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PRESS RELEASE - 20 March 2003

More DirectSupport for UK online centres

Community and voluntary UK online centres can look forward to another year of help and guidance from the DirectSupport initiative, thanks to extended funding from the Department of Education and Skills.

DirectSupport is an excellent example of help brought to the voluntary sector by the voluntary sector. Since November 2000, the service has helped over 300 voluntary sector organisations running UK online centres with the grants, information, skills and planning they need to launch and run their centre successfully. Community-based centres, and those run by voluntary groups already helping the marginalised in society, are well-placed to introduce people to computers and the Internet, whether for emailing friends and family, pursuing hobbies, or training for jobs. With government services due to come online by 2005, these facilities will be an increasingly important resource for the local community.

DirectSupport provides a range of support to centres, including a freephone helpline, an online group-working forum, and a team of community development mentors. Help to centres covers the vast range of issues and challenges which arise in running such a project, from fund-raising to ideas for fun activities, and from effective use of volunteers to legal issues, marketing, management and local partnership building. Top of everyone's list is sustainability, and DirectSupport has developed a range of strategies and planning tools to help staff, volunteers and centre users to contribute to the future of their centre. These include workshops to help centres think up their own ideas for community projects that make innovative use ICT. Some awards are in the pipeline for the best ideas and plans.

DirectSupport works closely with other agencies involved in the UK online centre initiative, and will liaise closely with learndirect when it takes overall responsibility for support to centres in April.

DirectSupport Contacts:
Jane Berry: j.berry@ruralnet.org.uk
Scott Jones: s.jones@can-online.org.uk

Notes for Editors:

The government has sent up some 6000 UK online centres, including many in public libraries and colleges, as part of its wider UK online strategy. See www.ukonline.gov.uk
DirectSupport assists those UK online centres hosted in or run by voluntary and commuity sector organisations. The DirectSupport consortium consists of ruralnet|uk (lead partner), Community Action Network, Community Development Foundation, Partnerships Online and ACRE. See www.directsupport.org.uk
ruralnet|uk is a rural regeneration charity: see www.ruralnetuk.org It established one of the first community computing centres in the country in the early 1990's and one of the earliest online communities, ruralnet|online, five years ago: see www.ruralnet.org.uk ruralnet|online is now at the heart of over 20 online collaboration networks, including the DirectSupport service for UK online centres. This is called the Virtual ICT Centre and can be accessed via a web log in, provided free to centres. The closed system model (an extranet) promotes trust, collaboration and person-to-person interaction - offering an alternative model to a typical web page or informational site.
The Community Action Network (CAN) supports social entrepreneurs: see www.can-online.org.uk
The Community Development Foundation is at www.cdf.org.uk
Partnerships Online is an independent consultancy: www.partnerships.org
ACRE is at www.acre.org.uk

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