THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGISTS
CHARITY
WCIT to help homeless
people improve their IT
skills and find work
L
ondon, March 2016: Homeless and vulnerable people are being given the chance to improve their IT
skills and find work thanks to the support of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT).
WCIT, the 100th Livery Company in the City of London, is
backing a new project called Digital Pathways which will be
run by the homelessness charity, Thames Reach.
Thames Reach is one of the UK’s leading homelessness
charities. Its vision is to end street homelessness and its
mission is to provide decent homes, encourage supportive
relationships and help people lead fulfilling lives.
Thames Reach runs a range of services in London including
street outreach services helping people sleeping rough
escape homelessness, a variety of hostels and supported
housing projects, and schemes which prevent homelessness
and help people develop new skills, re-engage with family and
friends, and get back into work.
It runs the Employment academy in Camberwell which helps
unemployed and economically disadvantaged people find
work. www.employmentacademy.org.uk
The Digital Pathways project builds on the successful I-Reach
project, a digital literacy project, also funded by WCIT and run
by Thames Reach.
I-Reach has already supported 54 people to access
one-to-one support, and helped ten of those individuals to
secure an IT qualification, as well as providing social media
training and Wi-Fi access across seven Thames Reach
properties.
Paul Finch, project leader at WCIT says: “What we are
looking to achieve in the Digital Pathway project is to use
I-Reach sessions as an initial engagement to move service
users into education and training, and then into employability
services, with the ultimate aspiration to support service users
into work, where possible in the IT sector.”
WCIT has already committed £16,000 in funding towards the
salary of a Digital Skills Support Worker who will act as an
organisational lead and specialist, applying their learning to
help Thames Reach service users develop specific IT
pathways into education and employment. This has been
complemented by further funding from Southwark Council of
£22,500 towards the project.
In addition to a further £1,800 previously-agreed funding for
the second year of I-Reach, WCIT will also provide £5,000
towards the provision of an interactive whiteboard to improve
the delivery of IT accredited training at Thames Reach and
£1200 to support the roll-out of the IT fundamentals training
scheme at the charity, to be delivered by London-based, Just
IT Training and Recruitment Ltd.
According to Finch: “The vision is to provide an opportunity
for Thames Reach service users with an interest in IT to
pursue careers in sectors that depend on that kind of
knowledge and awareness. Just IT is the ideal partner in this
respect because it has a recruitment arm in addition to its
training division which, of course, raises the prospect for
Thames Reach users to obtain employment in the first place.”
“Our service users are increasingly ambitious to raise their
levels of IT literacy in a bid to find work” says Jeremy Swain,
CEO, Thames Reach.
“Our latest survey revealed that nearly half (46%) said they
needed more support around information technology to meet
their needs and that 70% want to work but just 5% are in
employment. We are struggling to meet this demand with our
current staffing levels and skillsets” he adds.
“That’s where the input of WCIT has proved invaluable. Their
generous funding has helped get the Digital Pathway project
up and running.
Moreover, the work carried out by Paul Finch, in particular,
has proved invaluable in identifying gaps in our current
provision which could be supported by this approach and in
providing management skills and strategic consultancy and
advice as the project has moved forward.”
Story by Tom Webb, The Whiteoaks Consultancy &
Court Liveryman Paul Finch, the WCIT Charity Strategic Partner
Relationship Manager to Thames Reach
If you would like to get involved with the WCIT Charity’s work
with Thames Reach then we are forming a working group. For
more