Connect <> Lockleaze - a shortlisted finalist for an IMA Performance Award

Connect <> Lockleaze are delighted to have been shortlisted for an IMA Performance Award.

We received an email earlier today informing us that the panel have now drawn up a shortlist of finalists and advising us that Connect <> Lockleaze has been shortlisted in their Best New Initiative category.

The winners in each category will be announced at an awards ceremony to be held on the evening of 20th May at the Midland Hotel, in Manchester during a gala dinner as part of the IMA Annual Conference. Two advisers from North Bristol Advice Centre will be attending the conference and will collect the award on our behalf if we are lucky enough to win!

The nomination for Connect <> Lockleaze that got us shortlisted reads as follows:

North Bristol Advice Centre (NBAC) is a key partner in Connect <> Lockleaze, a training project established to minimise digital exclusion and to encourage local people to develop their skills.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) and University of West of England (UWE) sought out community partners with premises that could be developed into state of the art training suites. NBAC are delighted to have been chosen and see Connect <> Lockleaze as a way to help clients keep up-to-date in a rapidly expanding technological age.

The introduction of Universal Credit includes a new requirement to apply for benefits online and this is just one example of how, as our society becomes increasingly digitalised, those not online will be left behind and left out. Aware that Lockleaze is the sixth most deprived ward in Bristol, NBAC is naturally concerned that it will be their clients who suffer and, as such, see Connect <> Lockleaze as a wonderful chance to be pro-active.

Already, NBAC has run a number of free ‘Introduction to IT’ courses to start getting people online and now holds regular ‘Open Sessions’ throughout the week where anyone can drop in and use a computer, printer, the internet for whatever they need – student volunteers from UWE are available if help is needed.

In addition, NBAC are keen to use Connect <> Lockleaze to give people the skills and the tools they need to help themselves. This will help to relieve the pressure of excessive demand for services (in 2011-12 casework levels were 12% higher than the previous year) at a time when funding is decreasing.

Recent ‘Money Matters’ courses to help local people gain support in managing their finances have proved so popular that NBAC are developing a series of half day Money Management workshops dealing with relevant topics in bite-sized chunks: budgeting, banking options, sensible borrowing, negotiating with creditors etc.

As the project develops, NBAC is working closely with HP and UWE to provide a safe, supported environment where people are not intimidated, where everyone is welcome and where NBAC advisors and volunteers can help people with a range of issues: making benefit applications, researching best price deals, forming shopping groups to access bulk discounts and so much more.

Other organisations are regularly invited to use the Langley Centre and its facilities to provide free courses for the benefit of local residents. Most recently, two soft skills workshops to improve employability – confidence building, stress management – were oversubscribed.

Through Connect <> Lockleaze, NBAC has been able to link with a wider variety of organisations than ever before and to develop an informal referral network which is proving able to provide a more holistic approach to problems faced by the area.

In less than 12 months, this project is demonstrating how much a community can benefit from successful coordination of physical resources and local knowledge, provided by commercial and voluntary sectors, respectively. Like ripples on a pond, the effects are proving to be ever-expanding and, in this instance, contributing to the regeneration of the local community.