Focused on their Future: crossing the digital divide
Concerns about the digital divide - the gap between those who have full access to digital technologies such as the internet and computers and those who don’t - has existed for a number of years. However, COVID and the subsequent lockdowns brought this topic into sharper focus, across society, but also at Dame Kelly Holmes Trust. As schools and community settings were closed and we moved our programmes online, our athlete mentors often reported back that young people couldn’t attend because they had no suitable device or ‘Mum needed her smartphone’ that day, leaving them feeling more isolated and disconnected than ever before. It can be easy to take having a smartphone, working on a laptop or streaming video on a tablet for granted. For many young people who are facing challenges and adversity in their lives this simply isn’t the case.
Bridging this digital divide is so critical to allow young people to develop and achieve their potential and that’s why the Trust was thrilled that as part of our partnership with Deloitte, we have had the opportunity to distribute 40 refurbished laptops supplied by them to young people on our programmes.
Shoulder to shoulder with young people: Earlier this year we worked with students from West London College on a Get on Track programme funded by KKR, a global investment company. The programme was designed to build young people’s confidence and self-esteem, and gain key skills to enter the employment market. With digital capability being necessary in so many roles, this access to their own laptop was transformational. Liam Wild, head of Curriculum at West London College said:
“The whole project was a great success, it enabled our students to build up their confidence and resilience to overcome barriers that they may face throughout the academic year. For the students to be rewarded with their own personal laptop was a fantastic gesture as many students do not have the financial means to have one at home. This has allowed the students to be able to access their work outside of college in order to complete any homework or assignments. Our students now have every opportunity to succeed on their chosen course and we are really grateful to Dame Kelly Holmes Trust and to Deloitte for their support.”
Students from West London College who receieved laptops from Deloitte.
Laptops were also provided for young people who attended our Young Leaders programme in Sheffield, run in partnership with Sheffield United Community Foundation. Sixteen young people attended the leadership training programme, designed to train a generation of leaders, who genuinely care about wellbeing in their community and want to improve it for the better. Now the programme has finished, the group are delivering projects in their communities on topics close to their hearts. Providing them with laptops enables them to facilitate, manage and deliver these projects, including creating presentations, posters and digital assets that they otherwise would have struggled to produce. One of the attendees on the Young Leaders programme said:
“Having the laptop has been really useful because it gave me access to Google classroom, Google Meet and works assessments at home which made it easier for me to complete them.”
Claire Burton, Head of Responsible Business at Deloitte said:
“At Deloitte we understand how important technology is for connection, education and developing skills, and that without it, many are excluded from opportunities. It’s why we are so pleased to work through our charity partners, like Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, to be able to redistribute our used and refurbished laptops to support charities, schools and community groups to help reduce the digital divide.”
As part of our partnership with Deloitte we were pleased to take part in the Digital Connect programme run by Cast that brought 35 charitable organisations together to help close the digital divide. Taking part in the programme allowed the Trust to focus on understanding how to develop a digital product and use the framework and resources provided on future projects. Additionally, we are very excited to be working with the Deloitte team in Nottingham over the next three years to raise funds to put world class athletes shoulder to shoulder with young people in the area through our school based programmes.