July Confidence Booster for Wanganui Digital Literacy from NZ Government

We are delighted to hear we have been successful with our latest NZ Government Community Partnership Fund application. This will enable us to assist another 150 Wanganui families/whanau to cross the digital divide. We estimate there are still over 1,000 families in Wanganui who don’t have a computer at home, so our latest funding will help us make a big positive difference.

Our next steps to roll out the programme are to thank and engage with our community partners and stakeholders, and recruit our families. We plan to have some classes started during term 3, so by the end of year we will be well along the way.

We intend to continue to keep a high public profile for our programme and will be looking to see we can recruit families with the most need and who can make the most of their opportunity. Anyone who would like to register their interest is invited to contact me, Alistair Fraser, Wanganui programme coordinator, tel 06 348 9504 or email me alistair@crystaladventures.co.nz

It was especially satisfying to see the funding announcement was made by Hon. Tariana Turia. It is inspiring to see how committed she is for our communities. Click the link to read the full announcement www.beehive.govt.nz/release/boost+open+access+ict

Our latest NZ Government funding is gratefully accepted by us. We are very pleased because we see this as acknowledgment that what we have achieved so far is producing significant positive outcomes. We think the Computers in Homes programme is a key tool for the government to use to achieve its priorities of “booting up” our productivity and digital literacy/numeracy. The Digital Age is now fully upon us and Computers in Homes is well placed to play a major transformational role.

It is great to see Hon. Steven Joyce making positive comments about Computers in Homes too. See this link for a Dominion Post story by Tom Pullar-Strecker about the ICT sector and Hon. Steven Joyce’s commitment to see the Digital Divide is addressed, plus hints CIH will be in next year’s budget. www.stuff.co.nz/technology/2547190/Joyce-sticks-to-the-script-on-Telecom

In Wanganui, our Computers in Homes programme will slot well into all the other wonderful digital initiatives happening in our community. Wanganui’s strength is the depth of its collaboration and networking amongst its community organisations. We are proud to be a partner with the Computer Clubhouse project which has also received a CPF grant to become established here. This is a very thrilling development. We hope lots of youth from our CIH families participate in the Computer Clubhouse too.

Exciting as it is to be funded to help 150 Wanganui families, this is still only a small amount of the ones on the wrong side of the digital divide. Our new national initiative, the CIH 100,000 Challenge emphasises we have a long way to go. We will be working hard to show the faith we have received to make a big difference is well founded This is a great chance to put more runs on the board and get prepared to scale up the delivery to achieve our dreams.

We have learned plenty from running CIH for our 158 families who have graduated to date. We will be continuing to engage with as many of them as possible to help them continue to learn and use ICT. Thanks to our partner Whanganui UCOL, we will be publishing a monthly newsletter from August which will be promoting learning opportunities including Stepping UP.

Our Wanganui CIH Steering Group’s governance capability has been strengthened recently with the appointment of three new members: Jenny Duncan, Chair, Wanganui Youth Services Trust, Julian (Judd) Bailey, Te Puna Matauranga o Whanganui and Sandy Nepia, Te Ropu Whakahau and Aotearoa Peoples Network Kaharoa. Welcome to CIH - Jenny, Judd and Sandy - it is great to have you aboard and you will be a big help for us to get the most leverage out of our CiH treasure for our families/whanau.