Help Needed to Close the Digital Divide

I have a favor to ask...

In summary, WANdisco has joined forces with The Star newspaper and Learn Sheffield (part of Sheffield City Council) to help close the 'digital divide' by supplying free computers to all pupils in need of internet access at home. The COVID-19 crisis is continuing to disrupt the education of a generation of young people and it is shocking that many children are falling further behind because they cannot log on for homework. A rough estimate of need would be 15-17k young people in Sheffield alone*.

The Star's editor Nancy Fielder launched the Laptops for Kids campaign last month with a front-page story (attached). The launch coverage is online here: https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/people/join-stars-campaign-give-back-sheffields-young-people-2973110

The Northern Powerhouse Partnership is supporting the campaign and is tapping its network of business and civic leaders in the North of England for laptop donations: https://www.thestar.co.uk/must-read/campaign-help-sheffields-young-people-gains-support-northern-powerhouse-partnership-2989090

Donors are coming forward with offers of laptops via laptopsforkids@wandisco.com and we are using these donations to publicise the campaign in The Star: https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/people/sheffield-businesses-urged-make-difference-laptops-kids-campaign-2987189

Early donors include DLA Piper, the UK's largest law firm, and Benchmark, a leading tech recruiter in Sheffield.

The supply chain is in place:

Students at the WANdisco Data Academy at The Sheffield College will be helping to clean and certify donated computers as part of their work experience. This is confirmed but yet to be announced.

Learn Sheffield is working with schools to identify those young people in need of internet access at home and will coordinate distribution of the devices.

Data security expert Blancco has donated free licences in support of the campaign.We have spoken with Vodafone's public sector lead for Sheffield about supplying unlimited data sims to solve any connectivity issues.

This is a great opportunity for everyone to help close the 'digital divide', starting in Sheffield then moving across the country. We need as many old or new devices as we can get!

* A digital divide survey of 45 Sheffield schools reported 4,500 pupils in need of a device. There are 170 schools in Sheffield. We have yet to agree on a figure for public consumption.