Connecting 100 People Experiencing Homelessness to the Digital World
Simon Community Scotland’s Get Digital Scotland Programme has been delivering the Get Connected 100 project with our Get Digital Partners throughout Scotland. Starting in March 2021, with funding from the Scottish Government, we provided 100 people experiencing homelessness with:
- A digital device
- Unlimited connectivity
- Support from a trained Digital Champion
- A learning framework of digital skills
Read the full Get Connected 100 Report – July 2021.
What happened?
We have seen overwhelmingly positive impact and profound life changing outcomes for the people participating in this project.
Participants have been using their devices to increase their quality of life in so many different ways. People were able to connect with friends and family, reach support networks, stay up to date with the latest news, access government services, manage personal finances (including their benefits), access online entertainment and content to improve their mental health and wellbeing.
Life changing stats
The evidence gathered from staff and participant surveys show that the project has delivered astounding results:
What participants said:
- 96% improved quality of life
- 91% increased their use of digital tools
- 92% place more value on connecting to the internet
- 94% will continue to use digital
- 99% found Digital Champion support helpful
What digital champions said:
- 85% of participants increased engagement in support
- 100% of participants lives were positively affected
Reflections
“Absolutely buzzing! I am young and enjoy socialising and this now allows me to enjoy all the things I have missed for a long time. I feel more connected to other people and to the world as a whole.”
Supported person in Fife
“The best thing about this project?… Everything”
Supported person in Aberdeen
“There have been so many positives – people having better contact with their family/friends, being able to access things they enjoy such as TV shows and movies or games, being able to access recovery meetings and groups, accessing apps for exercise and meditation purposes.”
Digital Champion in Glasgow.
“It’s been great seeing service users developing digital skills from the framework – being more engaged with services, family, friends and more careful with budgeting their money.”
Digital Champion in Aberdeen
10 Life Changing Impacts
We conducted extensive interviews with people involved in the project and found 10 life changing impacts that came up over and over again:
- Increasing life opportunities
- Strengthening dignity and respect
- Enabling connection with friends and family and other support networks
- Accessing services and support
- Promoting mental health and wellbeing
- Enabling autonomy and independence
- Giving freedom and peace of mind
- Supporting recovery – a digital approach to harm reduction
- Stimulating education, learning and self development
- Changing perceptions and challenging stigma
Read more about these 10 life changing impacts in the full Get Connected 100 Report – July 2021.
Digital Inclusion is a Pathway to Inclusion in Other Critical Life Areas
When people can access the digital world, they are able to access other inclusion agendas such as social inclusion, health inclusion, financial inclusion, democratic inclusion, educational inclusion, cultural inclusion and inclusion in public services. This project doesn’t just include people in ‘digital’, it includes people in many other critical life areas. When people face multiple exclusions, ‘Digital’ is a pathway back into society and is an essential part of the solution to recovery from homelessness.
What’s Next?
We are currently exploring ways to expand this project to help more people ‘Get Connected’, recover from homelessness and thrive.
A word from Shona Robison, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government:
“I am delighted the Scottish Government provided £40,000 to fund this project. It is ensuring 100 people experiencing homelessness get connected to the digital world. The pandemic has shown us that access to digital equipment, data and skills is a basic necessity and not a luxury which is why the Scottish Government is focusing on digital inclusion. The project has highlighted the importance of digital inclusion as a key way of supporting people to recover from homelessness and achieve life changing outcomes.
This has been made possible due the commitment of the Simon Community, their Get Digital Partners and of course the people participating and I want to thank everyone involved.”
Thank You
Get Connected 100 was all made possible by contributions from an incredible team of people and organisations working together in partnership. We’d like to thank the participants in the project, our amazing digital champions, Simon Community Scotland services, our Get Digital Partners (Seascape [Ayrshire], CATH and Turning point Scotland [Perth], Aberdeen Cyrenians [Aberdeen], Frontline Fife [Fife]), our friends at Mhor Collective and the Scottish Government.
Read the full Get Connected 100 Report – July 2021.
