Challenge accepted

I’m the new Digital Participation Development Officer with the Digital team at SCVO so I’m going to be looking after all things Challenge Fund and Charter related. After two successful rounds of the Digital Challenge Fund there are 58 projects being supported across the length and breadth of the country, these projects have been awarded funds to the tune of over £300,000.  That’s great news. What do all these projects have in common?  They all have the same ultimate goal – to teach Basic Digital Skills to those who don’t have them, in order to tackle the problem of digital exclusion in Scotland. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been making sure we’re up to date with all of the fantastic work that these projects are doing but we’ve also been working hard on another little project that we can now announce. So, what’s the even better news? We’re about to do it all again. That’s right, we have another £300,000 from the Scottish Government, topped up to £325,000 through the kind support of BT, to use to support organisations helping to tackle the issue of digital exclusion and we’ll start accepting applications on the 27th July. We have some core focus groups that we’re looking to support with the fund and these are:

• Older people
• Disabled people
• Ethnic minority groups
• Remote and rural communities
• People seeking benefits
• Glasgow focused projects

Awards that we make will range from £100 up to £10,000. So, now we’ve got the ball rolling, don your thinking caps and let us hear all of the fantastic and innovative ideas you have for improving the lives of those who currently lack Basic Digital Skills. Find out more information on the Challenge Fund here.