CityFibre partners with Southend Adult Community College to boost digital inclusion in Southend-on-Sea

CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre platform, has teamed up with Southend Adult Community College (SACC) to improve digital inclusion across Southend-on-Sea.

The company has donated £6,000 to SACC’s Digital Access for All programme, which aims to engage Southend-on-Sea residents who feel excluded from the digital world. The programme gives residents the opportunity to access IT equipment and digital skills training to help them get online.

SACC’s Digital Access for All programme was launched in September last year. Around 50 students have already benefitted from the programme with more set to enroll in the coming months. CityFibre’s £6,000 donation has helped procure IT equipment for the programme, such as mobiles, laptops and tablet devices. The college offers drop-in sessions where members of the community can use the IT equipment to build confidence in their digital skills. Students can then apply these skills to everyday life and work.

Matin Ebrahimi, a student who uses one of the tablets provided by SACC’s Digital Access for All programme, said: “The iPad is good to help us learn as it is fast and lets you access all the things on the web to help me.”

Tricia North, Head of Adult Learning at Southend Adult Community College, added: “Having the devices from CityFibre have enabled us to go out to different communities and work with them to improve their digital skills. This may have been through learning English or getting to know how to get the best out of their phones, something which if you don’t have the skills can be incredibly isolating for it can really open a door to new things.”

Aideen Sadler, CityFibre’s City Manager for Southend-on-Sea, said: “Digital exclusion is a major challenge for people in Southend-on-Sea and indeed across the UK. It’s our ambition to provide the best available digital connectivity to everyone, which is why we’re proud to support SACC’s Digital Access for All programme to get more people online as we roll out Southend-on-Sea’s next-generation full fibre network.”

CityFibre is investing £30m in Southend-on-Sea to lay new digital infrastructure that uses the best available technology – full fibre – to give nearly every home and business in the town the digital foundation they need to thrive today, tomorrow and for decades to come.

Southend-on-Sea’s full fibre upgrade is being delivered at pace with construction moving into the areas of Leigh-on-Sea, Westcliff, Chalkwell and St. Laurence, having already been completed in Eastwood Park, St Lukes, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay and Shoeburyness. Thousands of homes and businesses across the town now have access to the best available digital connectivity and customers are already enjoying fast and reliable internet services through launch partner Vodafone on selected Vodafone Pro Broadband plans, as well as Digital Home, Giganet, TalkTalk and Zen.

Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost can find out more about the build, pre-register their interest and find out when new ISPs join at cityfibre.com.