Short history of Park View Project

Formed in 2013 we became a registered charity on the 10^{th of} November 2021. Our project came into being from concerns raised by residents about friends and family feeling as though they had been forgotten because they were not digitally included. Many felt they were at risk of losing their independence because of the increasing numbers of socially essential services gravitating too online access.    As a user-led and controlled organisation, we are built using social capital, incorporating community engagement practices, where ownership is shared, where governance is not exclusive but inclusive and where diversity is embraced, which is why we adopt traditional community engagement because human contact is necessary for many to feel they are on a shared journey of learning that leads to participation in society.  While using traditional community engagement techniques, we encourage individuals to bridge the digital divide and get involved in the number of topic-based Groups’, where people can share interests and trade information digitally and, importantly, in real space & time to increase their social circles of support. We also encourage development of personal goals to help with confidence, self-esteem and, critically, tackling loneliness and isolation. We are more than just a digital training hub by ensuring we focus on social goals that are vital in engaging with those on the digital periphery. We align Digital Exclusion and Social Exclusion in the enabling process, where skills learnt empower and create a community stake so that learners can help others. Furthermore, we adopt a hybrid approach to delivering our learning support: consisting of Face-to-face combined with non-digital channels such as printed material and telephone calls to ensure nobody is left behind.

Three volunteer Digital Buddies helping with digitising our project history