Week Commencing 10 February 2003
Chris Frederick, Fundraiser, reports:On the 11th February Chairman Anthony Wigram and Chris Frederick, U CAN DO I.T. fundraiser, were invited to visit the Papworth Centre, just outside of London, near Cambridge. The Papworth Centre started life as a Tuberculosis retreat at the turn of the century. It is now established as a leading housing association and care provider for disabled people in South East England. As it says in its mission statement “Our vision is for people with disability to have every opportunity to live independently and to be able to access the world of work within their community.”
U CAN DO I.T. also seeks to increase the independence of disabled people, so there was much that both organisations felt they had in common. As partnerships are all important these days if you want to obtain government funding, both Papworth and U CAN DO I.T. agreed to make common cause and join forces at the Papworth Basildon Centre. The hope is that U CAN DO I.T. will put tutors in place to train upwards 30 local residents drawn from the blind, deaf and physically disabled population, and then refer them to the Basildon Centre where they can take their newly learnt skills and learn others that will help them towards employment.
It is hoped that in the coming weeks further meetings will be held at the Basildon Centre which will provide an opportunity for us to experience what it does at first hand. Additionally there may be an opportunity to meet with the Essex Disability Alliance and Council Funders to whom we will make a presentation of U CAN DO I.T. work.
Much research and hard work has to be done before this dream is realised, but it is worth certainly worth fighting for.
Cliff Docherty, Development Officer, reports:
We attended an outreach workshop organised by NIACE, the national organisation for adult learning. This proved very interesting and provided us with new ideas for promoting the charity.
We were also very busy following up contacts from the last month. Work is underway in Camden Central to recruit students which will be funded under the Single Regeneration Budget courtesy of Camden Training Network. Posters are being displayed in the doctors surgeries in the area, and we have also been in touch with several local groups working in the area who are helping to spread the word.
We have also been focussed very tightly on our Connexions project, which has now been expanded to include young people aged 13 to 19 in all London boroughs, not just the central area. The work we did in January is now beginning to pay off and we are getting applications from families of children with disabilities. At the same time, a teenager-friendly version of the U Can Do I.T. leaflet and poster has been distributed to libraries throughout London.
Lastly, we have been distributing our information to members of the Harrow and Ealing branches of the MS Society.
