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Thursday 3 September 2015

I.T. Course Promotes Digital Inclusion for BME Community

Ashley Community Housing has been working with Crisis over the last 12 weeks to run an I.T. skills course for our tenants in Birmingham. The attendees were mainly refugees with limited experience of using a computer and/or the internet. Due to increased demand from the Department for Work & Pensions to seek employment, many newly arrived refugees have realized the importance of being computer literate, thus improving their CV and their ability to job search.

ACH and Crisis were able to provide tenants with a course tailored to tenants’ needs, which not only focused on I.T., but helped tenants to improve English too. The course was designed to reduce digital exclusion, making it easier for our tenants to apply for jobs online, use online banking, write and edit CVs and generally be on a fairer footing to the majority of society.
The course was well attended, with many tenants continuing to go to classes even through religious festivities (Eid). Crisis have understood our ethos in providing culturally specific services by providing an Arabic speaking teaching assistant, who was able to explain specific IT terminology with ease.
One tenant said,
“I have enjoyed the computer skills course at Ashley, because I understand how to use the computer and internet properly. I have been coming to every other session, and everyone around me has noticed that my confidence has grown. I now come every Thursday to bid for housing online andI’ve told all my friends about Ashley too!” – Abbass Hassan.
We chose to partner with Crisis as it is a national charity that has been campaigning to prevent homelessness since 1967. They have a number of centres located across the UK; the Birmingham branch is situated close to the City Centre.
After 12 weeks, service users have successfully completed the course, and will receive an NOCN accredited certificate in due time. With their certificates, service users are able to progress onto the next level, or use as proof to secure employment. We hope to continue working in partnership with Crisis, who are running fun activities and events over the summer.
Well done to all the tenants who have completed the course, and we look forward to seeing you at the certificate ceremony!
Computer skills course

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