) for the fifteen organisations at Leeds Central Library.
ENDS
Notes to editors
Names of fifteen community organisations that have received the 100% Digital Leeds: Digital Inclusion Fund
- Barca-Leeds: £3,700 to support socially isolated service users to develop their basic digital skills, help them connect with people, find employment, and improve their health and wellbeing
- Bramley Community Centre: £9,900 to create a dedicated space where local residents can access equipment with support to and develop their basic digital skills, helping them to access services and find work
- Carers Leeds: £9,500 to support unpaid carers to develop their basic digital skills, helping them to connect with each other, access online services from home, and get the support they need
- Caring Together in Little London and Woodhouse: £3,600 to support older people to develop their basic digital skills in groups in their own homes, helping those with mobility issues to access online services from home and stay independent
- Connect In the North: £2,400 to support people with learning disabilities to develop their basic digital skills, helping them to improve the accessibility of their equipment, discover apps designed for people with learning disabilities, and stay safe online
- Cross Gates & District Good Neighbours: £3,200 to provide connectivity and one-to-one digital skills training for older people and the housebound in the Cross Gates area, supporting them to access digital services, stay connected with family and friends, and continue living independently
- DAMASQ: £10,000 to provide internet access and basic digital skills support to refugees, asylum seekers and new migrants, helping them to access local services, live independently, and integrate within the wider Leeds community
- Get Technology Together C.I.C: £7,600 to extend the reach of their current accessible technology training sessions to meet community need, improving basic digital, life, and work skills across Leeds
- People Matters (West Yorkshire): £7,300 to support people with disabilities to develop their basic digital skills and improve their employability, including increasing the number of Job Clubs across the city and introducing a tablet loan scheme for the benefit of their members who do not have access to their own equipment
- Pyramid of Arts: £8,700 to inspire people with disabilities to embrace tech by embedding digital into arts practice, supporting them to digitally upskill and develop their online arts presence
- Specialist Autism Services: £8,700 to support people with autism to develop their digital knowledge, skills and confidence, allowing them to live more independently, stay healthy, and stay safe online
- St Vincent’s Support Centre: £2,800 to provide connectivity and develop weekly volunteer-led digital skills sessions for migrant service users, as well as the wider local community
- Toast Love Coffee: £10,000 to develop a volunteer and community led digital inclusion scheme to improve the digital skills and confidence of the people of Harehills, with a focus on digital creativity
- Trans Mission: £3,000 to support the Leeds trans and non-binary community to develop their digital skills to better access online service and connect with each other, thereby reducing social isolation
- Turning Lives Around: £10,000 to provide connectivity to homeless clients and to tackle digital and social exclusion by providing people with the skills and confidence they need to access digital technology.
Leeds City Digital Team
The Leeds City Digital Team consists of staff from Leeds City Council and NHS organisations in Leeds, working together to create opportunities to integrate care via digital means.
For media enquiries please contact:
Issued by the communications team at NHS Leeds CCG. You can contact the team on 0113 84 35528 or 0113 84 35470. Alternatively please email us at leedsccg.comms@nhs.net