A group of digitally excluded learners in the City Region are set to benefit from LCR Connect’s first ever ‘Social Value Fund’ donation.
The LCR Connect Social Value Fund was launched to help drive digital inclusion and support communities across the city region.
As part of its first award, VOLA, a consortium of Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise Sector (VCSE) service providers, has received £5,000 for the refurbishment of 50 laptops donated to the charity by Jaguar Land Rover.
The consortium exists to provide a formal structure for supporting the VCSE sector in relation to learning, skills, employment support and criminal justice services in Liverpool City Region.
Following their refurbishment and software loading, the laptops will be loaned out to learners across the region.
Stuart McGrory, Consortium Manager, said:
“During the various lockdowns and prolonged periods of social distancing brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, VOLA suffered major disruption to its learning programmes as learners were unable to access a computers and internet to continue their studies.
“This subsequently led to higher than normal levels of disengagement amongst learners, often the most marginalised and socially excluded in society.
“Once refurbished, we intend to loan the laptops to digitally excluded learners on our training programmes to support their remote and online learning away from the classroom.”