Big Shake-up for the Digital Divide in Whanganui

We are sure powering through Term 2.  There are currently 110 cih families in classes going on at Castlecliff, Tawhero and Keith Street Schools plus at Te Kura o Kokohuia, Putiki Marae Cyberwhare, the Whanganui Learning Centre, and the Born and Raised Pasifika centre. Whew, that is the most we've so far had going at once, very pleasing!   Our trainers are doing a fantastic job, we have 10 in our group, and each brings something special to the classes to ensure our learners get off to the best start possible on the digital highway.

Here are recent photos from   some of the classes.  Please visit our online photo gallery to see more; we have over 80 albums now going back to when our first contact started on 1 July 2006:
http://picasaweb.google.com/wanganuicih/

What a way to end our fifth year in operation in Whanganui.   At the end of July, we expect a total of 430 families, whanau and fanau will have completed the CIH programme since we began. This all deserves a very special celebration, so we are planning a huge Whakahirahira CIH graduation to be held in the Assembly Hall at Wanganui Girls College on Monday 11 July.  This will be our biggest graduation yet, and we will have as many families as possible from Term 2 being presented with certificates of achievements, plus there will be presentations of the classes’ digital work and stories.  We hope to have some important VIPs to join us too, so it will be a biggie.  Please email me if you would like to come and go on our guest list:
alistair@crystaladventures.co.nz 

Our Stepping UP programme is rocking on too.  So far this year, we have had around 100 learners register via the Whanganui Learing Centre and the Putiki Marae Cyberwhare.  This takes our total number of Wanganui‘s Stepping UP participants to nearly 700 since it began in 2009.  Outcomes for learners are proving hugely positive.  Stepping UP graduates are reporting the programme is helping them find new jobs, or perform better in their current ones.  Additionally, many are using their learning as a step towards further study and training and report they are continuing to obtain skills and improve their digital literacy.  All our learners report high levels of satisfaction with the programme and increased confidence.

As if this isn't all too good to be true, the "bush telegraph" is hinting there may be more funding for CIH coming our way.  There is certainly a huge demand for our programme out there.  The Wanganui District Council’s Community Outcomes survey of residents, undertaken in February 2011, found that there were still 19% of households in Wanganui without an internet connection.  This is 3,207 homes still needing us!   Still, we have a made a made a big difference reducing it to this, and we hope we can empower as many more of them as possible before too much longer.
 
We are getting very excited about the ultra-fast broadband network being rolled out here later this year.  As one of the first places in NZ to have this, we intend to make the most of the opportunity to hook up at super speed.  This will create huge opportunities for our Whanganui paradise to prosper and make us an even more attractive place to live in and work from.