From our blog: BT Community Connections

Do you know any community groups who aren’t online yet? There are lots of groups who are intimidated by the idea of being online or who can’t afford it.

Well, we’ve just had a meeting with BT Community Connections who are giving away a laptop and a year’s free internet access to community groups who can demonstrate how it would benefit their work and the local community.

They’ve got over 400 of these awards to give away so if your community group could benefit from being online or you know another group who could, why not apply?

 

From our blog: An Essential Tool For My Job...

I’ve just come back from a meeting with Acting Up. They’re a great charity that do multi-media projects with those who have communication difficulties.

John and Nick, the two staff members who make up Acting-Up, made me feel very at home in their office. We drank several cups of coffee together and watched a lot of the material they have created with community groups. I was constantly amazed at how powerful each and every film they showed me was. I began to realise very quickly that an essential tool for my job is going to be a pack of tissues! It was extremely moving to see, for example, older people in Kilburn talking on camera about the home-care they receive. And the best part of all was that everything is made by members of the community. John and Nick very rarely film anything, they give communities the skills to do it and then they film eachother. You can see some of the older people they’ve been working with learning to use cameras here.

And if you want to see some examples of the finished film clips they made have a look at Margery’s World – but be warned if you’re anything like me you will need some tissues!

John and Nick told me that the film about Margery’s World has been sent to the organisation that provides the homecare in Kilburn and they are now using it as a training video for their carers.

Another amazing story of empowerment through digital media!

 

From our blog: My First Outreach Visit!

I just started working at the Media Trust two weeks ago as the Community Outreach Manager for Community Voices. On Tuesday I went on my first outreach visit to a charity in Canterbury called the Kent Refugee Action Network. They’ve been doing some great work making animated films with young unaccompanied refugees about what its like to leave one home and set up a new home in another country.

But that’s only one small part of what they do. They really act as the first port of call for these young people who are housed in the Kent area. Many of them have had traumatic experiences in their home countries (that’s why they left), most of them don’t speak English, and they are all here without their parents or any other family members. The Kent Refugee Action Network help them to learn English, they help them get set up with bank accounts, doctors, college courses etc. They even teach them how to cook for themselves if that’s what’s needed – whatever problems the young people have they help to solve them. There was a lovely atmosphere in the group actually; the staff have created a real sense of family in the absence of the young people’s real family.

I’m sure you can imagine how overwhelming it must be for a young teenager in that situation – and the films they’ve made really have provided a means for them to express how they feel in a way that they’re comfortable with. For example a young Chinese girl who had a gift for origami made this film.

I will be going back to visit the group on the 12^th November because they’re screening their films for members of the community to see. Last time they held a screening 120 members of the community went and apparently the feedback was excellent – I think that’s amazing considering the bad press that refugees seem to get usually. That’s how digital media, when its used to tell a personal story, really can be empowering and can help break down barriers and bring about understanding in a community.

Making these films has really empowered these young people to stand up and tell their own stories rather than fade into the background and become just another statistic.

 

From our blog: Inspire, engage and empower...

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