Digital inclusion in communities

75% of adults believe that every area needs a place where people can visit to help with internet skills (Ipsos Mori for Good Things Foundation, 2020).

24% of people currently offline said that they want to go online, but don’t know where to get help (Lloyds, 2022).

At Good Things Foundation we believe in supporting people and communities to be Digitally Able, Equal and Safe so they can be Happier, Healthier and Better-Off.

Digital inclusion is key to our work helping socially disadvantaged people transform their lives.

Our network partners engage people with community-based learning, offering digital skills as part of a package of support based on an individual’s need.

Our network reaches and engages digitally excluded people all over the UK. It is made up of thousands of community organisations such as small local community centres, small local charities specialising in older people, people with disabilities, or people looking for work, local branches of national organisations such as Age UK or Citizens Advice, and public libraries.

We design and run deep-reach digital inclusion programmes. Since 2014 we have been a key digital inclusion partner to UK Government, leading Basic Digital Skills for the Department for Education. We have pioneered innovative new partnerships with global names including Google, as well as working with the Australian Government and in Kenya.

We work hard to improve digital capability for all, because we believe that everyone should be able to enjoy the benefits of digital.

How are we affecting change?

Future Digital Inclusion

As the largest digital inclusion programme in the UK, this partnership with the Department for Education used the community reach of the Online Centres Network to support some of the hardest to reach groups in society, engaging them in digital.

 

Digital Skills Pathway Projects – UKCRF

Through the Community Digital Skills Pathway project, we are testing a model of digital skills support in local communities.

 

Related news and insights

  • How we change the world

    28/02/2018 · Accessibility and wider inequalities | Digital inclusion in communities

    How we change the world

    In this report, Good Things Foundation's theory of change lays out what we’ve learnt about how we - and the centres we’re working with in the Online Centres Network - are having an impact.

  • Stories from the community: Online Chum Mentoring

    27/04/2020 · News

    Stories from the community: Online Chum Mentoring

    Bob Dennis from the Park View Project in Newcastle tells us about their Online Chum Mentoring scheme, pairing more digitally skilled members of their community with people looking to improve their digital skills.

  • Stories of hope: how our network is responding to Covid-19

    14/04/2020 · Digital inclusion in communities

    Stories of hope: how our network is responding to Covid-19

    Find out how our community partners have responded with resilience to Covid-19 from our Head of Network, Gabrielle Woodhams.